This seminar publication provides a comprehensive approach to site characterization for subsurface remediation. Chapter 1 describes a methodology for integrating site characterization with subsurface remediation. This introductory chapter of the handbook also provides a guide for quickly and efficiently accessing information in the rest of the document for specific remediation applications through the use of summary tables, checklists, figures, and flow charts. In Part 1, Chapter 2 provides an overview of the site characterization process. The next four chapters cover physical aspects of site characterization: geologic and hydrogeologic aspects, characterization of water movement in the unsaturated zone, characterization of the vadose zone, and characterization of water movement in saturated fractured media. The remaining three chapters in Part I cover basic analytical and statistical concepts, the geochemical variability of the natural and contaminated subsurface, and geochemical sampling of soil and ground water. Part II contains three chapters on physicochemical processes affecting the transport of major types of contaminants: organic in liquid and solid phases in the subsurface, organic volatilization and gas-phase transport, and inorganic contaminants. Chapter 13 focuses on abiotic and microbiological degradation and transformation processes in the subsurface. Part III contains three chapters on remediation. Chapter 14 outlines basis approaches to remediation of contaminated soil and ground water. The concluding chapters provide more detailed information on specific techniques for cleaning up contaminated soil and ground water.

"Office of Research and Development." "EPA/625/4-91/026." "November 1991." Includes bibliographical references.