Biogeochemistry of highly alkaline waste disposal sites

Poorly disposed alkaline wastes at industrial legacy sites pose a serious environmental threat. Due to the cost and hazard of waste removal, in situ management is often the only option. Geomicrobiological processes occurring in and around the waste are critical to the geochemistry and therefore the mobility of toxic metals such as Cr(VI). Mechanistic understanding of the role of soil microbes would allow manipulation of conditions to achieve a desired engineering outcome such as the reductive precipitation of toxic metals. We present studies that provide insight into the role of soil micro-organisms in this process.