Gordon Williams

Journal Article Applied Geochemistry · December 1, 2025 Lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites are a major source of global Li production. They typically occur as dike swarms intruded into metamorphic country rocks. The subsurface locations of these dikes can be difficult to identify from the surface. One com ... Full text Cite

The Water Quality Impacts of Legacy Hard-Rock Lithium Mining and Processing.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · December 2025 Hard-rock Li mining from Li-pegmatites is rapidly expanding to support the clean energy transition, yet associated water-quality impacts remain understudied. Here, we evaluate surface water and groundwater in the Tin-Spodumene Belt (TSB), a legacy Li minin ... Full text Cite

Radionuclides and the uranium isotope fingerprint of globally produced phosphate rocks, mineral fertilizers, and phosphogypsum waste and its potential effect on the environment.

Journal Article Journal of hazardous materials · November 2025 The occurrence of uranium (U), thorium (Th), and radium (Ra) in phosphate rocks (PRs) leads to enrichment of these radionuclides in produced fertilizers and phosphogypsum waste byproducts. This study presents a global dataset of U- and Th- series radionucl ... Full text Cite

Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide particles cause developmental neurotoxicity in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>.

Journal Article Environmental science. Advances · October 2025 Lithium is increasingly used in rechargeable batteries for mobile devices, electric vehicles, and energy storage, among other applications. One of the common formulations of lithium batteries is lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNMC) particles. Incr ... Full text Cite

The role of boron in controlling the pH of lithium brines.

Journal Article Science advances · May 2025 The global clean energy transition requires the development of alternative energy technologies that rely on critical raw materials including lithium. Closed-basin brines, which generate ~40% of global lithium production, often have a circumneutral pH; howe ... Full text Cite

Quality of Wastewater from Lithium-Brine Mining

Journal Article Environmental Science and Technology Letters · February 11, 2025 The sustainability of lithium mining is one of the critical factors for a successful transition to renewable energy. A potential practice to alleviate brine level decline and loss of adjacent fresh groundwater from brine pumping in the salt pans (salars) i ... Full text Cite

The potential water quality impacts of hard-rock lithium mining: Insights from a legacy pegmatite mine in North Carolina, USA.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · December 2024 The global green energy transition has spurred increased lithium exploration and extraction, yet the water quality impacts from lithium mining are understudied. This study investigates the potential water quality impacts from a legacy hard-rock lithium min ... Full text Cite

Reconstructing the depositional environment and diagenetic modification of global phosphate deposits through integration of uranium and strontium isotopes

Journal Article Chemical Geology · September 5, 2024 The geochemistry of phosphate rocks can provide valuable information on their depositional environment and the redox condition of global oceans through time. Here we examine trace metal concentrations and uranium (δ238U, δ234U) and st ... Full text Cite

Tracing the Environmental Effects of Mineral Fertilizer Application with Trace Elements and Strontium Isotope Variations

Journal Article Environmental Science and Technology Letters · June 11, 2024 Fertilizer utilization is critical for food security. This study examines the occurrence of trace elements (TEs) and Sr isotope (87Sr/86Sr) variations in phosphate rocks and mineral fertilizers from a sample collection representative ... Full text Cite

Evidence for the accumulation of toxic metal(loid)s in agricultural soils impacted from long-term application of phosphate fertilizer.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · January 2024 Phosphate fertilizers may contain elevated concentrations of toxic metals and metalloids and therefore, their excessive application can result in the accumulation of both phosphorus (P) and metal(loid)s in agricultural soils. This study aims to investigate ... Full text Cite

Lead isotopes and rare earth elements geochemistry of global phosphate rocks: Insights into depositional conditions and environmental tracing

Journal Article Chemical Geology · November 20, 2023 Phosphate rock bears both geologically and environmentally significant information. Rare earth elements and yttrium (i.e., REY) characteristics have been commonly used for reconstructing the redox conditions of depositional environments and the effects of ... Full text Cite

Response to comments on Vengosh et al. (2022): The strontium isotope fingerprint of phosphate rocks mining.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · April 2023 Full text Cite

The strontium isotope fingerprint of phosphate rocks mining.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · December 2022 High concentrations of metal(loid)s in phosphate rocks and wastewater associated with phosphate mining and fertilizer production operations pose potential contamination risks to water resources. Here, we propose using Sr isotopes as a tracer to determine p ... Full text Open Access Cite

Seismology with dark data: Image-based processing of analog records using machine learning for the rangely earthquake control experiment

Journal Article Seismological Research Letters · March 1, 2019 Before the digital era, seismograms were recorded in analog form and read manually by analysts. The digital era represents only about 25% of the total time span of instrumental seismology. Analog data provide important constraints on earthquake processes o ... Full text Cite