Date of Award

4-1983

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Geological and Environmental Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. William A. Sauck

Second Advisor

Dr. W. Thomas Straw

Third Advisor

Dr. Richard N. Passero

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The KL Avenue Landfill near Kalamazoo, Michigan has recently become an area of ground water contamination. As of April, 1979, the landfill was closed due to contaminated wells to the west. This area was chosen to study because preliminary electrical resistivity surveys indicated that the approximate areal extent and depth of the contamination may be located without the additional cost of drilling wells. It is the intent of this study to use the Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding method to construct a hydrogeologic model for this area.

This study is a rather critical test of the Schlumberger VES method in a geologically complex glacial moraine environment with a deep water table, considerable topographic relief, and substantial cultural interference. The Schlumberger method did prove to be successful in determining the subsurface geology of the area west of the landfill. Results show a very conductive deep layer, interpreted as pre-Wisconsinan till, which has significant subsurface topographic relief. A buried valley apparently channelizes the leachate in a WSW direction from the landfill, minimizing lateral spreading.

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