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While naturally found in trace quantities, several regions throughout the world have been designated as “seleniferous” or containing an overabundance of the trace element, selenium (Se), in soil. In particular, portions of the Western Phosphate Resource Area (WPRA) of the United States are considered seleniferous, notably due to past phosphate mining reclamation practices that have promoted Se release and accumulation in soil from weathering overburden waste rock. Concern over Se soil contamination in this region has been attributed to its high levels (ranging from 2.7 to 435 mg Se kg−1 soil), bioavailability, and subsequent hyperaccumulation in vegetation at toxic concentrations (exceeding 10,000 mg Se kg−1 plant tissue). The Se hyperaccumulator, western aster (Symphyotrichum ascendens (Lindl.)), is responsible for the vast majority of acute selenium livestock poisonings and fatalities throughout the region. This inherent bioavailability is largely controlled by soil redox chemistry and sorptive processes. The purpose of this review is to integrate information related to the unique site history of the WPRA from onset mining to current Se problems. This review will provide current details and connection of WPRA mining geology, soil Se geochemistry, plant hyperaccumulation, and related livestock fatalities. Soil remediation strategies will also be discussed along with their applicability and viability in this particular anthropogenically-influenced seleniferous region.

Granular activated carbon (GAC) was evaluated as a suitable sorbent for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) removal from aqueous solutions. For this purpose, kinetic measurements on the extraction of a family of six PAHs were taken. A morphology study was performed by means of a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of GAC samples. Analyses of the batch rate data for each PAH were carried out using two kinetic models: the homogenous particle diffusion model (HPDM) and the shell progressive model (SPM). The process was controlled by diffusion rate the solutes (PAHs) that penetrated the reacted layer at PAH concentrations in the range of 0.2–10 mg L−1. The effective particle diffusion coefficients (Deff) derived from the two models were determined from the batch rate data. The Weber and Morris intraparticle diffusion model made a double contribution to the surface and pore diffusivities in the sorption process. The Deff values derived from both the HPMD and SPM equations varied from 1.1×10−13 to 6.0×10−14 m2 s−1. The simplest model, the pore diffusion model, was applied first for data analysis. The model of the next level of complexity, the surface diffusion model, was applied in order to gain a deeper understanding of the diffusion process. This model is able to explain the data, and the apparent surface diffusivities are in the same order of magnitude as the values for the sorption of functionalized aromatic hydrocarbons (phenols and sulphonates)that are described in the literature.