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Fundamental Research on Geochemical Processes for the Development of Resilient and Sustainable Geosystems

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Geotechnical Fundamentals for Addressing New World Challenges

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering ((SSGG))

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Abstract

Fundamental understanding and control of geochemical processes in soils/rock and groundwater are vital for rational design of new and innovative resilient and sustainable geosystems. Geochemical processes such as adsorption-desorption, ion-exchange, oxidation-reduction, precipitation-dissolution, complexation, acid-base reactions, volatilization, and biodegradation processes are generally interrelated and are highly dependent on the soil/rock and pore-water characteristics such as mineralogy, oxides/carbonate content, organic carbon content, pH, solution chemistry, temperature, among others. Moreover, the geochemical processes in engineered systems can be transient and reversible, drastically impacting the performance of geosystems under different anthropogenic and natural perturbations that could occur over their design life. Non-invasive, less energy-intensive, and less resource intensive strategies and technologies are increasingly being sought for rehabilitation and/or development of sustainable geosystems. Harnessing natural biological processes has been emphasized recently toward sustainable geoengineering such as bio-cementation, bioremediation, phytoremediation, among others. However, an in-depth understanding of the fundamental dynamic geochemical processes in all such cases has been lacking, and the current research should embrace and encourage such fundamental research.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter is developed based on the deliberations in the Geochemistry session at the workshop entitled “Geotechnical Fundamentals in the Face of New World Challenges” held at the National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, July 17–19, 2016. The authors are grateful for the support of National Science Foundation for funding the workshop. The authors are also thankful to Ning Lu and Girish Kumar for their encouragement and assistance in preparing this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil & Materials Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, 842 West Taylor Street, 60607, Chicago, IL, USA

    Krishna R. Reddy

  2. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, 53818, Platteville, WI, USA

    Gretchen L. Bohnhoff

  3. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA

    Angelica M. Palomino

  4. Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Marika C. Santagata

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  1. Krishna R. Reddy
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  2. Gretchen L. Bohnhoff
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  3. Angelica M. Palomino
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  4. Marika C. Santagata
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Correspondence to Krishna R. Reddy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

    Ning Lu

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    James K. Mitchell

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Reddy, K.R., Bohnhoff, G.L., Palomino, A.M., Santagata, M.C. (2019). Fundamental Research on Geochemical Processes for the Development of Resilient and Sustainable Geosystems. In: Lu, N., Mitchell, J. (eds) Geotechnical Fundamentals for Addressing New World Challenges. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06249-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06249-1_6

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