Contamination from Sources with Mixed Wastes

Many contaminant sources introduce a diverse and complex mixture of organic and inorganic contaminants into the subsurface, which can complicate characterizations of contaminant transport, fate and effects. These sources include landfills and wastewater discharges. The resulting contaminant plumes are difficult to characterize, manage, and remediate. Reactions among dissolved chemicals, reactions between dissolved chemicals and the aquifer material, and microbial reactions can significantly accelerate or retard contaminant movement and complicate natural and engineered cleanup. Ongoing research focuses on defining source mixtures, developing field methods for characterization, quantifying transport processes and development of simulation modeling capabilities. Current research focuses on the following three areas:

Landfill Leachate in Alluvial Aquifers -- Norman, Oklahoma

Sewage Contamination in Sand and Gravel Aquifers -- Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Mixed, Low-level Radioactive and Other Wastes -- Amargosa Desert Research Site, Nevada

Program Headlines on Mixed Waste Contamination Research

• New Model Allows for More Accurate Simulation of Tritium Movement in the Unsaturated Zone
• Monitoring Volatile Organic Compounds in Ground Water with Diffusion Samplers
• Hydrogen Measured in a New Test for Determining Subsurface Microbiological Activity at Contamination Sites
• Widespread Accumulations of Natural Perchlorate in Southwestern Soils
• What Mobilizes Arsenic in Ground Water
• Decades Required for Natural Processes to Clean Wastewater-Contaminated Ground Water
• New Information on the Long-Term Fate of Ammonium in Ground Water
• Desert Plants Reveal Contaminant Transport Pathways
• New Model Improves Understanding of the Transport of Carbon Isotopes in the Unsaturated-Zone
• Land-Use Activities Release Naturally Occurring Arsenic
• USGS Scientists Contribute to the Landmark "Treatise on Geochemistry"
• Using Plants To Detect Tritium Contamination
• High Nitrate in the Desert? What’s Going On?
• Are Deserts Still Drying Out Since the Ice Age?
• Phosphorus Doesn't Migrate in Ground Water? Better Think Again!
• Can a Sewage-Contaminated Aquifer Naturally Clean Itself?

Fact Sheets

• Bioremediation--Nature's Way to a Cleaner Environment: USGS Fact Sheet FS-O54-95
• Is Septic Waste Affecting Drinking Water from Shallow Domestic Wells Along the Platte River in Eastern Nebraska?: USGS Fact Sheet 072-03
• The Norman Landfill Environmental Research Site--What Happens to the Waste in Landfills?: USGS Fact Sheet 040-03
• 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

• USGS and EPA cosponsor the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program National Point Source Research Meeting, San Diego, Calif., January 26-29, 2009
• 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

New Publications

Upcoming Publications

• Monitoring the removal of phosphate from ground water discharging through a pond-bottom permeable reactive: McCobb, T.D., LeBlanc, D.R., and Massey, A.J., Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation (IN PRESS).
• Soil-CO² flux in an arid environment--A multiple year study: Riggs, A.C., Stannard, D.I., Maestas, F., Karlinger, M., and Striegl, R.G., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report (IN PRESS).
• The relative importance of abiotic and biotic transformation of carbon tetrachloride in anaerobic soils and sediments: Shao, H., and Butler, E.C., Soil and Sediment Contamination--An International 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).
• 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, v. 8, no. 2 (IN PRESS).

Newly Published

• Biogeochemistry at a wetland sediment-alluvial aquifer interface in a landfill leachate plume: Lorah, M.M., Cozzarelli, I.M., and Böhlke, J.K., 2009, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, v. 105, no. 3-4, p. 99-117, doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.11.008.
• Case study of a full-scale evapotranspiration cover: McGuire, P.E., Andraski, B.J., and Archibald, R., 2009, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, v. 135, no. 3, p. 316-332, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2009)135:3(316).
• Assessing recharge across the southwest: Stonestrom, D.A., 2009, Southwest Hydrology, v. 8, no. 1, p. 10-11.
• Waste-indicator and pharmaceutical compounds in landfill-leachate-affected ground water near Elkhart, Indiana, 2000-2002: Buszka, P.M., Yeskis, D.J., Kolpin, D.W., Furlong, E.T., Zaugg, S.D., and Meyer, M.T., 2009, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, doi:10.1007/s00128-009-9702-z (Advanced Web release).
• 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., 2009, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, v. 103, no. 3-4, p. 182-193, doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2008.10.011.
• 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., 2008, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5257.
• 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., 2008, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5198.
• Fate of consumer-product chemicals in the subsurface environment--25 years of research on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA: Barber, L.B., 2008, in Trefry, M.G., ed., Groundwater Quality 2007--Securing Groundwater Quality in Urban and Industrial Environments: International Association of Hydrological Sciences IAHS Redbook, IAHS Publ. 324, p. 126-132.
• Subsurface fate and transport of sulfamethoxazole, 4-nonylphenol, and 17Β-estradiol: Barber, L.B., Meyer, M.T., LeBlanc, D.R., Kolpin, D.W., Bradley, P.M., Chapelle, F.H., and Rubio, F., 2008, in Trefry, M.G., ed., Groundwater Quality 2007--Securing Groundwater Quality in Urban and Industrial Environments: International Association of Hydrological Sciences IAHS Redbook, IAHS Publ. 324, p. 133-139.