Subsurface Point-Source Contamination

Locations of Toxics Program Subsurface Point-Source Contamination Investigations (Click on map for larger version) A view of the side of a trench cut into the Cape Cod aquifer showing what is commonly referred to as a "homogeneous" aquifer. Studies of the distribution of the horizontal conductivity resulted in a range of conductivity from 0.02 to 0.34 centimeters per second, which demonstrated that the aquifer is not homogeneous -- from the Cape Cod Site

The Toxics Program conducts intensive field investigations to study common classes of subsurface point-source contamination. (more information)

Contamination in Fractured-Rock Aquifers

Petroleum Related Contamination (including crude oil, gasoline and produced water)

Chlorinated Solvents Contamination

Contamination from Sources with Mixed Wastes (including landfills and wastewater discharge)

Complete listing of point-source investigations and projects >>

Other Subsurface Point-Source Investigations

• Creosote Waste in Ground Water — Pensacola, Florida [Completed]
• Subsurface Injection of Liquid Waste — Florida [Completed]

Subsurface Point-Source Contamination Information

• Index of Bibliographies from Point-Source Investigations
• Index of Photo Galleries for Point-Source Investigations
• Crosscutting Topics Related to Point-Source Contamination
• Contaminant Plume Geochemistry and Microbiology — Geochemical and microbiological characterization of processes related to contaminant plume migration and evolution
• Geophysical Characterization — Surface and borehole geophysical characterization of ground-water contamination
• Ground-Water Contaminant Transport — Contaminant transport and fate in ground water
• Natural Attenuation — Natural attenuation and biodegradation of contaminants
• Site Remediation — Research associated with the monitoring or assessment of site remediation activities
• Tracer Tests — The use and development of tracer tests to study contaminant transport and fate
• Unsaturated Zone — Contaminant transport and fate in the unsaturated zone
• Fact Sheets on Point-Source Contamination
• Bioremediation--Nature's way to a cleaner environment: USGS Fact Sheet FS-O54-95.
• Borehole-radar methods--Tools for characterization of fractured rock: USGS Fact Sheet FS-054-00.
• Cape Cod Toxic Substances Hydrology research site--Physical, chemical, and biological processes that control the fate of contaminants in ground water: USGS Fact Sheet 2006-3096.
• Characterizing ground-water chemistry and hydraulic properties of fractured-rock aquifers using the multifunction bedrock-aquifer transportable testing tool (BAT3): USGS Fact Sheet FS-075-01.
• Contaminant sorption by soil and bed sediment--Is there a difference?: USGS Fact Sheet 087-00.
• Contamination in fractured-rock aquifers--Research at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey: USGS Fact Sheet 2007-3074.
• Fractured-rock aquifers--Understanding an increasingly important source of water: USGS Fact Sheet 112-02.
• Ground water contamination by crude oil near Bemidji, Minnesota: USGS Fact Sheet FS-084-98.
• Ground-water recharge in humid areas of the United States--A summary of Ground-Water Resources Program studies, 2003-2006: USGS Fact Sheet 2007-3007.
• Is septic waste affecting drinking water from shallow domestic wells along the Platte River in eastern Nebraska?: USGS Fact Sheet 072-03.
• The Mirror Lake Fractured-Rock Research Site--A multidisciplinary research effort in characterizing ground-water flow and chemical transport in fractured rock: USGS Fact Sheet FS-138-95.
• Naturally occurring radioactive minerals (NORM) in produced water and oil-field equipment--An issue for the energy industry: USGS Fact Sheet FS-142-99.
• The Norman Landfill Environmental Research Site--What happens to the waste in landfills?: USGS Fact Sheet 040-03.
• Robowell--Providing accurate and current water-level and water-quality data in real time for protecting ground-water resources: USGS Fact Sheet FS-053-02.
• Simulating contaminant attenuation, double-porosity exchange, and water age in aquifers using MOC3D: USGS Fact Sheet 086-99.
• Simulating transport of volatile organic compounds in the unsaturated zone using the computer model R-UNSAT: USGS Fact Sheet FS-019-98.
• USGS research on saline waters co-produced with energy resources: USGS Fact Sheet FS-003-97.
• Waste burial in arid environments--Application of information from a field laboratory in the Mojave Desert, southern Nevada: USGS Fact Sheet FS-179-95.

Meetings and Conferences

• The USGS cosponsors the special session Hydrogeological Research Sites and Observatories at the 2008 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 15-19, 2008
• USGS sponsors the special session In Situ Approaches for Measuring Biodegradation Potential and Rates in Subsurface Environments at the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, October 5-9, 2008
• USGS and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are cosponsoring the joint session A Celebration of Soil Science, Solute Transport, and National-Scale Water-Quality Research: In Honor of Jacob Rubin at the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, October 5-9, 2008
• USGS and EPA host the USGS/EPA Workshop on Transport and Remediation of Chlorinated Solvents in Fractured Sedimentary Rocks, West Trenton, New Jersey, September 25, 2008
• USGS co-sponsor the special session Characterizing Ground-Water Flow and Chemical Transport in Fractured-Rock Aquifers at the 2008 Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting in Cairns, Australia, on July 29-August 1, 2008

New Publications

Upcoming Publications

• Biochemical indicators for the bioavailability of organic carbon in ground water: Chapelle, F.H., Bradley, P.M., Goode, D.J., Tiedeman, C., Lacombe, P.J., Kaiser, K., and Benner, R., Ground Water, doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00493.x (IN PRESS).
• Biogeochemistry at a wetland sediment-alluvial aquifer interface in a landfill leachate plume: Lorah, M.M., Cozzarelli, I.M., and Bšhlke, J.K., Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.11.008 (IN PRESS).
• Biological degradation of chloroethenes: Bradley, P.M., and Chapelle, F.H., in SERDP/ESTCP Monograph on Remediation of Dissolved-Phase Chlorinated Solvents: (IN PRESS).
• Case study of a full-scale evapotranspiration cover: McGuire, P.E., Andraski, B.J., and Archibald, R., Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (IN PRESS).
• Comparison of pumped and diffusion sampling methods to monitor concentrations of perchlorate and explosive compounds in ground water, Camp Edwards, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2004-2005: LeBlanc, D.R., and Vroblesky, D.A., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5159 (IN PRESS).
• Fate of consumer product chemicals in the subsurface environment--25 Years of research on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA: Barber, L.B., in Hill, M.C., ed., Groundwater Quality 2007--Securing Groundwater Quality in Urban and Industrial Environments: International Association of Hydrological Sciences IAHS Redbook (IN PRESS).
• Microbial characterization of nitrification in a shallow, nitrogen-contaminated aquifer, Cape Cod, Massachusetts and detection of a novel cluster associated with nitrifying Betaproteobacteria: Miller, D.N., and Smith, R.L., Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.10.011 (IN PRESS).
• Occurrence and turnover of nitric oxide in a nitrogen-impacted sand and gravel aquifer: Smith, R.L., and Yoshinari, T., Environmental Science and Technology (IN PRESS).
• Prevalence of tumors in brown bullhead from three lakes in southeastern Massachusetts, 2002: Baumann, P.C., LeBlanc, D.R., Blazer, V.S., Meier, J.R., Hurley, S.T., and Kiryu, Y., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5198 (IN PRESS).
• Subsurface fate and transport of 4-nonylphenol, 17Β-estradiol, and sulfamethoxazole: Barber, L.B., Meyer, M.T., LeBlanc, D.R., Kolpin, D.W., Bradley, P.M., Chapelle, F.H., and Rubio, F., in Hill, M.C., ed., Groundwater Quality 2007--Securing Groundwater Quality in Urban and Industrial Environments: International Association of Hydrological Sciences IAHS Redbook (IN PRESS).
• Transport of tritium contamination from the shallow unsaturated zone to the atmosphere in an arid environment: Garcia, C.A., Andraski, B.J., Stonestrom, D.A., Cooper, C.A., Johnson, M.J., Michel, R.L., and Wheatcraft, S.W., Vadose Zone Journal (IN PRESS).
• Use of inverse modeling methods to improve ground-water-modeling calibration and evaluate model-prediction uncertainty, Camp Edwards, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Walter, D.A., and LeBlanc, D.R., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5257 (IN PRESS).

New Publications

• Coupled effect of chemotaxis and growth on microbial distributions in organic-amended aquifer sediments--Observations from laboratory and field studies: Wang, M., Ford, R.M., and Harvey, R.W., 2008, Environmental Science and Technology, v. 41, no. 10, p. 3,556-3,562, doi:10.1021/es702392h.
• Influence of variable chemical conditions on EDTA-enhanced transport of metal ions in mildly acidic groundwater: Kent, D.B., Davis, J.A., Joye, J., and Curtis, G.P., 2008, Environmental Pollution, v. 153, no. 1, p. 44-52, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2007.11.022.
• Biochemical indicators for the bioavailability of organic carbon in ground water: Chapelle, F.H., Bradley, P.M., Goode, D.J., Tiedeman, C., Lacombe, P.J., Kaiser, K., and Benner, R., 2008, Ground Water, doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00493.x (Advanced Web release).
• Differences in evaporation between a floating pan and class A pan on land: Masoner, J.R., Stannard, D.I., and Christenson, S.C., 2008, Journal of the American Water Works Association, v. 44, no. 3, p. 552-561, doi:10.1111/j.1752-1688.2008.00181.x.
• The effect of terrace geology on ground-water movement and on the interaction of ground water and surface water on a mountainside near Mirror Lake, New Hampshire, USA: Winter, T.C., Buso, D.C., Shattuck, P.C., Harte, P.T., Vroblesky, D.A., and Goode, D.J., 2008, Hydrological Processes, v. 22, no. 1, p. 21-32, doi:10.1002/hyp.6593.
• Method for estimating spatially variable seepage loss and hydraulic conductivity in intermittent and ephemeral streams: Niswonger, R.G., Prudic, D.E., Fogg, G.E., Stonestrom, D.A., and Buckland, E.M., 2008, Water Resources Research, v. 44, W05418, doi:10.1029/2007WR006626.
• Pathogen and chemical transport in the karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer--1. Revised conceptualization of groundwater flow: Renken, R.A., Cunningham, K.J., Shapiro, A.M., Harvey, R.W., Zygnerski, M.R., Metge, D.W., and Wacker, M.A., 2008, Water Resources Research, v. 44, W08429, doi:10.1029/2007WR006058.
• Pathogen and chemical transport in the karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer--2. Chemical retention from diffusion and slow advection: Shapiro, A.M., Renken, R.A., Harvey, R.W., Zygnerski, M.R., and Metge, D.W., 2008, Water Resources Research, v. 44, W08430, doi:10.1029/2007WR006059.
• Pathogen and chemical transport in the karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer--3. Use of microspheres to estimate the transport potential of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts: Harvey, R.W., Metge, D.W., Shapiro, A.M., Renken, R.A., Osborn, C.L., Ryan, J.N., Cunningham, K.J., and Landkamer, L., 2008, Water Resources Research, v. 44, W08431, doi:10.1029/2007WR006060.
• Response to commentary on Observed methanogenic biodegradation rrogressions: Hostettler, F.D., Bekins, B.A., Rostad, C.E., and Herkelrath, W.N., 2008, Environmental Forensics, v. 9, no. 2-3, p. 121-126, doi:10.1080/15275920802115738.