Dr. Vernon F. Hodge
Professor
Environmental and Analytical Chemistry
Phone: (702) 895-3845
Fax: (702) 895-4072
E-Mail: hodgev@unlv.nevada.edu
Education:
Post Doctoral Studies, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD,
1970-1973
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, University of California, San Diego,
1970
M.S., Organic Chemistry, San Diego State University, 1966
B.S., Organic Chemistry, San Diego State University, 1963
Major Teaching Responsibilities:
Methods of Environmental Analysis
Quality Assurance
General Chemistry
Research Interests:
Much of the research efforts of Dr. Hodge's group is focused on developing
chemical methods and instrumental techniques for use in investigating the
behavior of trace metals (radioactive and stable) in the environment. The
ultimate goal of the research is to identify the role of speciation on
the movement and fate of natural metals and radioactivity and those metals
mobilized or created by man. Students are currently working on: 1) the
determination of radium, uranium and plutonium isotopes in drinking water
by radioactivity techniques and ICP/MS; 2) the determination of plutonium
and cesium in sediments from Utah reservoirs and in trees from Utah in
order to evaluate the impact of atomic weapons testing at the Nevada Test
Site; 3) the occurrence of the natural radioactivity polonium in fish from
Lake Mead; 4) the analysis of well water by ICP/MS in order to fingerprint
the water in an attempt to identify its source and subterrian travel time;
and 5) the analysis of flora and fauna near radioactively hot-thermal hot
springs to determine the affect of the hot spring on the background radioactivity.
Selected Publications:
K. H. Johannesson, K. J. Stetzenbach, V. F. Hodge, "Rare Earth Elements
as Geochemical Tracers of Regional Groundwater Mixing," Geochemica et
Cosmochimica Acta, 61, 3615-3618 (1997). Refereed.
K. H. Johannesson, K. J. Stetzenbach, V. F. Hodge, D. K. Dreamer,
and X. Zhou, "Delineation of Groundwater Flow Systems in the Southern Great
Basin Using Aqueous Rare Earth Element Distributions," Groundwater,
35, 807-819 (1997). Refereed.
D. K. Kreamer, V. F. Hodge, I Rabinowitz, K. H. Johannesson, and
K. J. Stetzenbach, "Trace Element Geochemistry in Water from Selected Springs
in Death Valley National Park, California," Ground Water, 34, 95-104
(1996). K. H. Johannesson, K. J. Stetzenbach, D. K. Kreamer, and
V. F. Hodge, "Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Arsenic and Selenium
Concentrations in Groundwaters from South-central Nevada and Death Valley,
California," J. of Hydrology, 178, 181-204 (1996).
K. H. Johannesson, K. J. Stetzenbach, V. F. Hodge, and W. B. Lyons,
"Rare Earth Element Complexation Behavior in Circumneutral pH Groundwaters:
Assessing the Role of Carbonate and Phosphate Ions," Earth and Planetary
Sci. Lett., 139, 305-319 (1996).
V. F. Hodge, C. Smith, and J. Whiting, "Radiocesium and Plutonium:
Still Together in "Background" Soils After More than Thirty Years," Chemosphere,
32, 2067-2075 (1996).
V. F. Hodge, K. Stetzenbach, and K. H. Johannesson, "Initial
Results for the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopic Determination
of Trace Elements in Organs of Striped Bass from Lake Mead, USA," Chapter
14 in Biomarkers for Agrochemicals and Toxic Substances, ACS Symposium
Series 634 (refereed), 1996.
V. F. Hodge, K.H. Johannesson, and K. Stetzenbach, "Rhenium,
Molybdenum, and Uranium in Groundwater from the Southern Great Basin, USA:
Evidence for Conservative Behavior," Geochim. et Cosmochim, Acta, 60, 3197-3214
(1996).
Last updated 11-13-01.
