Contaminant Fate and Transport Studies in Fractured Sedimentary Rock Aquifers at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, N.J.
Science Center Objects
Contaminants associated with industry 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.
The Latest from NAWC
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Hydraulic tomography: 3D hydraulic conductivity, fracture network, and connectivity in mudstone: Article by Tiedeman and Barrash (2019).
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The complex spatial distribution of trichloroethene and the probability of NAPL occurrence in the rock matrix of a mudstone aquifer: Article by Shapiro and other (2019).
- Concentrations of chlorinated ethene compounds in rock core collected from boreholes 83BR, 84BR, 85BR, 86BR, 87BR, 88BR, and 89BR in the mudstone underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey: Data release by Shapiro and others (2019).
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.
Areal map of the well locations at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) site in West Trenton, New Jersey
(Public domain.)
USGS and University at Buffalo Scientists injecting tracers to study diffusion
(Public domain.)
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 2017 are provided in our Archive.
Recent research findings
Fume hoods used for biodegradation experiments in the laboratory.
Enhancement of Trichloroethene (TCE) Biodegradation in a Simulated Groundwater System
This laboratory study showed that when TCE and acetylene are present, addition of acetylene-fermenting bacteria can enhance bioremediation of TCE and reduce its harmful breakdown products. (Also see journal article by Mao and others, 2017. (Acetylene fuels TCE reductive dechlorination by defined Dehalococcoides/Pelobacter consortia: Environmental Science and Technology)
The set up and equipment used for the bioaugmentation experiment.
USGS scientists updated research progress through presentations at the 2017 National Groundwater Association Conference on Fractured Rock and Groundwater, October 2-3, 2017, in Burlington, Vermont. Project scientists Paul Hsieh and Dan Goode served as Technical Advisors for the conference. Presentations included:
- Quantifying Mobilization of Chlorinated Ethene Compounds Following Bioaugmentation in a Fractured Mudstone
- Field Measurement of Sorption Coefficients and Rates of Diffusion, Biodegradation, and Abiotic Degradation in the Rock Matrix
- In Situ Characterization of Processes Controlling Long-Term Release of CVOCs from Low-Permeability Zones
Research at NAWC was also featured by the conference keynote speaker Lee Slater (Rutgers), and in a presentation by Carl Keller (FLUTe Inc.).
USGS ScienceBase Data & Tools
- Pumping Rate, Drawdown, and Atmospheric Pressure Data from Hydraulic Tomography Experiment at the Former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ, 2015-2016
- Biogeochemical analyses of water samples collected in the mudstone aquifer underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ (2008-2013)
- Groundwater tracing experiments conducted in the mudstone aquifer underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ (2007-2008)
- Data from mercury intrusion porosimetry conducted on samples of a mudstone underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
- Lithologic characterization of cores from boreholes 83BR-89BR collected from the mudstone aquifer underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
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Date published: June 5, 2018Status: ActiveA 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...
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Date published: May 4, 2017Status: ArchivedSimulation 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
Contacts: New Jersey Groundwater Specialist, Model Request
The complex spatial distribution of trichloroethene and the probability of NAPL occurrence in the rock matrix of a mudstone aquifer
Methanol extractions for chloroethene analyses are conducted on rock samples from seven closely spaced coreholes in a mudstone aquifer that was subject to releases of the nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) form of trichloroethene (TCE) between the 1950's and 1990's. Although TCE concentration in the...
Shapiro, Allen M.; Goode, Daniel J.; Imbrigiotta, Thomas; Lorah, Michelle M.; Tiedeman, Claire Variability of organic carbon content and the retention and release of trichloroethene in the rock matrix of a mudstone aquifer
Contaminants diffusing from fractures into the immobile porosity of the rock matrix are subject to prolonged residence times. Organic contaminants can adsorb onto organic carbonaceous materials in the matrix extending contaminant retention. An investigation of spatial variability of the fraction of organic carbon...
Shapiro, Allen M.; Brenneis, Rebecca J. Hydraulic tomography: 3D hydraulic conductivity and fracture network connectivity in a contaminated mudstone aquifer
No abstract available.
Barrash, Warren; Tiedeman, Claire; Thrash, Colby; Patterson, Jeremy; Johnson, Carole D. Acetylenotrophy: A hidden but ubiquitous microbial metabolism?
Acetylene (IUPAC name: ethyne) is a colorless, gaseous hydrocarbon, composed of two triple bonded carbon atoms attached to hydrogens (C2H2). When microbiologists and biogeochemists think of acetylene, they immediately think of its use as an inhibitory compound of certain microbial processes and a tracer for nitrogen fixation. However, what is less...
Akob, Denise M.; Sutton, John M.; Fierst, Janna L.; Haase, Karl B.; Baesman, Shaun; Luther, George; Miller, Laurence G.; Oremland, Ronald S. Bioremediation in fractured rock: 1. Modeling to inform design, monitoring, and expectations
Field characterization of a trichloroethene (TCE) source area in fractured mudstones produced a detailed understanding of the geology, contaminant distribution in fractures and the rock matrix, and hydraulic and transport properties. Groundwater flow and chemical transport modeling that synthesized the field characterization information proved...
Tiedeman, Claire; Shapiro, Allen M.; Hsieh, Paul A.; Imbrigiotta, Thomas; Goode, Daniel J.; Lacombe, Pierre; DeFlaun, Mary F.; Drew, Scott R.; Johnson, Carole D.; Williams, John H.; Curtis, Gary P. Bioremediation in fractured rock: 2. Mobilization of chloroethene compounds from the rock matrix
A mass balance is formulated to evaluate the mobilization of chlorinated ethene compounds (CE) from the rock matrix of a fractured mudstone aquifer under pre- and postbioremediation conditions. The analysis relies on a sparse number of monitoring locations and is constrained by a detailed description of the groundwater flow regime. Groundwater...
Shapiro, Allen M.; Tiedeman, Claire; Imbrigiotta, Thomas; Goode, Daniel J.; Hsieh, Paul A.; Lacombe, Pierre; DeFlaun, Mary F.; Drew, Scott R.; Curtis, Gary P.
Ground-water levels and potentiometric surfaces, Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2000
Water levels were measured in wells at the decommissioned Naval Air Warfare Center in West Trenton, N.J., during 2000. Water-level hydrographs prepared from data collected at seven observation wells on the base show changes caused by seasonal and daily climate conditions and by the pumping of contaminated water from recovery wells. Stressed and...
Lacombe, Pierre J. Detection of diazotrophy in the acetylene-fermenting anaerobe Pelobacter sp. strain SFB93
Acetylene (C2H2) is a trace constituent of the present Earth's oxidizing atmosphere, reflecting a mixture of terrestrial and marine emissions from anthropogenic, biomass-burning, and unidentified biogenic sources. Fermentation of acetylene was serendipitously discovered during C2H2 block assays of N2O reductase, and Pelobacter acetylenicus was...
Akob, Denise M.; Baesman, Shaun; Sutton, John M.; Fierst, Janna L.; Mumford, Adam; Shrestha, Yesha; Poret-Peterson, Amisha T.; Bennett, Stacy; Dunlap, Darren S.; Haase, Karl B.; Oremland, Ronald S. Porosity and pore size distribution in a sedimentary rock: Implications for the distribution of chlorinated solvents
Characterizing properties of the rock matrix that control retention and release of chlorinated solvents is essential in evaluating the extent of contamination and the application of remediation technologies in fractured rock. Core samples from seven closely spaced boreholes in a mudstone subject to trichloroethene (TCE) contamination were analyzed...
Shapiro, Allen M.; Evans, Chrsitopher E.; Hayes, Erin C. Acetylene fuels TCE reductive dechlorination by defined Dehalococcoides/Pelobacter consortia
Acetylene (C2H2) can be generated in contaminated groundwater sites as a consequence of chemical degradation of trichloroethene (TCE) by in situ minerals, and C2H2 is known to inhibit bacterial dechlorination. In this study, we show that while high C2H2 (1.3 mM) concentrations reversibly inhibit reductive dechlorination of TCE by Dehalococcoides...
Mao, Xinwei; Oremland, Ronald S.; Liu, Tong; Landers, Abigail A; Baesman, Shaun; Alvarez-Cohen, Lisa A fractured rock geophysical toolbox method selection tool
Geophysical technologies have the potential to improve site characterization and monitoring in fractured rock, but the appropriate and effective application of geophysics at a particular site strongly depends on project goals (e.g., identifying discrete fractures) and site characteristics (e.g., lithology). No method works at every site or for...
Day-Lewis, F. D.; Johnson, C.D.; Slater, L.D.; Robinson, J.L.; Williams, J.H.; Boyden, C.L.; Werkema, D.D.; Lane, J.W. Imaging pathways in fractured rock using three-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography
Major challenges exist in delineating bedrock fracture zones because these cause abrupt changes in geological and hydrogeological properties over small distances. Borehole observations cannot sufficiently capture heterogeneity in these systems. Geophysical techniques offer the potential to image properties and processes in between boreholes. We...
Robinson, Judith; Slater, Lee; Johnson, Timothy B.; Shapiro, Allen M.; Tiedeman, Claire; Ntlargiannis, Dimitrios; Johnson, Carole D.; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Lacombe, Pierre; Imbrigiotta, Thomas; Lane, John W.-
Date published: August 1, 2017MODFLOW-2005 and MT3DMS models used to design and evaluate a bioremediation experiment at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ
MODFLOW-2005 groundwater flow models and MT3DMS solute transport models were developed
to represent conditions in the vicinity of a bioremediation experiment conducted in fractured rocks
underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey. The groundwater flow
models include transient simulations of water-level changes during six field aquifer tests and...Attribution: Water Resources -
Date published: January 1, 2017
Data from Mercury intrusion porosimetry conducted on samples of a mudstone underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ
This data set presents the results of conducting mercury intrusion porosimetry on core samples of the mudstone underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ. The core samples were selected from the continuous core collected from boreholes 83BR-89BR.
Attribution: Water Resources -
Date published: January 1, 2017
Biogeochemical analyses of water samples collected in the mudstone aquifer underlying the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ (2008-2013)
These data sets present results from the analyses of groundwater samples collected from monitoring wells and monitoring intervals in bedrock wells in the mudstone aquifer underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, NJ. The water samples were collected between 2008 and 2013 and were analyzed for field parameters, inorganic and organic constituents, and the abundances of...
Attribution: Water Resources
Tracer Addition
USGS and University at Buffalo scientists injecting tracers to study diffusion.
Equipment for an Bioaugmentation Experiment at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Research Site, West Trenton, New Jersey
The set up and equipment used for the bioaugmentation experiment at a fractured-rock contamination site. The site is contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE). The bladders contain the solutions that were injected into the subsurface. The injection well is right in front of the blue barrel. The experiment
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