skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Environmental geophysics and sequential air photo study at Sunfish Lake Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant

Conference ·
OSTI ID:381536

Geophysical and air photo studies at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP), Minnesota, were conducted to establish a chronology of dumping and waste disposal. This study was undertaken to aid in the assessment of the amount of remediation needed to reclaim a wetland area. An integrated analysis of electromagnetic, magnetic and ground-penetrating RADAR (GPR) measurements over a 25-acre site, provided the information necessary to define waste disposal events. These events are observed on a sequence of aerial photos taken between 1940 and 1993. The former southwestern embayment of the lake, filled in during the original construction of the base, has been clearly defined. Two burn cages and their surrounding debris have been delineated. The areal extent of another waste site has been defined along the northern shoreline. Depth estimates determined from EM-61 analysis, and depths to original lake bottom, derived from GPR, have yielded volumetric estimates of the amount of material that would need removal if excavation is required. Magnetic and electromagnetic data have pinpointed the locations of mounds, observed from historical air photos. Except for these areas along the Northwestern shore, there is no evidence of waste disposal along the shoreline or within the present-day lake margins. The ability to date the anomalous regions is significant, in that different production demands upon TCAAP, during the time periods of WWII, The Korean War, and The Vietnam Conflict, have resulted in different types of waste. The ability to categorize areas with distinct time periods of operation and waste disposal can greatly aid the environmental cleanup effort with regard to the type of contaminants that might be expected at these poorly documented disposal sites.

OSTI ID:
381536
Report Number(s):
CONF-960477-; TRN: 96:004278-0070
Resource Relation:
Conference: 9. annual symposium on the application of geophysics to engineering and environmental problems, Denver, CO (United States), 15 Apr - 1 May 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of SAGEEP `96: Proceedings of the symposium on the application of geophysics to engineering and environmental problems; Bell, R.S.; Cramer, M.H. [comps.]; PB: 1353 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English