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The U.S. Geological Survey and cooperators are studying chlorinated solvents in a fractured sedimentary rock aquifer underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, New Jersey. Fractured-rock aquifers are common in many parts of the United States and are highly susceptible to contamination, particularly at industrial sites. Compared to ‘unconsolidated‘ aquifers, there can be much more uncertainty about the direction and rate of contaminant migration and about the processes and factors that control chemical and microbial transformations of contaminants. Research at the NAWC is improving understanding of the transport and fate of chlorinated solvents in fractured-rock aquifers and will compare...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
An in situ method of estimating the effective diffusion coefficient for a chemical constituent that diffuses into the primary porosity of a rock is developed by abruptly changing the concentration of the dissolved constituent in a borehole in contact with the rock matrix and monitoring the time-varying concentration. The experiment was conducted in a borehole completed in mudstone on the campus of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Numerous tracer tests were conducted at this site, which left a residual concentration of sodium chloride in boreholes that diffused into the rock matrix over a period of years. Fresh water was introduced into a borehole in contact with the mudstone, and the...
The influence of physicochemical characteristics and motility on bacterial transport in groundwater were examined in flow-through columns. Four strains of bacteria isolated from a crystalline rock groundwater system were investigated, with carboxylate-modified and amidine-modified latex microspheres and bromide as reference tracers. The bacterial isolates included a gram-positive rod (ML1), a gram-negative motile rod (ML2), a nonmotile mutant of ML2 (ML2m), and a gram-positive coccoid (ML3). Experiments were repeated at two flow velocities, in a glass column packed with glass beads, and in another packed with iron-oxyhydroxide coated glass beads. Bacteria breakthrough curves were interpreted using a transport equation...
Excessive water intrusion has been observed inside several of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority subway tunnels, with the worst leakage occurring along the Red Line tunnels and stations north of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. These tunnels were constructed in bedrock that contains permeable (water-bearing) joints and fractures. Excessive water leakage through the walls and water inside the underground facilities has damaged mechanical and electrical components in the tunnel, and has escalated the deterioration rate of the rail system. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority have worked cooperatively on a study from 200003 to describe and quantify the factors...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Proposed expansion of extractive lime-rock mines near the Miami–Dade County Northwest well field and Everglades wetland areas has garnered intense scrutiny by government, public, environmental stakeholders, and the media because of concern that mining will increase the risk of pathogen contamination. Rock mines are excavated to the same depth as the well field's primary producing zone. The underlying karst Biscayne aquifer is a triple-porosity system characterized by (1) a matrix of interparticle porosity and separate vug porosity; (2) touching-vug porosity that forms preferred, stratiform passageways; and, less commonly, (3) conduit porosity formed by thin solution pipes, bedding-plane vugs, and cavernous vugs....
A tracer experiment, using a nonreactive tracer, was conducted as part of an investigation of the potential for chemical and pathogen migration to public supply wells that draw groundwater from the highly transmissive karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida. The tracer was injected into the formation over approximately 1 h, and its recovery was monitored at a pumping well approximately 100 m from the injection well. The first detection of the tracer occurred after approximately 5 h, and the peak concentration occurred at about 8 h after the injection. The tracer was still detected in the production well more than 6 days after injection, and only 42% of the tracer mass was recovered. It is...
Ground waters from fractured igneous and high-grade sialic metamorphic rocks frequently have elevated activity of dissolved radon (222Rn). A chemically based model is proposed whereby radium (226Ra) from the decay of uranium (238U) diffuses through the primary porosity of the rock to the water-transmitting fracture where it is sorbed on weathering products. Sorption of 226Ra on the fracture surface maintains an activity gradient in the rock matrix, ensuring a continuous supply of 226Ra to fracture surfaces. As a result of the relatively long half-life of 226Ra (1601 years), significant activity can accumulate on fracture surfaces. The proximity of this sorbed 226Ra to the active ground water flow system allows its...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
The BAT3 Analyzer provides real-time display and interpretation of fluid pressure responses and flow rates measured during geochemical sampling, hydraulic testing, or tracer testing conducted with the Multifunction Bedrock-Aquifer Transportable Testing Tool (BAT3) (Shapiro, 2007). Real-time display of the data collected with the Multifunction BAT3 allows the user to ensure that the downhole apparatus is operating properly, and that test procedures can be modified to correct for unanticipated hydraulic responses during testing. The BAT3 Analyzer can apply calibrations to the pressure transducer and flow meter data to display physically meaningful values. Plots of the time-varying data can be formatted for a specified...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
The vulnerability of a municipal well in the Northwest well field in southeastern Florida to potential contamination by Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts was assessed in a large-scale, forced-gradient (convergent) injection and recovery test. The field study involved a simultaneous pulse introduction of a nonreactive tracer (SF6, an inert gas) and oocyst-sized (1.6, 2.9, and 4.9 μm diameter) carboxylated polystyrene microspheres into karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer characterized by a complex triple (matrix, touching-vug, and conduit) porosity. Fractional recoveries 97 m down gradient were inversely related to diameter and ranged from 2.9% for the 4.9 μm microspheres to 5.8% for 1.6 μm microspheres. Their centers...
Conceptual and mathematical models are presented that explain tracer breakthrough tailing in the absence of significant matrix diffusion. Model predictions are compared to field results from radially convergent, weak-dipole, and push-pull tracer experiments conducted in a saturated crystalline bedrock. The models are based upon the assumption that flow is highly channelized, that the mass of tracer in a channel is proportional to the cube of the mean channel aperture, and the mean transport time in the channel is related to the square of the mean channel aperture. These models predict the consistent −2 straight line power law slope observed in breakthrough from radially convergent and weak-dipole tracer experiments...
While it is widely recognized that highly permeable ‘large-scale' fractures dominate chemical migration in many fractured aquifers, recent studies suggest that the pervasive ‘small-scale’ fracturing once considered of less significance can be equally important for characterizing the spatial extent and residence time associated with transport processes. A detailed examination of chemical migration through fracture-controlled aquifers is used to advance this conceptual understanding. The influence of fracture structure is evaluated by quantifying the effects to transport caused by a systematic removal of fractures from three-dimensional discrete fracture models whose attributes are derived from geologic and hydrologic...
A borehole testing apparatus has been designed to isolate discrete intervals of a bedrock borehole and conduct hydraulic tests or collect water samples for geochemical analyses. This borehole testing apparatus, referred to as the Multifunction Bedrock-Aquifer Transportable Testing Tool (BAT3), includes two borehole packers, which when inflated can form a pressure-tight seal against smooth borehole walls; a pump apparatus to withdraw water from between the two packers; a fluid-injection apparatus to inject water between the two packers; pressure transducers to monitor fluid pressure between the two packers, as well as above and below the packers; flowmeters to monitor rates of fluid withdrawal or fluid injection;...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
The efficiency of contaminant biodegradation in ground water depends, in part, on the transport properties of the degrading bacteria. Few data exist concerning the transport of bacteria in saturated bedrock, particularly at the field scale. Bacteria and microsphere tracer experiments were conducted in a fractured crystalline bedrock under forced-gradient conditions over a distance of 36 m. Bacteria isolated from the local ground water were chosen on the basis of physicochemical and physiological differences (shape, cell-wall type, motility), and were differentially stained so that their transport behavior could be compared. No two bacterial strains transported in an identical manner, and microspheres produced distinctly...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
The Biscayne aquifer is a highly transmissive karst limestone that serves as the sole source of drinking water to over two million residents in south Florida. The aquifer is characterized by eogenetic karst, where the most transmissive void space can be an interconnected, touching-vug, biogenically influenced porosity of biogenic origin. Public supply wells in the aquifer are in close proximity to lakes established by surface mining. The mining of the limestone has occurred to the same depths as the production wells, which has raised concerns about pathogen and chemical transport from these surface water bodies. Hydraulic and forced gradient tracer tests were conducted to augment geologic and geophysical studies...