At PNNL, subsurface science inhabits two separate but interlocking worlds. One looks at basic science, the other at applied science and engineering. Both are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Existing techniques to detect pertechnetate in the environment have drawbacks. PNNL’s redox sensor technology uses a gold probe to accurately and efficiently measure low levels of pertechnetate—and possibly other contaminants—in groundwater

A recent paper published in Water Resources Research found that the spatial variability of subsurface sediments, and seasonal fluctuations in a river’s water level, influences the behavior of a uranium contaminant plume, particularly in ...

DOE researchers investigated the role of microbial genetic diversity in two major subsurface biogeochemical processes: nitrification and denitrification.

Researchers have identified two processes responsible for fracturing rock at lower pressures for geothermal energy production using PNNL’s fracturing fluid, StimuFrac™.

From microscopic bacteria in river sediments to vast watersheds to global-scale data and inquiries, a PNNL scientist plays a big research role

Two forms of magnesium material were processed into tubing using PNNL’s Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion™ technology. Both materials were found to have quite similar and improved properties—even though they began vastly different.

We are all citizens of watersheds, the terrestrial landscapes that determine how much water we have, how clean it is, where it goes, and how fast.

Postdoc Bharat Gwalani’s pioneering spirit crosses several scientific disciplines and he climbs mountains too

A new study examines how back how back-to-back extreme events can affect a forest landscape.

Geochemistry postdoctoral research assistant Quin R.S. Miller has been elected to a three-year term on the Clay Minerals Society Council.

Biogeochemical activity in the hyporheic zone (HZ), sediments where the flowing waters of a river mix with shallow groundwater, supports many of the biological processes that occur within a watershed.

Turbulent vertical fluxes of heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide (CO2) occur constantly between land surfaces and the atmosphere.

Co-authors of a paper in Hydrological Processes led by PNNL researchers Zhangshuan Hou, Timothy Scheibe, and Christopher Murray, produced a map that identifies different classes of sediments which compose the riverbed along the Hanford ...

A multi-institutional team of scientists developed a new sensitivity analysis framework using Bayesian Networks to quantify which parameters and processes in complex multi-physics models are least understood.

Reactive transport models (RTMs) are used to describe and predict the distribution of chemicals in time and space, in both marine and terrestrial (surface and near-surface) environments where microbially-mediated processes govern...

Hydrologic exchange flows (HEFs) increase the contact between river water and subsurface sediments thereby playing a critical role in biogeochemical and ecological functions along river corridors.

Hydrologic exchange fluxes (HEFs) between rivers and surrounding subsurface environments strongly influence water temperatures and biogeochemical processes. Yet, quantitative measures of their effects on the strength and direction of such e

Superman may be known as the "Man of Steel," but scientific superheroes at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are developing a novel approach for manufacturing metals with superior strength.