Contaminants associated with industrial, airport, and other activities are present in groundwater in fractured-rock aquifers, posing long-term hazards to drinking-water supplies and ecosystems. The heterogeneous character of fractured rock challenges our understanding, monitoring, and remediation of such sites.
Since 1993, USGS has been providing technical assistance to the U.S. Navy and conducting research at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, N.J., where trichloroethene (TCE) has migrated in fractures and diffused into, and adsorbed onto, low-permeability mudstone strata, acting as a long-term residual source of contaminants. These studies have helped the Navy efficiently monitor the ongoing natural attenuation of TCE and improve the pump and treat system to remove contaminants and contain impacted groundwater.
Current investigations are focused on understanding flow and transport processes affecting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fractured-rock aquifers.
Research results include development of field methods to measure rates and coefficients associated with desorption, reaction, and diffusion of TCE and its degradation products in low-permeability strata (read more). In addition to research by USGS hydrologists, geochemists, and microbiologists, a broad range of studies on characterization, monitoring, and remediation of TCE in fractured rock have been conducted in collaboration with EPA, SERDP and ESTCP, academia, and private industry.
Background information and results prior to 2018 are provided in our Archive.
Related Science
A Field Method to Quantify Chlorinated Solvent Diffusion, Sorption, Abiotic and Biotic Degradation in Low-Permeability Zones
Contaminants in groundwater near former Navy bases in southeastern Pennsylvania
Contaminants in Complex Hydrogeologic Settings - NAWC 2018 Archive
Simulation of groundwater flow and pathlines at NAWC NJ (2006)
- Overview
Contaminants associated with industrial, airport, and other activities are present in groundwater in fractured-rock aquifers, posing long-term hazards to drinking-water supplies and ecosystems. The heterogeneous character of fractured rock challenges our understanding, monitoring, and remediation of such sites.
Since 1993, USGS has been providing technical assistance to the U.S. Navy and conducting research at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, N.J., where trichloroethene (TCE) has migrated in fractures and diffused into, and adsorbed onto, low-permeability mudstone strata, acting as a long-term residual source of contaminants. These studies have helped the Navy efficiently monitor the ongoing natural attenuation of TCE and improve the pump and treat system to remove contaminants and contain impacted groundwater.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. Visit Media to see details.USGS and University at Buffalo Scientists injecting tracers to study diffusion (Public domain). Current investigations are focused on understanding flow and transport processes affecting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fractured-rock aquifers.
Research results include development of field methods to measure rates and coefficients associated with desorption, reaction, and diffusion of TCE and its degradation products in low-permeability strata (read more). In addition to research by USGS hydrologists, geochemists, and microbiologists, a broad range of studies on characterization, monitoring, and remediation of TCE in fractured rock have been conducted in collaboration with EPA, SERDP and ESTCP, academia, and private industry.
Background information and results prior to 2018 are provided in our Archive.
- Science
Related Science
A Field Method to Quantify Chlorinated Solvent Diffusion, Sorption, Abiotic and Biotic Degradation in Low-Permeability Zones
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program project ER-2533 In chlorinated-solvent-contaminated fractured-sedimentary-rock aquifers, low-permeability (low-K) strata typically act as long-term or secondary sources of contamination to mobile groundwater in the high-permeability fractures. The fate of dissolved trichloroethene (TCE) in the low-K matrix is controlled by abiotic...Contaminants in groundwater near former Navy bases in southeastern Pennsylvania
USGS has investigated groundwater flow and contaminant transport in the vicinity of former Navy bases in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, southeastern Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy. Additional cooperative support for these investigations has been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bucks and Montgomery counties...Contaminants in Complex Hydrogeologic Settings - NAWC 2018 Archive
Long-Term Field Research at former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, New Jersey This is an Archive.Simulation of groundwater flow and pathlines at NAWC NJ (2006)
Hydraulic and Solute-Transport Properties and Simulated Advective Transport of Contaminated Groundwater in a Fractured-Rock Aquifer at the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey by Jean C. Lewis-Brown and Donald E. Rice - Data
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