PHILIP T Harte, P.G.
My research incorporates the development of novel tools and methods to address important societal questions related to fate and transport of contaminants in complex groundwater systems to help safequard our natural resources.
Biography
Research Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey focusing on the study of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in natural and remediated settings with complex, hetereogeneous formations. Experience includes over 30 years of work on the national and international arena studying the occurrence, distribution, and fate of natural and anthropogenic contamination problems. Research includes the development of new tools and methods that provide new insight into contaminant occurrence. An important component of my work is the new insight provided through the identification of new findings related to the unique linkage between physical flow processes and water chemistry results. This work requires multidiscipline application and a comprehensive understanding of groundwater hydraulics, geophysics, and geochemistry.
Science and Products
The Purge Analyzer Tool (PAT) to Assess Optimal Pumping Parameters in the Collection of Representative Groundwater Samples from Wells
The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing analytical models to assess in-well groundwater flow conditions during the collection of groundwater samples from wells being pumped. This information can be used to inform groundwater samplers on when and how to collect samples that are most reflective of the targeted aquifer or...
Instructions for running the analytical code PAT (Purge Analyzer Tool) for computation of in-well time of travel of groundwater under pumping conditions
IntroductionUnderstanding the optimal time needed to purge a well while pumping to collect a representative groundwater sample requires an understanding of groundwater flow in wells (in-well flow). Parameters that affect in-well flow include the hydraulic properties of the aquifer, well construction, drawdown from pumping, and pump rate. The time...
Harte, P.T.; Huffman, B.J.; Perina, Tomas; Levine, Herb; Rojas-Mickelson, Daewon
Identifying natural and anthropogenic variability of uranium at the well scale, Homestake Superfund site, near Milan, New Mexico, USA
The San Mateo Creek Basin in New Mexico, USA is located within the Grants Mineral Belt-an area with numerous uranium (U) ore deposits, mines, and milling operations. Six monitoring wells set in an alluvial aquifer near the Homestake Mining Co. Superfund site in the lower San Mateo Creek Basin were logged with a suite of borehole geophysical tools...
Harte, Philip T.; Blake, Johanna M.; Thomas, Jonathan V.; Becher, Kent D.
Determination of representative uranium and selenium concentrations from groundwater, 2016, Homestake Mining Company Superfund site, Milan, New Mexico
In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, collected data on isotopes, age dating, and geochemistry including aqueous uranium concentrations of samples from 20 locations in the vicinity of the Homestake Mining Company Superfund site near Milan, New Mexico. The 20 sampled locations include 19...
Harte, Philip T.; Blake, Johanna M.; Becher, Kent D. In-well time-of-travel approach to evaluate optimal purge duration during low-flow sampling of monitoring wells
A common assumption with groundwater sampling is that low (<0.5 L/min) pumping rates during well purging and sampling captures primarily lateral flow from the formation through the well-screened interval at a depth coincident with the pump intake. However, if the intake is adjacent to a low hydraulic conductivity part of the screened...
Harte, Philip T. Groundwater level trends and drivers in two northern New England glacial aquifers
We evaluated long-term trends and predictors of groundwater levels by month from two well-studied northern New England forested headwater glacial aquifers: Sleepers River, Vermont, 44 wells, 1992-2013; and Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire, 15 wells, 1979-2004. Based on Kendall Tau tests with Sen slope determination, a surprising number of well-...
Shanley, James B.; Chalmers, Ann T.; Mack, Thomas J.; Smith, Thor E.; Harte, Philip T. Distributional patterns of arsenic concentrations in contaminant plumes offer clues to the source of arsenic in groundwater at landfills
The distributional pattern of dissolved arsenic concentrations from landfill plumes can provide clues to the source of arsenic contamination. Under simple idealized conditions, arsenic concentrations along flow paths in aquifers proximal to a landfill will decrease under anthropogenic sources but potentially increase under in situ sources. This...
Harte, Philip T. Observations from borehole dilution logging experiments in fractured crystalline rock under variable hydraulic conditions
Identifying hydraulically active fractures in low permeability, crystalline-bedrock aquifers requires a variety of geophysical and hydrogeophysical borehole tools and approaches. One such approach is Single Borehole Dilution Tests (SBDT), which in some low flow cases have been shown to provide greater resolution of borehole flow than other logging...
Harte, Philip T.; Anderson, Alton; Williams, John H. Hydraulically controlled discrete sampling from open boreholes
Groundwater sampling from open boreholes in fractured-rock aquifers is particularly challenging because of mixing and dilution of fluid within the borehole from multiple fractures. This note presents an alternative to traditional sampling in open boreholes with packer assemblies. The alternative system called ZONFLO (zonal flow) is based on...
Harte, Philip T.
Physical, chemical, and isotopic data from groundwater in the watershed of Mirror Lake, and in the vicinity of Hubbard Brook, near West Thornton, New Hampshire, 1983 to 1997
Research on the hydrogeologic setting of Mirror Lake near West Thornton, New Hampshire (43° 56.5’ N, 71° 41.5’ W), includes the study of the physical, chemical, and isotopic characteristics of groundwater in the vicinity of the lake and nearby Hubbard Brook. Presented here are those physical, chemical, and isotopic data for the period 1983 to 1997...
LaBaugh, James W.; Harte, Philip T.; Shapiro, Allen M.; Hsieh, Paul A.; Johnson, Carole D.; Goode, Daniel J.; Wood, Warren W.; Buso, Donald C.; Likens, Gene E.; Winter, Thomas C.
Bedrock geology and outcrop fracture trends in the vicinity of the Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire
The Savage Municipal Well Superfund site consists of an eastward-directed plume of volatile organic compounds, principally tetrachloroethylene (PCE), in alluvium and glacial sand and gravel in the Souhegan River valley, just south of the river and about 4 kilometers west of the town of Milford, New Hampshire. Sampling of monitoring wells at the...
Burton, William C.; Harte, Philip T.
Hydrogeologic framework, arsenic distribution, and groundwater geochemistry of the glacial-sediment aquifer at the Auburn Road landfill superfund site, Londonderry, New Hampshire
Leachate continues to be generated from landfills at the Auburn Road Landfill Superfund Site in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Impermeable caps on the three landfills at the site inhibit direct infiltration of precipitation; however, high water-table conditions allow groundwater to interact with landfill materials from below, creating leachate and...
Degnan, James R.; Harte, Philip T.
Geochemical, isotopic, and dissolved gas characteristics of groundwater in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer, Savage Municipal Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire, 2011
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than (>) 300 feet (ft) below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer beneath operable unit 1 (OU1) of the Savage Municipal Well Superfund site (Weston, Inc., 2010). Operable units define remedial areas of...
Harte, Philip T.