Environmental context. As a part of the rehabilitation of Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Australia, closure criteria for water concentrations of uranium and other contaminants in local waterbodies have been developed. Increased concentrations of uranium in the water column can result in an accumulation of uranium in the sediment and be hazardous to benthic organisms. A uranium partitioning relationship was derived to predict sediment uranium concentrations from water column concentrations.

Environmental context. Industrial development has caused the release of hexavalent chromium and nitrates into the environment. Interactions of hexavalent chromium and nitrates with microorganisms are important both for understanding environmental behaviour and for treatment options. Bacterial removal of both chromium and nitrate was optimised in waters relevant to waste streams and the environment.

Environmental context. Chlorinated organic atmospheric pollutants, which can be produced naturally or anthropogenically, are considered as a factor responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion. Based on experimental simulations and low temperature vibrational spectroscopy, this work reports a mechanism for the reaction of chloroalkanes with ozone. This reaction leads to the formation of the photochemically reactive chlorine oxide species. Kinetics and implications of the reactions are discussed.

Environmental context. The concentration, types and distribution of antibiotics in soils can have environmental effects and can be modelled using laboratory systems. Adsorption of ofloxacin (OFL) and levofloxacin (LEV) enantiomers to goethite can probe this behaviour and each binds differently to the solid phase. The different behaviour of LEV and OFL in relation to solid-solution partitioning will affect their environmental fate.