A common approach used to isolate contaminants in the environment and mitigate associated human and ecological risks is to apply engineered covers over landfills used for disposal of radioactive, hazardous chemical and municipal solid waste. The degradation of engineered covers over time is a complex process that is influenced by site specific characteristics, the structure and dynamics of the indigenous plant community, and the interplay of physical and biological factors at contaminated sites. This research includes a review of long term monitoring and performance assessment of engineered covers, an evaluation of key ecological principles in the context of cover performance, the identification of important ecological processes for performance confirmation, and a case study in the use of event tree analysis (ETA) to evaluate risks to performance of ET and conventional covers. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to develop a performance-assessment approach for selection, design, modeling, and monitoring ecological components of covers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04152010-142135 |
| Date | 27 April 2010 |
| Creators | Traynham, Brooke Nicole |
| Contributors | Joanna Burger, Jody Waugh, David Kosson, David Furbish, George Hornberger, Steven Goodbred, James H. Clarke |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-04152010-142135/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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