Retardation of Toxic Chemicals in a Contaminated Outwash Aquifer

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Abstract
Organic chemicals disposed between 1969 and 1980 in a “Special Waste Compound” at the Gloucester Landfill near Ottawa, Canada, are migrating through a confined outwash aquifer. The subsurface distribution of the chemicals down gradient from the disposal site suggests that chromatographic dispersion (i.e. aqueous phase solute transport plus sorption) is the major process controlling migration. Retardation factors calculated on the basis of relative lengths of contaminant plumes agree closely with those determined independently during a purge-well test and indicate a linear relationship with the logarithm of the octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow): The slope, 0.50, of this relationship is at the low end of the range of values reported for other expressions of the same form determined principally on the basis of laboratory experiments. This lower slope may reflect the fact that in aquifers flow is predominantly through the coarser, less organic-rich units. The relatively low range of Kow values (log Kow from −0.27 to 2.83) represented by the contaminants may also be a factor contributing to a smaller slope value.

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