Effect of bacterial adsorption on low frequency electrical properties of clean quartz sands and iron-oxide coated sands

Low frequency electrical measurements (0.1-1000 Hz) were conducted to investigate the adsorption effect of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells onto clean quartz sands and iron-oxide coated sands. The clean quartz sands showed a gradual increase in the microbial adsorption to mineral grains, concurrent with an increase of 13% in the imaginary conductivity component (sigma ''). However, iron-oxide coated sands (20-100% by weight) showed a rapid increase in microbial adsorption with sigma '' reaching a maximum of 37 % for the 80-100% iron coated sands. No significant changes were observed in the real conductivity component (sigma') due to microbial adsorption. A power law dependency was observed between the adsorbed cells and sigma ''. We suggest that the polarization results from the increase in the surface roughness and surface area of the grain due to bacteria sorption. These results suggest that low frequency electrical measurements can play an important role in assessing microbial transport in subsurface environments. Citation: Abdel Aal, G., E. Atekwana, S. Radzikowski, and S. Rossbach ( 2009), Effect of bacterial adsorption on low frequency electrical properties of clean quartz sands and iron-oxide coated sands, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L04403, doi:10.1029/2008GL036196.