Tracer Test Monitoring at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

USGS and Stanford University scientists used electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) – similar to medical CAT scan techniques – to monitor the subsurface movement of a saline tracer (sodium chloride – salt) in an unconsolidated sedimentary aquifer. Resulting time-lapse geophysical images identified flow paths of tracer transport in the aquifer, indicated contrasts representative of changes in tracer concentration in three dimensions (3-D) through time, and were useful in calibrating a ground-water flow computer model. The ERT results include sixty 3-D snapshots of tracer movement during a 20-day test. The combination of ERT imaging and conventional tracer tests provides a new methodology for understanding aquifer heterogeneity at the field scale.

• Singha, K., and Gorelick, S.M., 2005, Saline tracer visualized with electrical resistivity tomography–field scale spatial moment analysis: Water Resources Research, v. 41, no. 5, W05023, doi:10.1029/2004WR003460.
• Singha, K. and Gorelick, S.M., 2006, Effects of spatially variable resolution on field-scale estimates of tracer concentration from electrical inversions using Archie’s law: Geophysics, v. 71, no. 3, p. G83-G91.

More Information

• Mapping Aquifer Heterogeneity : Integrated Analysis of Geophysical and Hydraulic Data at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Monitoring Biostimulation Remediation at the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant (NIROP), Fridley, Minnesota

USGS scientists used time-lapse borehole radar tomography to monitor a field-scale bioremediation pilot project conducted by the U.S. Navy. A vegetable-oil emulsion was injected to stimulate microbial degradation in areas contaminated by chlorinated hydrocarbons (including trichloroethylene (TCE) and dichloroethylene (DCE)). The radar tomography delineated the spatial distribution and between-well saturation of the vegetable-oil emulsion, and indicated the extent of ground water with altered chemistry. The geophysical monitoring results indicated that the vegetable-oil biostimulant remained close to the three injection wells; however, downgradient total dissolved solids increased after injection, consistent with microbial stimulation and chlorinated hydrocarbon degradation.

• Lane, J.W., Day-Lewis, F.D., and Casey, C.C., 2006, Geophysical monitoring of a field-scale biostimulation pilot project: Ground Water, v. 44, no. 3, p. 430-443 Doi 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2005.00134.x
• Lane, J.W., Jr, Day-Lewis, F.D., Versteeg, R.J., and Casey, C.C., 2004, Object-based inversion of crosswell radar tomography data to monitor vegetable oil injection experiments: Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, v. 9, no. 2, p. 63-77.
• Lane, J.W., Jr, Day-Lewis, F.D., Versteeg, R.J., and Casey, C.C., 2003, Object-based inversion of crosswell radar tomography data to monitor vegetable oil injection experiments, in Proceedings of the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP), San Antonio, Texas, Proceedings, April 6-10, 2003: Environmental and Engineering Geophysics Society, CD-ROM, 27 p.
• Witten , A., and Lane, J.W., 2003, Offset vertical radar profiling: The Leading Edge (newsletter by The Society of Exploration Geophysicists), v. 22, no. 11, p. 1070-1076.

• Geophysical Monitoring of the Use of a Biostimulation Technology to Remediate Contaminated Ground Water
• Geophysical Monitoring of a Biostimulation Pilot Study to Remediate Contaminated Ground Water, Fridley, Minnesota

Steam-Enhanced Remediation Monitoring at the Former Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine

The USGS used borehole radar tomography and reflection techniques to monitor steam-enhanced remediation of a fractured limestone aquifer contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons. The borehole radar results were used to estimate the extent and degree of steam invasion within the aquifer in the vicinity of the radar monitoring wells.

Grégoire, C., Lane, J.W. Jr., and Joesten, P.K., 2005, Steam injection pilot study in a contaminated fractured limestone (Maine, USA)—Modeling and analysis of borehole radar reflection data, in Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar, Delft, The Netherlands, May 2-4, 2005.

• Borehole-Geophysical Monitoring of Steam-Injection Remediation Technology
• Borehole Radar Monitoring of a Steam-Injection Remediation Pilot Study, Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine  

Animation of the computed electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) results for the 20-day saline tracer test at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The tomograms show the percent change in subsurface electrical resistivity after injection of a saline tracer. Blue regions indicate a zone of decreased resistivity, representing the location of the saline tracer
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Setup for the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) that USGS scientists used to monitor the injection of a saline tracer at the Massachusetts Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The yellow cables are ERT cables. Metal pipes indicate location of sampling sites. Boreholes are encased in white PVC pipes

Borehole radar slowness-difference tomogram between a biostimulant injection well and a downgradient monitoring well, Anoka County Riverfront Park, Fridley, Minnesota. The blue region (increased radar velocity) delineates the region containing the vegetable-oil biostimulant (after Lane and others, 2004).
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Borehole radar being set up at the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordinance Plant (NIROP), Fridley, Minnesota, field site
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Borehole radar logging at the former Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine
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USGS scientist processing preliminary borehole radar data inside a trailer used to house borehole radar equipment. White pipes on the left are for antenna storage
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