Simulated transport and biodegradation of chlorinated ethenes in a fractured dolomite aquifer near Niagara Falls, New York

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Publication Date

1-1-2002

Publication Title

U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report

Abstract

Leakage of trichloroethene (TCE) from a neutralization pond at a former manufacturing facility near Niagara Falls, N.Y. during 1950-87 into the Guelph Formation of the Lockport Group, a fractured dolomite aquifer, created a plume of TCE and its metabolites that, by 1990, extended about 4,300 feet south of the facility. A smaller plume of dense, nonaqueous-phase liquids (DNAPL) probably serves as a continuing source of TCE. The presence of the TCE metabolites cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE), vinyl chloride (VC), and ethene in the plume, and the results of previous laboratory microcosm studies, indicate that the TCE is being degraded by naturally occurring microorganisms. Biodegradation rates of TCE and its metabolites were estimated through simulation with BIOMOC, a solute-transport model that represents multispecies reactions through Monod kinetics. A fracture zone in the Guelph Formation was represented as a porous medium containing an extensive, 3-foot thick layer with several interconnected fractures; this layer is bounded above and below by subhorizontal stratigraphic contacts. The Monod reaction constants were estimated through nonlinear regression to minimize the difference between computed concentrations of TCE and its metabolites, and the concentrations measured before and during 5 years of pump-and-treat remediation.

Keywords

Aquifers, Groundwater flow, Chlorinated hydrocarbons, Biodegradation, Groundwater pollution

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.3133/wri004275

Language

English

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