Tom Hinton, Ph.D
Senior Research Scientist
University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Aiken, SC 29802

(803) 725-7454;

Research Theme: Radioactive Contaminants in Terrestrial Ecosystems (Terr)

Dr. Hinton has published numerous papers on plant uptake of radioactive contaminants. His work has shown that predictions of radioactive contaminant mobility based on laboratory derived results from sequential extraction of contaminants in soils cannot be extended to estimate plant uptake of contaminants in the field. These findings are important when determining the need for cleanup, as well as when evaluating remediation success.

The majority of Dr. Hinton's terrestrial radioecological research concerns the contamination of vegetation from radionuclides attached to resuspended soil particles. Conducted largely in the Ukraine and Switzerland, this work has concentrated on the role of resuspension in the contamination of agricultural plants. Whereas other researchers have shown resuspension to be a dominant pathway of contaminant transport in arid southwestern environments of the United States, Dr. Hinton's work demonstrated that resuspension can be important in mesic climates as well, particularly when pastures are disturbed by grazing animals. Dr. Hinton also explored the fate of the contaminant adhering to leaf surfaces and was the first to quantify the foliar absorption of radionuclides resuspended onto plant surfaces (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Methods for quantifying the various pathways of plant contamination developed by Dr. Hinton included the application of a liquid polymer to contaminated leafs. Analysis of the polymer, when dried and stripped from the leaf, allowed Dr. Hinton to separate adhering radioactivity from that incorporated into plant tissues.

Relevant works