Fate and transport in environmental quality

Changes in pollutant concentrations in environmental media occur both due to pollutant transport in water or air and due to local processes, such as adsorption, degradation, precipitation, straining, etc. The terms "fate and transport" and "transport and fate" reflect the coupling of moving with the carrier media and biogeochemical processes describing local transformations or interactions. Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) was one of the first to publish papers on fate and transport (F&T). This paper is a minireview written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of JEQ and show how the research interests, methodology, and public attention have been reflected in fate and transport publications in JEQ during the last 40 years. We report the statistics showing how the representation of different pollutant groups in papers changed with time. Major focus areas have been the effect of the solution composition on F&T and concurrent F&T, the role of organic matter, and the relative role of different F&T pathways. The role of temporal and spatial heterogeneity was studied at different scales. Value of long-term F&T studies and developments in modeling as the F&T research approach was amply demonstrated. F&T studies have been an essential part of the conservation measure evaluation and comparison and ecological risk assessment. For 50 years, the JEQ has delivered new insights, methods, and applications related to fate and transport science. The importance of its service to society is recognized, and new generations of F&T researchers will be welcome to present their contributions to JEQ. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.