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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

A review of GEOTOX for the EPA multi-media assessment project

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5827402

GEOTOX is a set of programs used to calculate time-varying chemical concentrations in multiple environmental media (e.g., soil, ground water, etc.) and to estimate potential human exposures. The current version of GEOTOX performs two major tasks: (1) it predicts the transport and transformation of chemicals in a multimedia environment, and (2) it estimates human exposure. The chemical transport model uses landscape data and physicochemical properties to determine the distribution and concentration of chemicals among compartments such as air, water, and soil. Environmental concentrations are linked to human exposures and health effects using an exposure model that accounts for intake through inhalation, consumption of food and water, and dermal absorption. GEOTOX is intended for use in public health and environmental risk assessment and risk management -- particularly for the screening and ranking of chemicals according to the potential risks they pose. GEOTOX was originally developed for ranking the potential health risks associated with toxic metals and radionuclides in the global environment. The model has been extended to handle organic chemicals. GEOTOX was originally implemented on mainframe systems. Because of this, most of the input must be entered in fixed-format data files. However, comments have been added to the input files to make this format easy to use.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5827402
Report Number(s):
UCID-21676; ON: DE89016716
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English