Transport and transformations of chlorinated-solvent contamination in a saprolite and fractured rock aquifer near a former wastewater-treatment plant, Greenville, South Carolina

Vroblesky, D. A.; Bradley, P. M.; Lane, J. W., Jr.; Robertson, J. F.

Abstract:

The transport and fate of chlorinated-ethene contamination was investigated in a fractured-rock aquifer downgradient from a wastewater-treatment plant at a gas-turbine manufacturing facility inGreenville, South Carolina. A vapor-diffusion- sampler technique, developed for this investigation, located fracture zones that discharged contaminated ground water to surface water. The distribution ofchlorinated compounds and sulfate, comparison of borehole geophysical data, driller‘s logs, and the aquifer response to pumpage allowed subsurface contaminant-transport pathways to be delineated.The probable contaminant-transport pathway from the former aeration lagoon was southward. The probable pathway of contaminant transport from the former sludge lagoon was southward to and beneath Little Rocky Creek. South of the creek, the major pathway of contaminant transport appeared to be at a depth of approximately 80 to 107 feet below land surface. The contaminant-transport pathway from the former industrial lagoon was not readily discernible from existing data. A laboratory investigation, as well as examination of ground- water-chemistry data collected during this investigation and concentrations of chlorinated compounds collected during previous investigations,indicates that higher chlorinated compounds are being degraded to lower-chlorinated compounds in the contaminated aquifer. The approaches used in this investigation, as well as the findings, havepotential application to other fractured-rock aquifers contaminated by chlorinated ethenes.

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USGS Numbered Series

ProdID:

25804

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Vroblesky, D. A.; Bradley, P. M.; Lane, J. W., Jr.; Robertson, J. F.

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ENGLISH

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vi, 76 p. (1 folded) :ill., maps ;28 cm.

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U.S. Geological Survey ; Branch of Information Services [distributor],

Citation Series:

Water-Resources Investigations Report

Citation Series Code:

WRI

Citation Series Number:

97-4003

Citation Search Results Text:

Transport and transformations of chlorinated-solvent contamination in a saprolite and fractured rock aquifer near a former wastewater-treatment plant, Greenville, South Carolina; 1997; WRI; 97-4003; Vroblesky, D. A.; Bradley, P. M.; Lane, J. W., Jr.; Robertson, J. F.