Premium
Ground‐Water Contamination Near a Uranium Tailings Disposal Site in Colorado
Author(s) -
Goode Daniel J.,
Wilder Russell J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1987.tb02884.x
Subject(s) - groundwater , tailings , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater recharge , uranium , irrigation , environmental science , spring (device) , contamination , geology , ridge , surface water , aquifer , environmental engineering , geotechnical engineering , materials science , mechanical engineering , ecology , paleontology , engineering , metallurgy , biology
Contaminants from uranium tailings disposed of at an active mill in Colorado have seeped into the shallow ground water onsite. This ground water discharges into the Arkansas River Valley through a superposed stream channel cut in the resistant sandstone ridge at the edge of a synclinal basin. In the river valley, seasonal surface‐water irrigation has a significant impact on hydrodynamics. Water levels in residential wells fluctuate up to 20 ft and concentrations of uranium, molybdenum, and other contaminants also vary seasonally, with highest concentrations in the Spring, prior to irrigation, and lowest concentrations in the Fall. Results of a simple transient mixing cell model support the hypothesis that lateral ground‐water inflow, and not irrigation recharge, is the source of ground‐water contamination.