Subsurface Point-Source Contamination

Locations of Toxics Program Subsurface Point-Source Contamination Investigations (Click on map for larger version) Site B is a small but active oil production site with several pump jacks like this one. A multidisciplinary team of USGS scientists and their partners are studying the long-term and short-term effects of hydrocarbons and the constituents of produced water on the local environment a two sites (A and B) on the shores of Skiatook Lake, Okla -- from the Osage-Skiatook Petroleum Environmental Research Project

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
• USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, 2010: USGS Fact Sheet 2010-3011
• 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 cosponsors the special session Fate and Transport of Radionuclides in the Environment at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 14-18, 2009

New Publications

Upcoming Publications

• Volatile organic compounds in the unsaturated zone from radioactive wastes: Baker, R.J., Andraski, B.J., Stonestrom, D.A., and Luo, W., Journal of Environmental Quality, doi:10.2135/jeq2011.0480 (IN PRESS).
• Microbial degradation of chloroethenes in the fractured rock aquifer at NAWC Trenton under unamended and enhanced conditions: Bradley, P.M., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report (IN PRESS).
• Microbial mineralization of cis-dichloroethene and vinyl chloride as a component of natural attenuation of chloroethene contaminants under conditions identified in the field as anoxic: Bradley, P.M., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report (IN PRESS).
• Effects of thermal heating on aquifer microorganisms: Chapelle, F.H., Lacombe, P.J., and Bradley, P.M., Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) (IN PRESS).
• Volatile fuel hydrocarbons and oxygenates in the environment (Section 9.12): Cozzarelli, I.M., and Baehr, A.L., in Heinrich, D.H., and Karl, K.T., eds., Environmental Geochemistry, Lollar, B.S., ed., in Treatise on Geochemistry, New York, Elsevier Science, v. 9 (IN PRESS).

New Publications

• Threshold amounts of organic carbon needed to initiate reductive dechlorination in groundwater systems: Chapelle, F.H., Thomas, L.K., Bradley, P.M., Rectanus, H.V., and Widdowson, M.A., 2012, Remediation Journal, v. 22, no. 3, p. 19-28, doi:10.1002/rem.21318.
• Perils of categorical thinking: "Oxic/anoxic" conceptual model in environmental remediation: Bradley, P.M., 2012, Remediation Journal, v. 22, no. 3, p. 9-18, doi:10.1002/rem.21317.
• Dissolved oxygen as an indicator of bioavailable dissolved organic carbon in groundwater: Chapelle, F.H., Bradley, P.M., McMahon, P.B., Kaiser, K., and Benner, R., 2012, Ground Water, v. 50, no. 2, p. 230-241, doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2011.00835.x.
• Impact of fluorochrome stains used to study bacterial transport in shallow aquifers on motility and chemotaxis of Pseudomonas species: Toepfer, J.A., Ford, R.M., Metge, D., and Harvey, R.W., 2012, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, p. n/a-n/a, doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2012.01355.x.

[Acrobat Reader]