Diffusion and Drive-Point Sampling to Detect Ordnance-Related Compounds in Shallow Ground Water Beneath Snake Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2001-02;Water-resources investigations

摘要

Diffusion and drive-point sampling was used by the USGS, in cooperation with the Army National Guard Bureau, in 2001-02 to determine if ground water containing ordnance-related compounds from various military ranges at Camp Edwards on the Massachusetts Military Reservation was discharging to Snake Pond. The diffusion samplers were constructed with cellulose membranes that allow diffusion of RDX, HMX, and other explosive compounds into the samplers. The 130 diffusion samplers were buried into the pond-bottom sediments by scuba divers along 13 transects and allowed to equilibrate with shallow ground water beneath the pond for 13-27 days before retrieval. Ground-water samples were collected from temporary well points driven into the pond bottom at 21 sites and analyzed for explosives and perchlorate. Four explosive compounds were detected in diffusion samplers at five widely spaced sites, but the detected compounds did not include RDX or MHX and generally are not found in the ground water near the ranges.