Comparison of environmental fate and transport process descriptors of explosives in saline and freshwater systems

Environmental process descriptors are necessary to evaluate the fate and transport of munitions constituents that have been introduced into the environment. An extensive database exists for freshwater environments; however, explosives fate and transport parameters such as dissolution rates, transformation rates, and adsorption of explosives have not been evaluated under both freshwater and saline conditions to determine the applicability of the freshwater data to saline environments. The objective of this study was to determine if freshwater fate and transport processes were similar to those determined under saline water conditions. We evaluated TNT, RDX, and HMX dissolution rates, transformation rates, and adsorption under freshwater and saline conditions in batch tests. Results showed a generally close agreement. Therefore, the existing freshwater database for explosives fate and transport process descriptors can be used in marine environments.