Dr Barbara Palumbo-Roe

Dr Barbara Palumbo-Roe Process Geochemist

Location: Keyworth

Tel: 0115 936 3003

E-mail Dr Barbara Palumbo-Roe

Biography

  •  2000 –To date :  Process Geochemist, British Geological Survey
  •  1998 :  Post doctoral position MLURI, Aberdeen, Environmental Mineralogy
  •  1997 :  PhD University of Palermo, Italy, Geochemistry
  •  1992 :  MSc University of Palermo, Italy, Mineralogy and Petrography

Current projects and collaboration

  •  Impact of groundwater/surface water interaction on contaminant transport: application to a chromium contaminated site in Glasgow. (see also Clyde Urban Super Project -CUSP)
  •  Rookhope Burn project: Investigation on the role of the hyporheic zone to diffuse metal loadings in a mining impacted catchment in northern England.
  •  DEFRA project Normal Background Concentrations of contaminants in soils
  •  EO-MINERS: Earth observation for monitoring and observing environmental and societal impacts of mineral resources exploration and exploitation
  •  Bioaccessibility of mine waste (Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment - G-BASE and Medical Geology) (G-BASE)
  •  BUFI University of Aberystwyth PhD - The geomicrobiology of coal mine drainage — microbes, green rust and the factors controlling iron mineralogy in coal mine drainage (Nia Blackwell)
  •  BUFI University of Nottingham PhD - Bacterial growth and influence on trace element geochemistry at abandoned lead-zinc mines in collaboration with NIGL (BUFI PhD)
  •  BUFI University of Reading PhD - Impact of earthworms on metal mobility and availability

Skills

  •  Experimental geochemistry
  •  Geochemical modelling using PHREEQC and Geochemist Workbench
  •  Mineralogy
  •  Site investigation and environmental impact assessment
  •  Fluent in Italian and English, basic knowledge of French and Spanish

Professional association

  •  Member of the International Mine Water Association (IMWA)
  •  Member of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Research interests

  •  Acid mine water analysis and mine waste characterisation
  •  Biogeochemistry of mine tailings
  •  Catchment-scale studies of point and diffuse sources of contaminants in mining impacted river systems (Abandoned Mines and Contaminated Land Research)
  •  Hyporheic zone biogeochemistry
  •  Mine water treatments
  •  Use of isotopes as environmental tracers

Published outputs

Key papers

Palumbo-Roe, B, Wragg, J, and Banks, V J. 2012. Lead mobilisation in the hyporheic zone and river bank sediments of a contaminated stream: contribution to diffuse pollution. Journal of Soils and Sediments, article in press. pp. 1-8 –DOI: 10.1007/s11368-012-0552-7

BANKS, V J, and PALUMBO-ROE, B. 2010. Synoptic monitoring as an approach to discriminating between point and diffuse source contributions to zinc loads in mining impacted catchments. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, Vol. 12, 1684–1698.

PALUMBO-ROE, B, BANKS, V, CHENERY, S, and WEISS, D. 2010. Tracing sources and fate of zinc in a mining-impacted river catchment: insights from flow measurements, synoptic sampling, and zinc isotopes.International Mine Water Association. WOLKERSDORFER, C, and FREUND, A. Sidney, NS, CBU Press 383–387.

PALUMBO-ROE, B, and COLMAN, T. 2010. The nature of waste associated with closed mines in England and Wales.

PALUMBO-ROE, B, KLINCK, B, BANKS, V and QUIGLEY, S. 2008. Prediction of the long-term performance of abandoned lead zinc mine tailings in a Welsh catchment. Journal of Geochemical Exploration. Vol. 100, 169–181.

PALUMBO-ROE, B, KLINCK, B A, and CAVE, M R. 2007. Arsenic speciation and mobility in mine wastes from a copper- arsenic mine in Devon, UK: A SEM, XAS, sequential chemical extraction study. 441–472 in Arsenic in Soil and Groundwater Environment. Bhattacharya, Mukherjee, Bundschuh, Zevenhoven and Loeppert (Editors). Trace Metals and Other Contaminants in the Environment, Amsterdam, Elsevier.

PALUMBO-ROE, B, and KLINCK, B A. 2007. Bioaccessibility of Arsenic in Mine Waste Contaminated Soils: a Case Study from an Abandoned Arsenic Mine in SW England (UK). Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, Vol. 42, 1251–1261.

KLINCK, B A, PALUMBO, B, CAVE, M, and WRAGG, J. 2005. Arsenic dispersal and bioaccessibility in mine contaminated soils: a case study from an abandoned arsenic mine in Devon, UK. British Geological Survey Research Report, RR/04/03.