Probe Sampling and Geophysics Applied to Ground Water Evaluation of Mine Dumps

摘要

Metals migration into an alpine wetland setting prompted application of Direct Push sampling and installation of nested, multi-level piezometers to evaluate the ground water flow path through mine dumps near the abandoned Waldorf mine near Georgetown CO. Access to the site prohibited use of traditional large scale drill rigs, without significant road modification. A Direct Push Strataprobe~(TM)was used to hydraulically advance either a push point or a core sampler to bedrock beneath the dumps, with maximum depths up to 40 feet. In several locations, nested piezometers, with thermister, were installed with short screens at multiple depths. This allowed discrete sampling of ground water and the vertical profiling of water temperature and chemistry. In addition, natural gamma logging was performed to evaluate the potential for using the tool to characterize the lithology while minimizing the number of soil samples taken.