Rheological behavior of xanthan gum solution related to shear thinning fluid delivery for subsurface remediation

► Remedial amendment and salt significantly lowered the xanthan viscosity. ► The viscosity of xanthan solutions decreases nonlinearly with salt concentration. ► Empirical relationships were developed between K and n for a power law fitting the xanthan thinning behavior. ► Xanthan degrades in days with the presence of site sediments. ► Xanthan first breaks down to smaller segments during degradation.