Skip Links
Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5158
Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Geophysical Bed Sediment Characterization of the Androscoggin River from the Former Chlor-Alkali Facility Superfund Site, Berlin, New Hampshire, to the State Border with Maine, August 2009
By James R. Degnan, Andrew P. Teeple, Craig M. Johnston,
Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale and Darryl Luce1
1U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1
Abstract
The former Chlor-Alkali Facility in Berlin, New Hampshire, was listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Priorities List in 2005 as a Superfund site. The Chlor-Alkali Facility lies on the east bank of the Androscoggin River. Elemental mercury currently discharges from that bank into the Androscoggin River. The nature, extent, and the speciation of mercury and the production of methyl mercury contamination in the adjacent Androscoggin River is the subject of continuing investigations. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Region I of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, used geophysical methods to determine the distribution, thickness, and physical properties of sediments in the Androscoggin River channel at a small area of an upstream reference reach and downstream from the site to the New Hampshire–Maine State border.
Separate reaches of the Androscoggin River in the study area were surveyed with surface geophysical methods including ground-penetrating radar and step-frequency electromagnetics. Results were processed to assess sediment characteristics including grain size, electrical conductivity, and pore-water specific conductance. Specific conductance measured during surface- and pore-water sampling was used to help interpret the results of the geophysical surveys. The electrical resistivity of sediment samples was measured in the laboratory with intact pore water for comparison with survey results. In some instances, anthropogenic features and land uses, such as roads and power lines affected the detection of riverbed properties using geophysical methods; when this occurred, the data were removed. Through combining results, detailed riverbed sediment characterizations were made.
Results from ground-penetrating radar surveys were used to image and measure the depth to the riverbed, depth to buried riverbeds, riverbed thickness and to interpret material-type variations in terms of relative grain size. Fifty two percent of the riverbed in the study area was covered with gravel and finer sediments. The electrically resistive river water and sediment in this study area were conducive to the penetration of the ground-penetrating radar and step-frequency electromagnetic signals and allowed for effective sediment characterization by geophysical methods.
The reach between the former Chlor-Alkali Facility and the Riverside Dam, had small areas of fine sediment (estimated 11 percent of riverbed area), found on the upstream left bank and the downstream right bank, with an electromagnetic conductivity (31.4 millisiemens per meter (mS/m) maximum) that was higher than the upstream reference reach. The greatest electromagnetic conductivity (195 mS/m), pore-water specific conductance (324 mS/m) and lab measured sediment conductivity of (76.8 mS/m, measured with a direct-current resistivity test box) in the study were measured approximately 1 mile (mi) downstream of the site from a sandbar on the left bank. Reaches adjacent to and within 2 mi downstream from the site had elevated electromagnetic conductivity despite having lower estimated percentages of riverbed area covered in sediment (11, 25, and 61 percent, respectively) than the reference reach (97). Typically finer grained sediment with similar mineralogy will be more conductive. The Shelburne Reservoir is approximately 8 mi downstream from the site had the second greatest pore-water specific conductance measured, 45.8 mS/m. Many of the locations with the largest step-frequency electromagnetic values have not been sampled for pore water and sediment.
|
Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF); the latest version of Adobe Reader or similar software is required to view it. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge. |
Suggested citation:
Degnan, J.R., Teeple, A.P., Johnston, C.M., Marvin-DiPasquale, M.C., and Luce, Darryl, 2011, Geophysical bed
sediment characterization of the Androscoggin River from the former Chlor-Alkali Facility Superfund Site,
Berlin, New Hampshire, to the state border with Maine, August 2009: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific
Investigations Report 2011–5158, 27 p., at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5158.
Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Site Background
Previous Investigations
Purpose and Scope
Study Area Description
Geologic Setting
River Flow and Channel Features
Methods of Data Collection and Analysis
Ground-Penetrating Radar
Step-Frequency Electromagnetic Induction
Sediment Sampling and Direct-Current Resistivity
Interpretation of Riverbed Conductivity
Estimation of Riverbed Properties by Reach
Characteristics of Riverbed Sediment
Wheeler Bay, Reference Reach
Reach AR–3, Between the Former Chlor-Alkali Facility Superfund Site and the
Riverside Dam
Reach AR–4, Upstream from the Smith Dam
Reach AR–5, Upstream from the Cross Power Dam
Reach AR–6, Between Cross Power and Cascade Dams
Reach AR–7, Upstream from the Brown Dam
Reach AR–8, Between the Brown and Gorham Dams
Reach AR–9, Between the Gorham and Shelburne Dams
Reach AR–10, Downstream from the Shelburne Dam to the New Hampshire–Maine Border
Summary and Conclusions
References Cited