Soils and geomorphology of the East Chestnut Ridge site
- Lietzke (D.A.), Rutledge, TN (USA)
Soil mapping of the East Chestnut Ridge site in conjunction with subsurface soil and rock coring provides an in-depth evaluation of the site and its suitability for disposal of wastes. Landforms and surface and subsurface hydrology, the natural, undisturbed, soil-saprolite-geohydrology system beneath the zone of engineering modifications provides for the ultimate containment of wastes and a means for the filtration and purification of any leachate before it reaches the aquifer. The surface location and extent of each geologic formation on the site were mapped. These locations correlated well with projections of subsurface contacts to the surface even through the criteria used by the pedologist and geologist to identify soil and rock from the same formation may be different. Soil thickness over bedrock of the Copper Ridge, Chepultepec, Longview, and Kingsport Formations is sufficient to provide considerable buffering between trench bottoms and groundwater or rock. Soil thickness over the Mascot Formation is comparatively thin, and pinnacles and ledges exposed on steeper sideslopes are common. Soil underlain by the Mascot Formation is not suited for a trench landfill. According to soil coring and active borrow pit observations, chert beds in the soil and saprolite are preferred zones of water flow. Construction of adequate clay liners beneath disposal units sited on the Longview dolomite may require placement and compaction of other native soils to achieve sufficiently low soil permeabilities. Karst geomorphic processes that initiated the formation of dolines evidently started several million years ago. Doline formation and enlargement is episodic, with short periods of activity followed by long periods of stability. Analysis of doline soil stratigraphy suggests that most of the large dolines on the site have been stable for most of the past 10,000 to 1000,000 years. 8 refs., 9 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/ER
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5400739
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-11364; ON: DE90004369
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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