Subsurface Point-Source Contamination

Locations of Toxics Program Subsurface Point-Source Contamination Investigations (Click on map for larger version) The syringes strapped to the sided of the packer pipe rod are for measuring concentrations of dissolved hydrogen gas. USGS scientists are testing two different syringe materials in order to determine which is best suited for long-term diffusion sampling in trichloroethylene-contaminated fractured rock aquifers -- from the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Research 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

• 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
• 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

New Publications

Upcoming Publications

• The effect of planting method on Populus Spp. and Salix Sp. mortality and growth at a petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated shallow aquifer: Cook, R.L., Landmeyer, J.E., Atkinson, B., Messier, J.P., and Guthrie Nichols, E., International Journal of Phytoremediation (IN PRESS).
• 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).
• Biological degradation of chloroethenes: Bradley, P.M., and Chapelle, F.H., in SERDP/ESTCP Monograph on Remediation of Dissolved-Phase Chlorinated Solvents: (IN PRESS).

New Publications

• Distinguishing iron-reducing from sulfate-reducing conditions: Chapelle, F.H., Bradley, P.M., Thomas, M.A., and McMahon, P.B., 2009, Ground Water, v. 47, no. 2, p. 300-305, doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00536.x.
• 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).
• Effects of simplifying fracture network representation on inert chemical migration in fracture-controlled aquifers: Wellman, T.P., Shapiro, A.M., and Hill, M.C., 2009, Water Resources Research, v. 45, no. 1, W01416, doi:10.1029/2008WR007025.
• 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.