A method for aquifer and piezometric surface mapping with a cone penetrometer
Conference
·
OSTI ID:10141748
The electronic cone penetrometer (ECPT) is increasingly being used for environmental characterization of hazardous waste sites, especially to delineate subsurface lithology and to obtain samples of groundwater. A potentially powerful use of the ECPT is the mapping of subsurface hydrostratigraphic features and aquifer piezometric surface(s) by using measurements of pore pressure. Most published studies on the use of the ECPT have been limited to shallow sand-clay sequences and indicate only limited success in hydrogeologic characterization. In this paper, we discuss a method for delineating the depth and thicknesses of unsaturated and saturated zones on the basis of the nature and rate of pore pressure dissipation. We have used this method to depths of 110 ft at several sites underlaid by clay-sand or weathered shale-limestone sequences. The equilibrium pore pressures in the saturated zone should ideally indicate the depth of the water table or aquifer piezometric surface; however, our data indicate that an apparent equilibrium value for pore pressures may be obtained that may be lower or higher than the true value, depending on the composition and grain size of the material in the aquifer, the depth of the dissipation test within the saturated zone, and the history of use of the porous filter in the cone penetrometer assembly. Consequently, the data on dissipation must be carefully calibrated and tested with measurements in a monitoring well before the data are used to determine piezometric surfaces.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 10141748
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ER/CP--81907; CONF-940499--5; ON: DE94009805; CNN: No. 04 P2-92-USDA-CCC
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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