Geology and hydrology of the 300 Area and vicinity, Hanford Site, south-central Washington

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5892546

Gaylord, D R ^[1]; Poeter, E P ^[2]

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1. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
2. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

The following report summarizes the findings of a joint Washington State University (WSU) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM) research team that investigated the geology and hydrogeology of the 300 Area during FY87--89. The primary goal of this research was to evaluate existing data and identify new and innovative techniques and/or methods necessary to characterize the 300 Area geology and hydrogeology. Site characterization the 300 Area demands the close integration of geologic and hydrogeologic research to achieve the most meaningful results. Geologic aspects of the research focused on the identification and analysis of both small- (i.e., sedimentary-textural characteristics) and large-scale (i.e., lithofacies and architectural elements) aquifer heterogeneities and on the derivation of fundamental compositional (i.e., mineralogy and geochemistry) data to assist in identification of marker beds. Hydrogeologic aspects of the research focused on identification and refinement of hydraulically significant, three-dimensional aquifer units termed hydrofacies and on preliminary inverse modeling of ground water flow in the 300 Area. Hydrofacies are fundamental units that will aid in site characterization, development of monitoring programs, and design of remedial action. Inverse modeling is used to improve estimates of the values of hydraulic parameters associated with each hydrofacies. The WSU/CSM research team identified two major shortcomings of the geologic and hydrogeologic data base for the 300 Area. First the quality of geologic data from 300 Area drilling is far below that necessary to characterize either the geology or hydrogeology of the suprabasalt strata. Second, the limited number of field-scale aquifer tests and the veritable lack of hydraulic testing of discrete aquifer intervals greatly limit attempts to accurately identify basic hydraulic parameters such as hydraulic conductivity and/or specific yield.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-87RL10930
• OSTI ID: 5892546
• Report Number(s): WHC-EP-0500; ON: DE92006495
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
GROUND WATER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
HANFORD RESERVATION
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
HYDROLOGY
FLOW MODELS
AQUIFERS
COLUMBIA RIVER
COMPILED DATA
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGY
LITHOLOGY
MAPPING
MINERALOGY
MONITORING
REMEDIAL ACTION
SAMPLING
WASHINGTON
CHEMISTRY
DATA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION X
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RIVERS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WATER
540250* - Environment
Terrestrial- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)
540350 - Environment
Aquatic- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)
580000 - Geosciences