SEDL / STP / STP1118-EB / STP19119S

The Use of Geophysics in the Detection of Buried Toxic Agents at a U.S. Military Installation

Allen, RP
Senior GeophysicistProject Manager, ABB Environmental Services, Inc.E.C. Jordan Company, Portland, ME

Seelen, MA
Senior GeophysicistProject Manager, ABB Environmental Services, Inc.E.C. Jordan Company, Portland, ME

Pages: 10    Published: Jan 1992

Download this paper for $25 PDF (560K)          View License Agreement
Abstract

In 1989 personnel at a U.S. Army base in the southeastern U.S. discovered a 1945 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Distribution System Map identifying an area as “Toxic Agents Buried”. The date of the handwritten inscription is unknown; however, a study of several aerial photos of this area revealed a disturbed area in approximately the same location dating back to the early 1940's. A geophysical study was conducted in this general area in an attempt to pinpoint this location so that the materials could be exhumed and properly disposed of, and to provide a preliminary indication of the distribution of any potential contaminants in shallow soils and shallow ground water.