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Ecosystem and Subsurface Research Facilities

Picture of monitoring well.
Ecosystem and Subsurface Research Facilities: Picture of monitoring well.

Located 9 miles west of Ada, Gaar Corner is a 100-acre field site containing a mixture of woodlands, open fields, and ponds. With its sixteen 40-ft2 enclosures, Gaar Corner has supported research on interactions among primary consumers, plants, microbes, detritivores, and soil chemistry. Research here has also focused on the ecosystem's susceptibility to nitrogen deposition and the development of novel management interventions for improving nitrogen-use efficiency in watersheds.

In addition to the enclosures, a laboratory, a weather station, computer facility, and storage area, Gaar Corner also contains unique facilities for determining the mechanical integrity of underground injection wells. There are three logging wells, a calibration well, a leak-test well, and three monitoring wells. These test wells range in depth from 190 to 1,580 ft and offer a realistic environment where engineers can test the performance of well logging equipment and the mechanic integrity of undergrown injection wells. This facility was built to assist EPA scientists in their efforts to safeguard underground supplies of drinking water from contamination by pollutants introduced to the subsurface via injection wells. This facility has also been used by private companies such as Schlumberger, Petro-Plug, and Computalog Research Inc.

Several pieces of mobile sample collection equipment are also available to support subsurface research. These include a large truck-mounted Geoprobe; a smaller van-mounted Geoprobe; a HydroTraxx amphibious tracked vehicle with a GeoProbe; a cone penetrometer with a laser fluorescence spectrometer; a Central Mine Equipment hollow stem auger drill rig; and a remotely operated tracked GeoProbe.

Pictures of this equipment and the Gaar Corner site can be viewed at http://www.epa.gov/ada/about.html.

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