Date
01 Jun 1988, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Abstract
Traditionally clay soils have been regarded as being relatively impermeable to the migration of water and contaminants. Recent studies in Louisiana are beginning to show, however, that laboratory permeability tests are not true indicators of the ability of an in-situ soil to retain or transmit fluids. Both the depositional and post-depositional environment of a soil can greatly alter its in-situ permeability. In particular, post-depositional structural fractures provide preferential pathways for contaminant migration at rates that far exceed those predicted by using laboratory permeability values. Difficulties in field identification of these pathways reduces modeling of their effect on site hydrology to very basic terms. Since their distribution is not yet predictable, the net increase in permeability caused by their presence at a site cannot be factored into any hydrologic models, except as gross estimates.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
2nd Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 1988 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Cramer, George H. II, "A Study of Contamination Migration at a Hazardous Waste Facility in Louisiana" (1988). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 3.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/2icchge/2icchge-session1/3
A Study of Contamination Migration at a Hazardous Waste Facility in Louisiana
Traditionally clay soils have been regarded as being relatively impermeable to the migration of water and contaminants. Recent studies in Louisiana are beginning to show, however, that laboratory permeability tests are not true indicators of the ability of an in-situ soil to retain or transmit fluids. Both the depositional and post-depositional environment of a soil can greatly alter its in-situ permeability. In particular, post-depositional structural fractures provide preferential pathways for contaminant migration at rates that far exceed those predicted by using laboratory permeability values. Difficulties in field identification of these pathways reduces modeling of their effect on site hydrology to very basic terms. Since their distribution is not yet predictable, the net increase in permeability caused by their presence at a site cannot be factored into any hydrologic models, except as gross estimates.
