Brownfield Resistivity

This particular site consisted of a series of concrete lined trenches open at the bottom where low level radioactive waste was historically dumped and allowed to infiltrate into the soil and subsurface. This radioactive waste was rich in nitrates and other salts which were highly conductive. In the plot you can clearly see a conductive plume (more conductive values are purples to blues, more resistive are yellows to reds) related to the waste below the areas associated with trenches 33 and 34. . Since this waste was disposed of decades ago we can use the resistivity method to delineate the current boundaries of the contaminants in the subsurface allowing for a targeted remediation effort. We can also monitor the movement of these contaminants within the subsurface by repeating the surveys over time, possibly identifying preferential flow pathways, geological controls, etc.