Environmental Chemistry (W911NF-17-S-002): Using Blow Flies to Determine Fate and Transport of Insensitive Munitions
Abstract
We propose to use blow flies as sensors for determining the fate and transport of insensitive munition (IM) components in the environment. Blow flies will be utilized because they are ubiquitous in almost any environment, are easily attracted and trapped using bait, and sample their environment avidly. This project will seek to answer two major questions to establish the feasibility of this approach. First, can IM components and the environmental degradation products be detected in the blow fly after environmentally reasonable exposures? Addressing this question will ultimately enable determination of the fate of IM components in the environment. Second, can we determine, through a combination of biological methods and instrumental analysis, the types of substrates blow flies have interacted with? Addressing this question will enable determination of the transport of IM components in the environment. This project is a collaboration between two research groups at IUPUI: Nicholas Manicke (Chemistry) and Christine Picard (Biology). The defense industry has developed a number of insensitive munitions designed to be less susceptible to unintended detonations. These formulations include IMX-101, a mixture of 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN), nitrotriazolone (NTO), and nitroguanidine (NQ) which is replacing TNT in large caliber ammunition. While these explosives are safer, there are concerns about their environmental impact for several reasons. Insensitive formulations tend to have three or more energetic components, the water solubilities of IM components (including DNAN, NTO, NQ, and ammonium perchlorate) are higher than existing military high explosives (TNT and RDX), and the insensitivity of IM can lead to greater deposition in the environment in some detonation scenarios. We hypothesize that IM components and their environmental breakdown products can be detected in the blow fly following environmental exposure. We will explore this hypothesis through three different areas, each of which will be a novel contribution to science: 1) develop instrumental methods to detect IM components and the breakdown products in an insect matrix; 2) determine the range of environmental concentrations at which blow fly exposure can be detected; and, 3) determine if the environmental breakdown products of IM components can be distinguished from fly metabolic breakdown products. We hypothesize that biological methods and chemical analysis can be used to determine the various substrates the blow flies interacted with, which can help answer questions about the transport and impact of IM on the environment. The blow fly is a prolific environmental sampler, interacting with water, plant materials, and living and dead animals. Blow flies tend to aggregate in a given area unless they are responding to an odor, therefore it is likely that captured flies will be indicative of their general location where they congregated. We hypothesize that a single fly can yield information related to the deaths of animals in the area (to answer if IMs had an environmental impact on the fauna, determined from DNA), the flora of the area from which the fly came from (determined using DNA, can speak to the land-use practices), the presence of vertebrate feces (indicates a living animal), as well as whether the IMÕs were predominantly in the water or in the soil (determined using microbial DNA sequencing methods).
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 05, 2022
- Source ID
- W911NF2210069
Entities
People
- Nicholas E Manicke
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Indiana University
- United States Army