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Isotopic Constraints on Off‐Site Migration of Landfill CH 4
Author(s) -
Desrocher S.,
Lollar B. Sherwood
Publication year - 1998
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.1745-6584.1998.tb02198.x
Subject(s) - groundwater , aquifer , landfill gas , methanogenesis , geology , environmental science , soil gas , methane , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental chemistry , geochemistry , soil water , chemistry , soil science , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry
Occurrences of CH 4 in residential areas in the vicinity of the Beare Road landfill, Toronto, Canada, have raised public concern about potential off‐site migration of CH 4 from the landfill site. Carbon isotopic analysis of dissolved and gas phase CH4 at the Beare Road site, however, indicates that CH 4 in the ground water systems in the vicinity of the landfill is related to naturally occurring microbial methanogenesis within these geologic units, rather than to contamination by landfill CH 4 . CH 4 gas in the landfill and landfill cover has δ 13 C values (−60.2 ± 0.9%e) typical of microbially produced gas. Concentrations of CH 4 (508 to 693 uM) found in deep ground water in the Scarborough, Don, and Whitby Formations underlying the landfill are isotopically distinct from the landfill gases. They are isotopically and compositionally similar, however, to naturally occurring microbial CH 4 identified in organic‐rich glacial deposits throughout Ontario. The lack of any significant CH 4 concentrations or concentration gradients in the upper till zone between the landfill and the deep ground water aquifer is further evidence that no transport between the landfill and deep ground water is occurring.