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SOIL-GAS MEASUREMENT FOR DETECTION OF SUBSURFACE ORGANIC CONTAMINATION
Citation:
Kerfoot, H. AND L. Barrows. SOIL-GAS MEASUREMENT FOR DETECTION OF SUBSURFACE ORGANIC CONTAMINATION. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-87/027.
Description:
The Lockheed Gas Analysis System (LGAS) grab-sampling method and the PETREX Static Surface Trapping Pyrolysis/Mass Spectrometry (SST-Py/MS) passive sampling technique for soil-gas measurement have been field tested at the Pittman Lateral near Henderson, Nevada. This site has unconfined ground water at 5 to 14 feet (1.5 to 4.3m) below the surface in alluvial fan sediments. Distinct chloroform and benzene/chlorobenzene contaminant plumes cross the site and have been delineated by repeated analyses of ground water from a line of boreholes spaced 200 feet apart. The LGAS technique successfully measured a chloroform soil-gas plume above the chloroform ground-water plume. The chloroform concentrations in soil-gas samples correlate well with ground-water concentrations. Further research is needed to establish which factors limit the survey precision.