Has anyone heard about this place? It is 10 minutes from my house. I just went up and took some samples from the furthest up I could get. It is a superfund site, and I am wondering if anyone knows of a way to gain access for microbial sampling of the mine.
do it the way the EPA does. drill some leeching wells around the site. these drill holes must be within 200 feet of the mine to get results. even at 200 feet you are going to find it difficult to get good samples. the closer you get to the mine the better your chances.
Surely as a superfund site you can find out information on it? The Scottish environmental protection agency has information online about all the businesses it regulates, for example.
Yeah, that was my first thought was well...if a place is superfunded, it typically means that someone already has pretty specific information about the place. Unless you're just doing it for fun?
A lot of information about waste disposal, chemical hazards, corporate behavior regarding public waters and lands, etc, is no longer available to the public. This is for anti-terrorist security reasons, under the Patriot Act and related regulations.
I know about several species of bacteria that survive in a pH of -3 found only at the site. They are Fe oxidizers, and when the mountain split, metals were exposed to O2 and released acid.
Is this a simple science project, or are you attempting to refute government claims or what? What's the story?
Why specifically there, then? Why "learn" in a place with security guards that will have you arrested for trespassing?
Use a dog to gather the ground for you. ok than, strap a clean sticky ball attached to a small rope which is attached to a ring of electrically charged wire that is around the dogs neck. Teach the dog through numerous of tests to follow a straight path without turns or anything. Teach it so by showing an arm in that direction and walk with it 2 miles to arrive at a destination were inside a plastic scent free bag will be vacuumed sealed a piece of meat...the dog will see it and be hungry and eat it. Do this 10 times for 2 miles and make sure the dog cannot smell the meat...and is given different routes at times...also let the dog go by itself 2 miles so that it descovers the meat by itself. After that bring the dog to the guarded area...show the dog the location with an extended arm and the dog will go 2 miles to that location. Calculate the approximate speed of the dog and time that has passed and find the distance traveled by that dog. When the dog has traveled enough time to travel 2 miles...send a signal to the receiver on the dog to send an electrical impulse all throughout the dog's body. The electrical impulse will be an electrical shock that will knock down the dog and so will the attached ball with sticky surface be knocked down with the dog as well...as the ball will be on the ground (along with the dog lying on the ground)...the ball will gather particles of ground. After 20 minutes the dog will fully recover and than you should take out big chicken meat and cut it allowing the smell/scent to go with the air. The dog will smell the scent and run back to you. The dog arrives to you with the small sticky ball with particles of ground...gather the ground to a test tube, seal the test tubes...and you can test it now.
Or you just climb the fence. However, it would be a good idea to wear acid resistant footware, and go when things are damp and there is no dangerous dust to be stirred up by the wind.
The actual site of the microbes of interest is inside the mine, and access was denied even to my professor. The water is the most acidic in the world. While the dog scenario is creative, it sounds like entirely too much work. Not to mention the fact that it is in the woods that are inhabited by squarrels. . . and I have yet to witness a dog that is not infatuated by chasing small ground animals.
