Monitoring leakage from underground storage tanks (UST) using spontaneous polarization (SP) method James W. Perry, Univ. New Hampshire, Durham, NH, Charles E. Corry, Golden, Colorado, Theodore Madden, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts Home Page Contents Index Comments? Summary Delineating and monitoring leakage from aging or ruptured underground storage tanks is both a common and expensive problem. Typically the site must be extensively drilled and numerous water samples taken and analyzed in order to delineate the contaminant plume. Remediation efforts often require that ground water sampling be continued frequently over several years. In contrast, discrete zones of hydrocarbon contamination around leaking storage tanks have been successfully mapped using spontaneous polarization (SP) methods at two separate locations in New Hampshire. Contaminated zones are distinct from their surrounding environment in SP surveys, and exhibit a negative potential whose magnitude is much greater than an order of magnitude above background levels despite severe cultural interference. One hydrocarbon plume associated with a leaking storage tank was located underneath asphalt paving behind a shopping mall in Stratham, NH. Three hydrocarbon plumes associated with such tanks located on Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, NH were successfully mapped using SP. In addition, remediation efforts at the former fire department training site at | |
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