Identity and Distribution of Residues of Energetic Compounds at Military Live-Fire Training Ranges

摘要

Environmental stewardship of military training ranges is an important objective of the Department of Defense. Therefore, an understanding of the explosives residues resulting from military training with various weapon systems is critical to range managers. A series of field sampling experiments was conducted at 27 military firing ranges in the United States and Canada to provide information on the identity and distribution of energetic munitions constituents. Different types of ranges were studied, including hand grenade, antitank rocket, artillery, bombing, and demolition ranges. Both firing points and impact areas were studied. Energetic compounds (explosives and propellants) were determined and linked to the type of munition used and the major mechanisms of deposition. At impact areas, the largest deposition of residues of energetic compounds is due to low-order detonations, or, in some cases, munitions that split open upon impact. The major residue deposited and its distribution varies for different types of ranges based upon the composition of the high explosive present in the warheads of the rounds fired at that type of range. For antitank range impact areas, the major residue present is HMX from the octol explosive used in the M72 66-mm LAW rockets. At artillery range impact areas, the major residues are TNT and/or RDX from the military-grade TNT and Composition B used in warheads of artillery and mortar rounds. Residues are very heterogeneously distributed at artillery range impact areas and can be described as randomly distributed point sources. RDX and TNT are the major residues at hand grenade ranges and their distribution is less heterogeneous due to the large number of individual detonations in a smaller area that further disperses the residues over the surface and at shallow depths. TNT is the major energetic compound detected at bombing ranges due to its presence in tritonal, the most common explosive used in bombs.