Geology Commons^™

Modeling Transport Of Colloid-Bound Herbicides And Heavy Metals To Groundwater, Anastasios D. Karathanasis, R. E. Phillips, A. K. Seta

KWRRI Research Reports

Recent studies have suggested that contaminant transport to groundwater may be enhanced by association with colloidal particles. This study evaluated the role of water dispersible colloids with diverse mineralogical composition in co-transporting selected herbicides and heavy metals through intact soil columns. Colloid recovery in the eluents ranged from 45-90% for the herbicides and 10-60% for the heavy metals. The presence of colloids enhanced the transport of atrazine by 2-18%, and metolachlor by 8-30%. The corresponding increase for Cu and Zn was 2-150 and 5-30 times, respectively. For Pb, there was essentially no elution in the absence of colloids, suggesting nearly …

Groundwater Study: Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Usa Georgetown, Kentucky, Gary Felton, Lyle V. A. Sendlein, Teri Dowdy, Daryl Hines

KWRRI Research Reports

An eighteen month study of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing (TMM) plant site and the surrounding area was undertaken. The basic charge for this project was to characterize the groundwater that is potentially impacted by the TMM plant site. This included occurrence, flow direction, and, if possible, velocity. Because the area is karstified (has sinkholes, springs, caves, etc.) surface water and groundwater are intimately connected and, hence, surface water was frequently an important component of this work.

Data from TMM construction plans and monitoring work done subsequent to construction were elicited from the various repositories within the TMM infrastructure. Aerial color …

Chloroform Contamination In The Louisville Aquifer: An Investigation Of Its Occurrence And Propagation, Sergio E. Serrano

KWRRI Research Reports

This report presents the main results of an investigation on the nature and propagation of an accidental spill of chloroform in the Louisville aquifer, Kentucky. Much of the effort is concentrated on the development of mathematical models to either reconstruct the history of evolution of the plume, or forecast its propagation in the future. Chloroform is a dense halogenated solvent which exhibits a special migration pattern in porous media: Because of this and the relative absence of a conceptual theory on its hydrodynamics in porous media, meaningful predictive models will have to deal with many unresolved theoretical aspects of contaminant …

Development Of Dynamic Non-Hortonian Watershed Models For Steeply Sloping Forested Watersheds: Application To Eastern Kentucky, Lindell E. Ormsbee, Abdul Q. Khan

KWRRI Research Reports

A comprehensive conceptual watershed model is developed to simulate the hydrologic response of steeply sloping forested watersheds. Two non-Hortonian and two Hortonian models were first tested with data from selected watersheds in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky in order to understand the different mechanisms of flow responsible for storm hydrograph generation in this type of watersheds. The two non-Hortonian models tested were the kinematic storage model (Sloan et al. 1983) and the saturation deficit model (Beven and Wood, 1983). Both models were unable to adequately reproduce the observed hydrographs in the four forested watersheds considered in this research. The two …

A Model For Assessing The Visual Resources Of River Basins As An Aid To Making Landuse Planning Decisions, Thomas J. Nieman, Diane S. Meshako, David Walters, Molly M. Davis, Cindy C. Elliot

KWRRI Research Reports

The visual quality of a river basin and its associated properties can be identified, evaluated and integrated into the landscape planning process. The model developed provides a quantitative methodology for determining visual quality on the basis of available Geographic Information System factors. These factors are utilized to develop the preference attributes, COLOR, FORM, TEXTURE and LINE, which are associated with the assessment of visual quality. The preference attributes are then combined through a decision making process into a continuum of DISTINCTIVE, GOOD, AVERAGE and MINIMAL visual quality and is expressed digitally in map format. By providing visual quality information in …

Atlas Of Wetlands In The Principal Coal Surface Mining Region Of Western Kentucky, William J. Mitsch, Jan R. Taylor, Kimberly B. Benson, Paul L. Hill Jr.

KWRRI Research Reports

This atlas contains maps of wetlands and surface mining activity in the Western Kentucky Coal Field, and focuses on a 3960 km² (1530 mi²) region where approximately 90 percent of surface mining in the Coal field occures. Some present and potential competition exists between surface coal mining and wetland protection. A wetland classification, based on the recent FWS classification, includes six types of palustrine systems and one each of riverine and laucstrine systems. Wetlands and surface mines are located on twenty-seven 7.5 minute USGS quadrangles that define the study region. A total of 460 km² (177 …

Studies In Dye-Tracing Technologies In Karst Hydrogeology, John Thrailkill, Phillip E. Byrd, Stephen B. Sullivan, Lawrence E. Spangler, Charles J. Taylor, Greta K. Nelson, Kevin R. Pogue

KWRRI Research Reports

Information on fluorescent dyes used for water tracing and the results of six studies are reported. Optical brightener, direct yellow, fluorescein, rhodamine (WT), and other dyes are described and the procedures employed in their use ·in the field and in equilibration experiments are discussed. Three of the six studies consisted of investigations of the equilibration with passive detectors of three of the dyes. The absorption of optical brightener on fabric detectors was apparently linear with concentration and with immersion time, while detectors became rapidly saturated with direct yellow. Equilibrium of fluorescein on charcoal detectors with an elutriating solution was not …

Hydrology And Water Quality In The Central Kentucky Karst: Phase 1, James F. Quinlan, Donald R. Rowe

KWRRI Research Reports

Study of springs and cave streams has shown that heavy metal-rich effluent from a wastewater treatment plant can be traced to Hidden River Cave (beneath the city of Horse Cave) and thence 4 to 5 miles north to a group of 39 springs at 14 locations along a 5-mile reach of Green River. Nickel, chromium, copper and zinc in these effluent-bearing springs are in concentrations of as much as 30 times greater than other springs upstream and downstream from this reach, 20 times greater than the Green River, and 60 times greater than in shallow domestic wells between Horse Cave …

Analysis Of Unsteady Flow Toward Artesian Wells By Three-Dimensional Finite Elements, Yang H. Huang, Shen-Jyh Wu

KWRRI Research Reports

A three-dimensional finite element computer program was developed for analyzing unsteady flow toward artesian wells. The program is designed especially for determining the drawdown around an artesian well penetrating fully or partially a nonhomogeneous and anisotropic aquifer of irregular shape and cross section. It can also be used as a general program for aquifer simulation and evaluation. A major advantage of the program lies in the minimum amount of input data required. By assuming the top and bottom boundaries of the aquifer as two arbitrary planes, the aquifer will be divided into six- or eight-node elements, and their nodal coordinates …