Alternative Landfill Cover Assessment
Type |
- Performance Monitoring
- Site Characterization
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Location |
Fort Carson,
CO |
Partners |
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Technology |
Vegetative Landfill Cover |
Contaminants |
Landfill Leachate |
Description |
USGS scientist installing a thermocouple psychrometer at the U.S. Army Fort Carson military base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photograph by P.E. McGuire, Earth Tech, September 2000
(Click on image to enlarge)
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Soil-water measurement technology developed for dry-soil investigations at the
Amargosa Desert Research Site is being used by USGS and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) scientists to assess the hydrologic performance of an evapotranspiration
landfill cover at the U.S. Army Fort Carson military base, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The evapotranspiration landfill cover uses plants to control and prevent the downward
movement of water. The soil-water measurement techniques provide a means to assess the
performance of unconventional landfill covers that can be constructed at a considerably
lower cost than conventional covers. USGS assistance to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) and their contractor has included calibration, installation, and instruction on
the use of instruments. Monitoring equipment used during the study included drainage
lysimeters (3 locations), neutron activation probes (8 locations), and thermocouple
psychrometers (8 locations). USGS is continuing to provide technical assistance through
the review and interpretation of field data.
A paper on this project, Evapotranspiration
cover for containment at U.S. Army Fort Carson landfill site, was presented at the
30th Environmental and Energy Symposium and Exhibition, Session Twelve, San Diego,
California, April 5-8, 2004. The paper received Earth Tech’s 2004
President’s Award for Technical Excellence—Best Environmental Paper
Presented at a Technical Conference (Gold Award).
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More Information
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Contact
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Brian Andraski, USGS, Nevada District, Carson City, Nevada,
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Publications
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- McGuire, P.E., Moses, D., and Andraski, B.J., 2004, Evapotranspiration
cover for containment at U.S. Army Fort Carson landfill site, in 30th
Environmental and Energy Symposium and Exhibition, Session Twelve, San Diego,
California, April 5-8, 2004: National Defense Industrial Association, a 24-page
PowerPoint Presentation.
The following are publications related to waste disposal in arid environments.
- Andraski, B.J., 1991, Balloon and core sampling for determining bulk density of an
alluvial desert soil: Soil Science Society of America Journal, v. 55, no. 4, p.
1188-1190.
- Andraski, B.J., 1996, Properties and variability of soil and trench fill at an arid
waste-burial site: Soil Science Society of America Journal, v. 60, no. 1, p. 54-66.
- Andraski, B.J., 1997, Soil-water movement under
natural-site and waste-site conditions--A multiple-year field study in the Mojave
Desert, Nevada: Water Resources Research, v. 33, no. 9, p. 1901-1916.
- Andraski, B.J., and Prudic, D.E., 1997, Soil, plant, and structural
considerations for surface barriers in arid environments--Application of results from
studies in the Mojave Desert near Beatty, Nevada, in Barrier Technologies for
Environmental Management, Summary of a workshop: Washington, D.C., National Academy
Press, p. 68-78.
- Andraski, B.J., Prudic, D.E., and Nichols, W.D., 1995, Waste burial in arid
environments--Application of information from a field laboratory in the Mojave Desert,
southern Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-179-95, 4 p.
- Andraski, B.J., and Stonestrom, D.A., 1999, Overview of research
on water, gas, and radionuclide transport at the Amargosa Desert Research Site,
Nevada, in Morganwalp, D.W., and Buxton, H.T., eds., U.S. Geological Survey
Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings of the Technical Meeting, Charleston,
South Carolina, March 8-12, 1999--Volume 3 of 3--Subsurface Contamination from Point
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4018C, p.
459-465.
- Fischer, J.M., 1992, Sediment properties and water movement through shallow
unsaturated alluvium at an arid site for disposal of low-level radioactive waste near
Beatty, Nye County, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report
92-4032, 48 p.
- Gee, G.W., Wierenga, P.J., Andraski, B.J., Young, M.H., Fayer, M.J., and Rockhold,
M.L., 1994, Variations in water balance and recharge potential at three western desert
sites: Soil Science Society of America Journal, v. 58, no. 1, p. 63-72.
- Prudic, D.E., 1994, Estimates of percolation rates and ages of water in unsaturated
sediments at two Mojave Desert sites, California-Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey
Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4160, 19 p.
- Walvoord, M.A., Phillips, F.M., Tyler, S.W., and Hartsough, P.C., 2002, Deep arid system hydrodynamics--2.
Application to paleohydrologic reconstruction using vadose zone profiles from the
northern Mojave Desert: Water Resources Research, v. 38, no. 12, p. 27-1 to 27-12.
- Walvoord, M.A., Plummer, M.A., Phillips, F.M., and Wolfsberg, A.V., 2002, Deep system hydrodynamics--1.
Equilibrium states and response times in thick desert vadose zones: Water Resources
Research, v. 38, no. 12, p. 44-1 to 44-15.
- Walvoord, M.A., Stonestrom, D.A., and Phillips, F.M., 2002, From multi-year observations to
millennial inferences--Uncertainties in paleohydrologic reconstructions of deep
unsaturated zones in the desert southwest, U.S.A.: Eos, Transactions, American
Geophysical Union, v. 83, no. 47, Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract H22F-07, CD-ROM.
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Links
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Toxics Landfill Remediation Projects
Related Toxics Projects
Other USGS Landfill Remediation Studies
- Area 6 Landfill, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Island County, Washington
- Surface
Geophysical Investigation of a Chemical Waste Landfill in Northwestern Arkansas
- Operable Unit 1 (Landfill), Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Keyport,
Washington
- Identification of
Potential Water-Bearing Zones by the Use of Borehole Geophysics in the Vicinity of
Keystone Sanitation Superfund Site, Adams County, Pennsylvania, and Carroll County,
Maryland: USGS WRIR 97-4104 (pdf)
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