Mapping Zones of Contaminated Ground‐Water Discharge Using Creek‐Bottom‐Sediment Vapor Samplers, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

Abstract

AbstractForty passive vapor samplers were placed in creek‐bottom sediment in an area where ground water contaminated with volatile organic compounds is discharging to surface water. The vapor samplers were composed of activated carbon fused to a ferromagnetic wire in a test tube. The samplers were analyzed in a laboratory using an extranuclear quadrupole mass spectrometer. Data from the samplers reveal distributions of chloroform, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and benzene in the bottom sediment that closely correspond to the distribution of those compounds in the adjacent ground water. Moreover, concentrations of tetrachloroethylene in bottom sediment estimated from the samplers are similar to those measured in observation wells near the shoreline. Thus, the passive vapor samplers may be used to locate and map areas where contaminated ground water is being discharged to surface water and to determine the approximate concentrations of specific contaminants in the discharging ground water.