A geochemical and isotopic approach to delineate landfill leachates in an RCRA study

Journal Article · · Ground Water; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1994.tb00915.x· OSTI ID:6912095

Fritz, S J; Leap, D I ^[1]; Bryan, J D ^[2]; Harvey, F E ^[3]

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1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
2. Earth Tech, Bloomington, IN (United States)
3. Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario (Canada). Dept. of Earth Sciences

Under many circumstances during an RCRA investigation, the EPA will not allow intrusive sampling of an SWMU (Solid Waste Management Unit, or waste dump''). This presented difficulties in characterizing the waste within a closed landfill identified as an SWMU located on land owned by Purdue University, 3 kilometers northwest of the West Lafayette (Indiana) campus because there were few records of what was discarded into this public dump during its operation from 1958--87. Chemical and isotopic data of shallow ground water and surface runoff provided a realistic means to infer movement of contaminants away from the landfill. Leachate is characterized by high concentration of Na[sup +] and Cl[sup [minus]] ([approximately]4mN), sulfate ([approximately]8 mN), total hardness (Ca[sup +2] = Mg[sup +2] [approximately] 19 mN), and alkalinity ([approximately] 12mN). Disposal of road salt is responsible for the NaCl concentrations, while dissolution of concrete explains the high Ca[sup +2], Mg[sup +2], and alkalinity values for waters having a pCO[sub 2] only slightly above the regional level for ground waters. Deep and shallow uncontaminated ground waters in the vicinity of the SWMU have an average [delta][sup 34]S value of 0.5 per mil (CDT). Since the [delta][sup 34]S of leachate lies between + 10 and + 17 per mil (CDT), the high sulfate concentrations are most likely due to dissolution of interred plasterboard consisting primarily of gypsum. Tritium activities for the leachate in two shallow wells emplaced 15 meters from the toe of the SWMU ranged from 55 to 85 TU. Correcting for half-lives and correlating these activities to historical records of tritium in rainfall as measured at Chicago, these [sup 3]H activities suggest that the travel time between the SWMU interior and these wells is between 15 and 20 years.

• OSTI ID: 6912095
• Journal Information: Ground Water; (United States), Vol. 32:5; ISSN 0017-467X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GROUND WATER
CONTAMINATION
INDIANA
POLLUTION
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
SANITARY LANDFILLS
GEOCHEMICAL SURVEYS
SODIUM CHLORIDES
SULFATES
LAND POLLUTION
RESOURCE RECOVERY ACTS
SULFUR 34
TRACER TECHNIQUES
WATER POLLUTION
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LAWS
LIGHT NUCLEI
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
STABLE ISOTOPES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR ISOTOPES
SURVEYS
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER
540220* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)