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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division

Fractured Bedrock Project Profiles

Last Updated: July 17, 2008

Point of Contact:
Dr. Allen M. Shapiro
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 431
Reston VA 20192 
Tel: 703-648-5884 
Fax: 703-648-5274
Email: ashapiro@
usgs.gov

Former Naval Air Warfare Center
West Trenton, NJ


Hydrogeology:

Fractured mudstones of the Newark Basin.

The site consists of dipping mudstone units. Within these units, bedding-plane parting fractures are the most permeable features.

Hydraulic testing indicated that fractures perpendicular to the bedding has vertical hydraulic communication. Within the site, vertical permeability varied and was most prominent near a steeply dipping fault.

Targeted Environmental Media:
  • - Fractured Bedrock

Contaminants:

Contaminants found up to 60 meters below land surface.

Major Contaminants and Maximum Concentrations:
  • - Trichloroethene (0 µg/L)
  • - cis-1,2-Dichloroethene (0 µg/L)
  • - Vinyl chloride (0 µg/L)

Site Characterization Technologies:

  • - Fluid Loggings
  • - Flow
  • - Surface Seismic Surveys
  • - Vertical Chemical Profiling
    • Packer Isolation
  • - Tracer (dye) Test
  • - Other (Hydraulic tests)

Comments:
Transmissivity of bedding-plane fractions and the fractures within the massive mudstone units were estimated through hydraulic tests which used packers to isolate discrete intervals of boreholes.


Remedial Technologies:

  • - Pump and Treat
  • - Bioremediation (In Situ)
    • Reductive Dechlorination (In Situ Bioremediation)
Comments:
A pump and treat system has operated since the mid-1990s.

Anticipated project completion: 2010

Remediation Goals:

The mass removal of aqueous-phase chlorinated solvents was evaluated via pump and treat, monitored natural attenuation, and enhanced biodegradation (bioaugmentation).


Status:

Concentrations in bedrock boreholes have remained relatively constant:

TCE = 200,000 micrograms/liter (¼g/L)
DCE = 16,000 ¼g/L
VC = 1,200 ¼g/L


Lessons Learned:

Results from the hydraulic tests will be used to develop a groundwater flow model of the site and to approximate the variability of groundwater fluxes. This data, in conjunction with contaminant concentrations and tracer tests, will be used to estimate contaminant mass removal by various technologies.
Benefits of the investigation include development of cost-effective field methods for collecting data; insight into the physical and biogeochemical controls; guidelines for implementing the technologies in fractured-rock settings; and insight into mass removal calculations.

References:
Goode, Dr. Daniel J., Dr. Allen M. Shapiro, and Clare R. Tiedman
SERDP: Meeting DoDs Environmental Challenges, 2007 (Poster Number 187 - Wed., F-174)
Characterizing Spatial Heterogeneity in Fractured Rock to Evaluate Mass Removal of TCE, DCE, and Vinyl Chloride at the Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ

SERDP Research Technology Projects
Dr. Allen M. Shapiro, October 16, 2007
A Comparison of Pump-and-Treat, Natural Attenuation, and Enhanced Biodegradation to Remediate Chlorinated Ethene-Contaminated Fractured Rock Aquifers
Available Online at: http:www.serdp.orgResearchuploadER_FS_1555.pdf

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