Amargosa Desert Research Site Completed
In 1976, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studies of unsaturated zone hydrology at a site in the Amargosa Desert near Beatty, Nevada, as part of the USGS Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program. The site is near disposal trenches for civilian waste.
Over the years, USGS investigations at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) have provided long-term "benchmark" information about the hydraulic characteristics and soil-water movement for both natural-site conditions and simulated waste-site conditions in an arid environment. In 1995, as a result of finding elevated concentrations of tritium and carbon-14 in the unsaturated zone beneath the ADRS, the scope of research was broadened to improve understanding of processes affecting contaminant transport and release to environmental receptors. The ADRS was incorporated into the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program in 1997. The site serves as a field laboratory for multidisciplinary, collaborative research that involves scientists from research institutes, universities, National laboratories, and the USGS.
Current Research
Field-intensive research on water, gas, and chemical movement in the environment is being supported by multiple lines of data:
- Weather, evapotranspiration, and plant data
- Subsurface moisture, temperature, gas, and ground-water monitoring
- Soil and sediment properties; geology; geophysics; and microbiology
Mixed-waste, point-source contaminant studies include:
- Tritium
- Radiocarbon
- Volatile-organic compounds
- Mercury
Natural, non-point-source contaminant studies include:
- Perchlorate
Perchlorate has emerged as an environmental contaminant of concern in drinking water and food. Natural perchlorate forms in the atmosphere and soil, plant, and atmospheric-deposition samples are being used to evaluate factors controlling its accumulation and cycling in desert environments.
Field and laboratory data are being integrated with numerical modeling to develop predictive tools for assessing chemical transport and fate in the environment.
Methods are being developed to improve characterization of physical, chemical, and biological factors that control hydrologic and chemical-transport processes.
Overall Research Objectives
- Improve quantitative understanding of arid-site processes affecting contaminant transport and release to environmental receptors by integrating existing and new information into physically based numerical and analytical models.
- Fill gaps in present knowledge of soil–plant–atmosphere interactions in arid regions with respect to water, gas, and contaminant transport. Explain effects of such interactions on transport processes and on environmental health through analyses of spatial and temporal heterogeneities and trends, and through targeted data collection.
- Develop efficient methods for characterizing anthropogenically introduced and naturally occurring contaminant distributions in order to test theories of flow and transport processes at the field scale.
Use of Results
Results of studies at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) are contributing to the characterization and understanding of arid-site processes. The findings have far reaching implications for water resources management in such environments, both in terms of waste disposal and of ground-water availability. Long-term, benchmark information and the testing and development of methods and models at the ADRS have helped others in their characterization of flow and transport processes at other arid sites in the United States and the World.
"I just read the article, "Plant-Based Plume-Scale Mapping of Tritium Contamination in Desert Soils," and wanted to express my appreciation. This is the first time anyone has mapped subsurface vapor-phase tritium migration using plants, but I doubt it will be the last. The technique that your team worked out, and the quality of the verification that was conducted, virtually ensure that this method will be used again and again. Providing a new technique that saves both time and money without sacrificing data quality is a real contribution, and one which may improve characterization of many environmental sites."
Steve Rock, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, written communication, 2005
"I have found the paleohydrologic investigations of the USGS involving sub-soil nitrates and chlorides in arid regions to be both instructive and relevant to my current research endeavors with perchlorate and oxy-anions."
Gregory Harvey, Environmental Safety and Health Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, written communication, 2004.
"I would like to thank all of the ADRS research team, and especially you for the cooperation and help that allowed us to perform our study at the ADRS. The ADRS truly is serving as a field laboratory for the study of vadose-zone hydrology in arid regions. The long-term information and basic data gathered at the site is of benefit to many researchers that have a wide variety of interests. The generous data sharing and the up-to-date website are not only saving money and time for those doing research at the ADRS, but are also accelerating improved understanding hydrologic processes."
Weiquan Dong, Research Assistant and Ph.D. candidate, Department of Geoscience, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, May 20, 2004
"The ADRS studies provide valuable guidelines that help establish regulatory minimums on demonstrations of adequate design, numerical modeling, and performance monitoring for alternative evapotranspiration (ET) landfill caps. The high quality, in-situ data on long-term soil- water movement verifies the realistic range of critical model parameters for the dry and sparse-vegetation conditions that often prevail in parts of Montana. The ADRS studies also provide insights on the effects of plants and soil properties on cap performance, and suggest that ET cap performance may actually improve over the 30 years of landfill post-closure care."
Tim Stepp, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, written communication, 2002.
"Research activities at the Amargosa Desert Research Site are of great inspiration on the aspect of waste disposal in arid environments, of which so little is known. Results of the Amargosa Desert studies will be of great help in our work to identify suitable sites and to develop guidelines for waste disposal in Namibia, a country with a highly variable climatic setting and large areas that receive very limited precipitation, such as the Namib and Kalahari Deserts."
Sindila Mwiya, Engineering and Environment Subdivision, Geological Survey of Namibia, written communication, 2001.
"Soil-water measurement technology developed at the Amargosa Desert Research Site is being used to assess the hydrologic performance of an evapotranspiration landfill cover at the US Army Fort Carson military base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The techniques provide a means to assess the performance of unconventional landfill covers that can be constructed at a considerably lower cost than conventional covers."
Patrick McGuire, Senior Soil Scientist, Earth Tech, Sheboygan, WI and Donald Moses, Chief, HTW Geotechnical Section, Engineering Division, US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, NE, written communication, 2001.
This work is of particular interest to regulators, U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy, and industry professionals because it is the first alternative landfill-cover design to be approved by the state of Colorado.
Under a contract from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has requested ADRS multiple-year meteorologic and hydrologic data for use in the development of numerical models for calculating water movement through the unsaturated zone at low-level radioactive waste sites. Water-flux meters designed by PNNL have also been installed at the ADRS in a collaborative effort (1) to test, under hyper-arid climate conditions, the performance of meters which are being used to document net water infiltration into waste covers at the Hanford site and (2) to support the ADRS study of vadose-zone transport. The water-flux meter installation and testing effort is supported by U.S. Department of Energy (SUBCON) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission funding. (Glendon Gee, Senior Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, personal communication, 2001).
Additional web pages for this project are listed below.
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Most publications for research at the ADRS are listed below. Citations for additional publications can be found here:
Supplemental Amargosa Desert Research Station Publications
Tritium in unsaturated zone gases and air at the Amargosa Desert Research Site, and in spring and river water, near Beatty, Nevada, May 1997
Tritium, deuterium, and oxygen-18 in water collected from unsaturated sediments near a low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada
Soil, plant, and structural considerations for surface barriers in arid environments: Application of results from studies in the Mojave Desert near Beatty, Nevada
Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level radioactive waste disposal, May 4-6, 1993, National Center, Reston, Virginia; Proceedings
Factors affecting tritium and 14carbon distributions in the unsaturated zone near the low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada
Selected meteorological and micrometeorological data for an arid site near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, calendar year 1992
Topic III - Infiltration and Drainage: A section in Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level radioactive waste disposal, May 4-6, 1993, National Center, Reston, Virginia; Proceedings (WRI 95-40
Water-vapor movement through unsaturated alluvium in Amargosa Desert near Beatty, Nevada - Current understanding and continuing studies: A section in Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level ra
Selected meteorological data for an arid site near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, calendar years 1990 and 1991
Waste burial in arid environments - Application of Information from a field laboratory in the Mojave Desert, Southern Nevada
Tritium and radioactive carbon (14C) analyses of gas collected from unsaturated sediments next to a low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada, April 1994 and July 1995
Variations in water balance and recharge potential at three western desert sites
- Overview
In 1976, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studies of unsaturated zone hydrology at a site in the Amargosa Desert near Beatty, Nevada, as part of the USGS Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program. The site is near disposal trenches for civilian waste.
Over the years, USGS investigations at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) have provided long-term "benchmark" information about the hydraulic characteristics and soil-water movement for both natural-site conditions and simulated waste-site conditions in an arid environment. In 1995, as a result of finding elevated concentrations of tritium and carbon-14 in the unsaturated zone beneath the ADRS, the scope of research was broadened to improve understanding of processes affecting contaminant transport and release to environmental receptors. The ADRS was incorporated into the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program in 1997. The site serves as a field laboratory for multidisciplinary, collaborative research that involves scientists from research institutes, universities, National laboratories, and the USGS.
Current Research
Field-intensive research on water, gas, and chemical movement in the environment is being supported by multiple lines of data:
- Weather, evapotranspiration, and plant data
- Subsurface moisture, temperature, gas, and ground-water monitoring
- Soil and sediment properties; geology; geophysics; and microbiology
Mixed-waste, point-source contaminant studies include:
- Tritium
- Radiocarbon
- Volatile-organic compounds
- Mercury
Natural, non-point-source contaminant studies include:
- Perchlorate
Perchlorate has emerged as an environmental contaminant of concern in drinking water and food. Natural perchlorate forms in the atmosphere and soil, plant, and atmospheric-deposition samples are being used to evaluate factors controlling its accumulation and cycling in desert environments.
Field and laboratory data are being integrated with numerical modeling to develop predictive tools for assessing chemical transport and fate in the environment.
Methods are being developed to improve characterization of physical, chemical, and biological factors that control hydrologic and chemical-transport processes.
Overall Research Objectives
- Improve quantitative understanding of arid-site processes affecting contaminant transport and release to environmental receptors by integrating existing and new information into physically based numerical and analytical models.
- Fill gaps in present knowledge of soil–plant–atmosphere interactions in arid regions with respect to water, gas, and contaminant transport. Explain effects of such interactions on transport processes and on environmental health through analyses of spatial and temporal heterogeneities and trends, and through targeted data collection.
- Develop efficient methods for characterizing anthropogenically introduced and naturally occurring contaminant distributions in order to test theories of flow and transport processes at the field scale.
Use of Results
Results of studies at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) are contributing to the characterization and understanding of arid-site processes. The findings have far reaching implications for water resources management in such environments, both in terms of waste disposal and of ground-water availability. Long-term, benchmark information and the testing and development of methods and models at the ADRS have helped others in their characterization of flow and transport processes at other arid sites in the United States and the World.
"I just read the article, "Plant-Based Plume-Scale Mapping of Tritium Contamination in Desert Soils," and wanted to express my appreciation. This is the first time anyone has mapped subsurface vapor-phase tritium migration using plants, but I doubt it will be the last. The technique that your team worked out, and the quality of the verification that was conducted, virtually ensure that this method will be used again and again. Providing a new technique that saves both time and money without sacrificing data quality is a real contribution, and one which may improve characterization of many environmental sites."
Steve Rock, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, written communication, 2005
"I have found the paleohydrologic investigations of the USGS involving sub-soil nitrates and chlorides in arid regions to be both instructive and relevant to my current research endeavors with perchlorate and oxy-anions."
Gregory Harvey, Environmental Safety and Health Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, written communication, 2004.
"I would like to thank all of the ADRS research team, and especially you for the cooperation and help that allowed us to perform our study at the ADRS. The ADRS truly is serving as a field laboratory for the study of vadose-zone hydrology in arid regions. The long-term information and basic data gathered at the site is of benefit to many researchers that have a wide variety of interests. The generous data sharing and the up-to-date website are not only saving money and time for those doing research at the ADRS, but are also accelerating improved understanding hydrologic processes."
Weiquan Dong, Research Assistant and Ph.D. candidate, Department of Geoscience, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, May 20, 2004
"The ADRS studies provide valuable guidelines that help establish regulatory minimums on demonstrations of adequate design, numerical modeling, and performance monitoring for alternative evapotranspiration (ET) landfill caps. The high quality, in-situ data on long-term soil- water movement verifies the realistic range of critical model parameters for the dry and sparse-vegetation conditions that often prevail in parts of Montana. The ADRS studies also provide insights on the effects of plants and soil properties on cap performance, and suggest that ET cap performance may actually improve over the 30 years of landfill post-closure care."
Tim Stepp, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, written communication, 2002.
"Research activities at the Amargosa Desert Research Site are of great inspiration on the aspect of waste disposal in arid environments, of which so little is known. Results of the Amargosa Desert studies will be of great help in our work to identify suitable sites and to develop guidelines for waste disposal in Namibia, a country with a highly variable climatic setting and large areas that receive very limited precipitation, such as the Namib and Kalahari Deserts."
Sindila Mwiya, Engineering and Environment Subdivision, Geological Survey of Namibia, written communication, 2001.
"Soil-water measurement technology developed at the Amargosa Desert Research Site is being used to assess the hydrologic performance of an evapotranspiration landfill cover at the US Army Fort Carson military base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The techniques provide a means to assess the performance of unconventional landfill covers that can be constructed at a considerably lower cost than conventional covers."
Patrick McGuire, Senior Soil Scientist, Earth Tech, Sheboygan, WI and Donald Moses, Chief, HTW Geotechnical Section, Engineering Division, US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, NE, written communication, 2001.
This work is of particular interest to regulators, U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy, and industry professionals because it is the first alternative landfill-cover design to be approved by the state of Colorado.
Under a contract from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has requested ADRS multiple-year meteorologic and hydrologic data for use in the development of numerical models for calculating water movement through the unsaturated zone at low-level radioactive waste sites. Water-flux meters designed by PNNL have also been installed at the ADRS in a collaborative effort (1) to test, under hyper-arid climate conditions, the performance of meters which are being used to document net water infiltration into waste covers at the Hanford site and (2) to support the ADRS study of vadose-zone transport. The water-flux meter installation and testing effort is supported by U.S. Department of Energy (SUBCON) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission funding. (Glendon Gee, Senior Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, personal communication, 2001).
- Science
Additional web pages for this project are listed below.
- Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
- Publications
Most publications for research at the ADRS are listed below. Citations for additional publications can be found here:
Supplemental Amargosa Desert Research Station Publications
Filter Total Items: 87Tritium in unsaturated zone gases and air at the Amargosa Desert Research Site, and in spring and river water, near Beatty, Nevada, May 1997
Elevated tritium concentrations in the unsaturated zone at the Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS), immediately south and west of the low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada, have stimulated research of processes that control the transport of tritium in arid unsaturated zones. In May 1997, 58 samples were collected from 1.5 m (meters) depth within a 250 m by 250 m grid atAuthorsRobert G. Striegl, Richard W. Healy, Robert L. Michel, David E. PrudicTritium, deuterium, and oxygen-18 in water collected from unsaturated sediments near a low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada
Pore water was extracted in March 1996 from cores collected from test holes UZB-1 and UZB-2 drilled November 1992 and September 1993, respectively, in the Amargosa Desert south of Beatty, Nevada. The test holes are part of a study to determine factors affecting water and gas movement through unsaturated sediments. The holes are about 100 meters south of the southwest corner of the fence enclosingAuthorsDavid E. Prudic, David A. Stonestrom, Robert G. StrieglSoil, plant, and structural considerations for surface barriers in arid environments: Application of results from studies in the Mojave Desert near Beatty, Nevada
The suitability of a waste-burial site depends on hydrologic processes that can affect the near-surface water balance. In addition, the loss of burial trench integrity by erosion and subsidence of trench covers may increase the likelihood of infiltration and percolation, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the site in isolating waste. Although the main components of the water balance may be defiAuthorsBrian J. Andraski, David E. PrudicJoint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level radioactive waste disposal, May 4-6, 1993, National Center, Reston, Virginia; Proceedings
This report contains papers presented at the "Joint U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Technical Workshop on Research Related to Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLW) Disposal" that was held at the USGS National Center Auditorium, Reston, Virginia, May 4-6, 1993. The objective of the workshop was to provide a forum for exchange of information, ideas, and technolFactors affecting tritium and 14carbon distributions in the unsaturated zone near the low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada
Interpretations of the distributions of tritiated water vapor (HTOV) and 14carbon dioxide gas (14CO2) concentrations in the unsaturated zone adjacent to the low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada, suggest that observed concentrations of 14CO2 could be explained by either diffusive or advective transport of the radioactive gas from the site.The distribution of HTOV cannot bAuthorsRobert G. Striegl, David E. Prudic, J. S. Duval, R. W. Healy, E. R. Landa, D.W. Pollock, D.C. Thorstenson, R.P. WeeksSelected meteorological and micrometeorological data for an arid site near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, calendar year 1992
il-heat-flux data were collected at a study site adjacent to a low-level radioactive-waste burial facility near Beatty, Nevada, for calendar year 1992. Data were collected in support of ongoing studies to estimate the potential for downward movement of radionuclides into the unsaturated sediments beneath waste-burial trenches at the arid facility. Data collected for the whole year include air tempAuthorsJames L. WoodTopic III - Infiltration and Drainage: A section in Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level radioactive waste disposal, May 4-6, 1993, National Center, Reston, Virginia; Proceedings (WRI 95-40
Infiltration into and drainage from facilities for the disposal of low-level radioactive wastes is considered the major process by which non-volatile contaminants are transported away from the facilities. The session included 10 papers related to the processes of infiltration and drainage, and to the simulation of flow and transport through the unsaturated zone. The first paper, presented by DavidAuthorsDavid E. Prudic, Glendon GeeWater-vapor movement through unsaturated alluvium in Amargosa Desert near Beatty, Nevada - Current understanding and continuing studies: A section in Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level ra
Disposal of low-level radioactive wastes has been a concern since the 1950's. These wastes commonly are buried in shallow trenches (Fischer, 1986, p. 2). Water infiltrating into the trenches is considered the principal process by which contaminants are transported away from the buried wastes, although gaseous transport in some areas may be important. Arid regions in the western United States haveAuthorsDavid E. PrudicSelected meteorological data for an arid site near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, calendar years 1990 and 1991
Selected meteorological data were collected at a study site adjacent to a low-level radioactive-waste burial facility near Beatty, Nevada, for calendar years 1990 and 1991. Data were collected in support of ongoing studies to estimate the potential for downward movement of radionuclides into the unsaturated sediments beneath waste-burial trenches at the facility. The data include air temperature,AuthorsJames L. Wood, Brian J. AndraskiWaste burial in arid environments - Application of Information from a field laboratory in the Mojave Desert, Southern Nevada
Because of the potentially harmful effect of improper waste disposal on water resources in the arid West, comprehensive laboratory and field studies are critical to identifying likely contaminant-release pathways and the potential for waste migration at arid sites. However, the quandary for those charged with assessment of the suitability of potential disposal sites is that site characterization aAuthorsBrian J. Andraski, David E. Prudic, William D. NicholsTritium and radioactive carbon (14C) analyses of gas collected from unsaturated sediments next to a low-level radioactive-waste burial site south of Beatty, Nevada, April 1994 and July 1995
Tritium activities in water vapor and radioactive carbon (14C) activities in carbon dioxide were determined in gas samples pumped from small-diameter air ports installed in a test hole within the unsaturated sediments next to a commercial burial site for low-level radioactive waste south of Beatty, Nevada. In April 1994, gas samples were collected from test hole UZB-2, which was drilled about 350AuthorsDavid E. Prudic, Robert G. StrieglVariations in water balance and recharge potential at three western desert sites
Radioactive and hazardous waste landfills exist at numerous desert locations in the USA. At these locations, annual precipitation is low and soils are generally dry, yet little is known about recharge of water and transport of contaminants to the water table. Recent water balance measurements made at three desert locations, Las Cruces, NM, Beatty, NV, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford SiAuthorsG.W. Gee, P.J. Wierenga, Brian J. Andraski, M.H. Young, M.J. Fayer, M.L. Rockhold