Welcome
Geoscience Resources Inc (GRI) is a small, specialized environmental and geoscience consulting firm located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, providing consulting services and research support to clients throughout North America and world-wide. The professional expertise and technical services provided are tailored to meet the needs of industry and commercial clients, federal, state, and local government agencies, attorneys, and other organizations.
In addition to direct clients, GRI works with other engineering and environmental firms that may periodically need assistance with technical or regulatory issues as a part of specific projects. We welcome the opportunity to provide technical expertise and regulatory experience as part of a larger team.
SESOIL & AT123D Training
26-27 Apr 2012
Rutgers Univ, NJ
This two-day seminar provides a thorough examination of the SESOIL and AT123D models and their use in developing site-specific soil cleanup levels based on vadose zone leaching and groundwater contaminant migration. More . . .
Anaerobic Methane Oxidation
20 Nov 2012 - A recent article in Nature identifies a pathway that allows marine archaea to couple methane oxidation to sulfate reduction by producing zero-valent sulfur species.
Streamflow Depletion by Wells
17 Nov 2012 - One of the primary concerns related to the development of groundwater resources is the effect of groundwater pumping on streamflow. A new USGS Circular summarizes the scientific insights and describes the various field methods and modeling approaches that can be used to understand and manage streamflow depletion.
Limits to Remediation
12 Nov 2012 - A new National Research Council report stresses that for some complex sites there is no existing technology to completely clean up groundwater. At many such sites, there is a point at which contaminants will remain above legal limits for drinking water despite extensive cleanups.
Endocrine Disruptors
1 Nov 2012 - Endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be causing a paradigm shift in toxicological evaluation due to non-monotonic dose-response relationships and evidence for greater toxicity at low doses. More at Nature.
PHAST
6 Sep 2012 - USGS has released a new graphical user interface, Phast4Windows, for the reactive transport model PHAST, a combination of the groundwater flow and transport model HST3D and the geochemical code PHREEQC.
Arsenic Microbiology
24 Jul 2012 - The controversial claim that a bacterium could incorporate arsenic into its DNA in place of phosphate has been refuted in two articles recently published in Science (1,2). Rather, the bacterium appears to efficiently scavenge trace amounts of phosphorus.
Trimethylbenzenes
23 Jul 2012 - US EPA has released the external peer review draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes that includes proposed derived oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations (RfCs) for the trimethylbenzene isomers.
Toxicology
22 Jun 2012 - US EPA has released the final version of the Benchmark Dose Technical Guidance that provides guidance to risk assessors who intend to use the benchmark dose (BMD) method for developing dose response values and determining a point of departure for toxicological studies.
MODFLOW
2 May 2012 - USGS has released updated versions of MODFLOW-2005 and the ModelMuse graphical user interface.
Pesticides
26 Apr 2012 - US EPA has released human health benchmarks for approximately 350 pesticides in drinking water. The table includes acute and chronic exposure benchmarks for non-cancer toxic endpoints.
Biodegradation
14 Apr 2012 - Compound specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) is a useful tool for evaluating degradation of organic chemicals in groundwater. Recent developments are reviewed in Organic Geochemistry.
Burgess Shale
17 Mar 2012 - The exceptionally preserved soft-bodied fossil assemblages of Burgess Shale-type deposits are the result of unique aspects of Cambrian seawater chemistry that strongly influenced sediment diagenesis according to a study published in PNAS.
Dioxin
18 Feb 2012 - US EPA has released the first part of its long-delayed dioxin reassesment. The document addresses the potential of dioxins to cause non-cancer health effects, such as damage to the immune and reproductive systems. It establishes an oral reference dose (RfD) for TCDD of 0.7 pg/kg-d.
Paleontology
13 Feb 2012 - Microscopic, phosphatised sponge-like fossils, Otavia antiqua, found in 760-million-year-old rock in Namibia could be the earliest known animals--and possibly our earliest evolutionary ancestors. They are desscrbed in the South African Journal of Science.
PCE
11 Feb 2012 - The US EPA IRIS database has been updated with new toxicity values for tetrachloroethene (PCE). These include an updated oral reference dose (RfD) and addition of an inhalation reference concentration (RfC) and cancer assessment.
Wetlands
4 Feb 2012 - Wetland restoration may not measure up to expectations in terms of carbon storage and native species richness and abundance. Recent work published in PLOS Biology analyzing 621 restored or created wetlands shows they lag behind reference ones even after decades.
Selenium
26 Jan 2012 - Selenium is a persistent problem in some soils, such as in the western part of the San Joaquin Valley. Recent work has shown that Prickly Pear may be an effective tool for removing selenium from soils. The drought-tolerant cactus takes up and volatilizes selenium and may be a promising approach to phytoremediation. The study is published in Soil Use and Management.
Carcinogens
23 Jan 2012 - The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has released its finalized procedures for determining a substance's inclusion in its biennial "Report on Carcinogens" (ROC). The revised process is a response to the controversy regarding inclusion of formaldeyde and styrene in the most recent ROC and is intended to increase transparency by providing a mechanism for stakeholders to provide input, although NTP has no obligation to respond.
Toxicology & Risk Assessment
A National Academy of Science (NAS) committee has released a report recommending improvements to US EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).
Soil Information
A free smartphone app is available for both iPhone and Android users that provides GPS based, real-time access to USDA-NRCS soil survey information in the field. The SoilWeb app is a portable version of the UC Davis California Soil Resource Lab’s SoilWeb online interface to digital soil survey data.