Spatial Trends of Anionic, Zwitterionic, and Cationic PFASs at an AFFF-Impacted Site
Abstract
= 58 for groundwater) and analyzed for an extensive list of anionic, zwitterionic, and cationic poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Spatial trends for perfluoroalkyl acids and many precursors enabled a better understanding of PFAS composition, transport, and transformation. All PFASs without analytical standards were semi-quantified. Summed PFAS and individual PFAS concentrations were often higher at depth than near the surface in soil and groundwater. Zwitterionic and cationic compounds composed a majority of the total PFAS mass (up to 97%) in firefighter training area (FTA) soil. Composition of PFAS class, chain length, and structural isomers changed with depth and distance from the FTA, suggesting in situ transformation and differential transport. The percentage of branched perfluorooctane sulfonate increased with depth, consistent with differential isomeric transport. However, linear perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was enriched, suggesting fluorotelomer precursor transformation to linear PFOA. Perfluorohexane sulfonamide, a potential transformation product of sulfonamide-based PFASs, was present at high concentrations (maximum 448 ng/g in soil, 3.4 mg/L in groundwater). Precursor compounds may create long-term sources of perfluoroalkyl acids, although many pathways remain unknown; precursor analysis is critical for PFAS fate and transport understanding.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Limited studies have examined the transport of cationic and zwitterionic PFAS, and none of these studies considered particle-mediated transport.
“However, limited studies have examined the transport of cationic and zwitterionic PFAS (Barzen--Hanson et al., 2017;Mejia-Avendano et al., 2020;Nickerson et al., 2021;Xiao et al., 2019), and none of these studies considered particle-mediated transport.”
From Perfluoroalkyl acids on suspended particles: Significant transport pathways in surface runoff, surface waters, and subsurface soils (2021) · cites this paper as Nickerson et al., 2021
Cites
Identifying Small Molecules via High Resolution Mass Spectrometry: Communicating Confidence
Schymanski, E. L., Jeon, J., Gulde, R., Fenner, K., Ruff, M., Singer, H. P., & Hollender, J. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es5002105 · Cited by 4,519 · see citing works
Persistence of Perfluoroalkyl Acid Precursors in AFFF-Impacted Groundwater and Soil
Houtz, E. F., Higgins, C. P., Field, J. A., & Sedlak, D. L. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es4018877 · Cited by 849 · see citing works
Self-citationPFAS concentrations in soils: Background levels versus contaminated sites
Brusseau, M. L., Anderson, R. H., & Guo, B. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140017 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
Backe, W. J., Day, T. C., & Field, J. A. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es3034999 · Cited by 611 · see citing works
Self-citationMicrobial degradation of polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the environment: A review
Liu, J., & Mejia Avendaño, S. (2013) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2013.08.022 · Cited by 525 · see citing works
McGuire, M. E., Schaefer, C., Richards, T., Backe, W. J., Field, J. A., Houtz, E., Sedlak, D. L., Guelfo, J. L., Wunsch, A., & Higgins, C. P. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es5006187 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Self-citationWeber, A. K., Barber, L. B., LeBlanc, D. R., Sunderland, E. M., & Vecitis, C. D. (2017) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b05573 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Production of PFOS from aerobic soil biotransformation of two perfluoroalkyl sulfonamide derivatives
Mejia Avendaño, S., & Liu, J. (2015) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.09.059 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Hunter Anderson, R., Adamson, D. T., & Stroo, H. F. (2019) · Journal of Contaminant Hydrology · doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2018.11.011 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Self-citationMejia-Avendaño, S., Vo Duy, S., Sauvé, S., & Liu, J. (2016) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b00140 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Mass-Based, Field-Scale Demonstration of PFAS Retention within AFFF-Associated Source Areas
Adamson, D. T., Nickerson, A., Kulkarni, P. R., Higgins, C. P., Popovic, J., Field, J., Rodowa, A., Newell, C., DeBlanc, P., & Kornuc, J. J. (2020) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c04472 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Johnson, G. R., Brusseau, M. L., Carroll, K. C., Tick, G. R., & Duncan, C. M. (2022) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156602 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Mass-Based, Field-Scale Demonstration of PFAS Retention within AFFF-Associated Source Areas
Adamson, D. T., Nickerson, A., Kulkarni, P. R., Higgins, C. P., Popovic, J., Field, J., Rodowa, A., Newell, C., DeBlanc, P., & Kornuc, J. J. (2020) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c04472 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Self-citationCharbonnet, J. A., Rodowa, A. E., Joseph, N. T., Guelfo, J. L., Field, J. A., Jones, G. D., Higgins, C. P., Helbling, D. E., & Houtz, E. F. (2021) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c08506 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Self-citationBrusseau, M. L., & Guo, B. (2022) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134938 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Borthakur, A., Wang, M., He, M., Ascencio, K., Blotevogel, J., Adamson, D. T., Mahendra, S., & Mohanty, S. K. (2021) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126159 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Self-citationCharacterization of relevant site-specific PFAS fate and transport processes at multiple AFFF sites
Adamson, D. T., Kulkarni, P. R., Nickerson, A., Higgins, C. P., Field, J., Schwichtenberg, T., Newell, C., & Kornuc, J. J. (2022) · Environmental Advances · doi:10.1016/j.envadv.2022.100167 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Microbial biotransformation of aqueous film-forming foam derived polyfluoroalkyl substances
Choi, Y. J., Helbling, D. E., Liu, J., Olivares, C. I., & Higgins, C. P. (2022) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153711 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Self-citationSörengård, M., Bergström, S., McCleaf, P., Wiberg, K., & Ahrens, L. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119981 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
McGarr, J. T., Mbonimpa, E. G., McAvoy, D. C., & Soltanian, M. R. (2023) · Soil Systems · doi:10.3390/soilsystems7020053 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Richardson, M. J., Kabiri, S., Grimison, C., Bowles, K., Corish, S., Chapman, M., & McLaughlin, M. J. (2022) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c05377 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Xing, Y., Li, Q., Chen, X., Huang, B., Ji, L., Zhang, Q., Fu, X., Li, T., & Wang, J. (2023) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.2c06283 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Liu, M., Glover, C. M., Munoz, G., Duy, S. V., Sauvé, S., & Liu, J. (2024) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133006 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Sáez, C., Bautista, A., Nikolenko, O., Scheiber, L., Llorca, M., Jurado, A., Farré, M., & Pujades-Garnes, E. (2024) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124468 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nickerson, A., Rodowa, A. E., Adamson, D. T., Field, J. A., Kulkarni, P. R., Kornuc, J. J., & Higgins, C. P.
- Affiliations
- Colorado School of Mines (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- GSI Environmental (United States) (US)
- Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (US)
- Corresponding author
- Higgins, Christopher P.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2020-12-22
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 313-323
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W3113753001
- Cited by
- 228
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 8.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Defense (ER-201633, ER-2720)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Chemical Analysis and Environmental Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Fluoride Effects and Removal
- Keywords
- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS precursors, aqueous film-forming foam, soil contamination, groundwater contamination, perfluorooctanoic acid, in situ transformation, depth profiles, spatial distribution
- MeSH terms
- Fluorocarbons, Soil, Water, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Alkanesulfonic Acids, Groundwater
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
