Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America

20-5 BTH 26 Lee, Charlotte I. [218773]
HISTORICAL CLIMATE AND STREAMFLOW TRENDS OF THE GRAND TRAVERSE BAY
REGION
LEE, Charlotte I., Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824,
leechar3@msu.edu, MARTIN, Sherry L., Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan
State University, 206 Natural Sciences Bldg, East Lansing, MI 48824, KENDALL, Anthony D.,
Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, 206 Natural Sciences Bldg,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, and HYNDMAN, David W., Department of
Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, 206 Natural Science Building, East Lansing,
MI 48824
The natural environment of the Grand Traverse Bay Region is not only accredited by residents
as a top contributing factor to a high quality of life, it contributes to the region’s economy through
recreation and tourism. Water is an extremely important part of the natural environment, as well
as human use, and can be affected by climatic conditions. Because of the strong economic
link, it is vital to study the Grand Traverse Bay Region‘s water resources and climate to better
understand the complex relationships between driving and response factors. This in turn will
help stakeholders assess potential impacts that a continually changing climate could have
on the precious water resources this region depends on. Analyzing data collected by stream
gauging and climate monitoring stations over the past century in the Boardman and Charlevoix
River Watersheds provides insight on streamflow, temperature, and precipitation trends of this
region have shifted. Cross-examination of climate change driver and response trends along with
ecological and anthropological data can be used to assess the past, present, and possible future
impacts of regional change in stream flow and climate.
SESSION NO. 21, 1:30 PM
Thursday, 2 May 2013
T20. Applied Geology: Engineering, Environmental,
Geotechnical and Hydrogeology (Posters)
(Association of Environmental and Engineering
Geologists)
Schneider Hall, Courtyard
21-1 BTH 27 Bouali, El Hachemi Y. [218213]
THE STABILITY OF THE LAKE MICHIGAN BLUFFS IN ALLEGAN COUNTY, MICHIGAN, AND
THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AIR TEMPERATURE, GROUNDWATER LEVELS, AND
DOWNSLOPE DISPLACEMENT
BOUALI, El Hachemi Y. 1 , KAUNDA, Rennie B. 2 , CHASE, Ronald B. 1 , and KEHEW, Alan E. 1 ,
(1) Department of Geosciences, Western Michigan University, 1903 West Michigan Avenue,
Kalamazoo, MI 49008, el.h.bouali@wmich.edu, (2) SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc, Suite 3000,
7175 West Jefferson Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80235
Unstable bluffs composed of heterogeneous glacial sediments account for approximately 60
percent of the Great Lakes shoreline. This instability has been attributed to toe erosion, soil
saturation, surface water flow, and/or misguided human intervention. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and Western Michigan University conducted a joint study between 1996 and 2008 that
resulted in a temporal dataset allowing significant insight into the causes of bluff failure. Electronic
instrumentation, installed in 2003 within the bluffs of Lake Michigan, north of South Haven, MI,
has led to data that grants explanations for the mechanisms and causes of failure. Instruments
include subsurface arrays of in-situ inclinometers, vibrating wire piezometers, thermistors, and
weather stations. Over the 12-year acquisition of displacement, groundwater, wave, precipitation,
and temperature data, the damaging effects of groundwater activity, especially during times
of freeze/thaw cycles, have been adequately observed. Groundwater was also discharged
from vertical pumping wells during the winter seasons of 2003 and 2005. The vertical pumping
wells were located in a dewatering site next to a (non-dewatered) control site. Downslope
displacements were reduced by as much as 400 percent when compared to the control zone
displacements during the dewatering times.
Statistical evaluation of the data has emphasized the erosional effects during freeze/thaw
cycles. Correlation and kernel density studies of: (1) air temperature versus downslope rotational
displacement, (2) air temperature versus perched ground water potentiometric surface elevations,
and (3) groundwater-level fluctuations verses downslope rotational displacements, have
demonstrated instantaneous displacement activity when air temperatures cross 0° Celsius. The
freezing of bluff surfaces produces a barrier to perched water discharge, which then raises pore
pressures to produce a factor of safety of less than one; this results in simple shear displacement
within the bluff. As the frozen bluffs thaw there is a rapid discharge of stored groundwater, which
creates an additional lagged downslope displacement that accompanies the increase of flow
pressure. The second pulse of displacements tends to be back rotations that accompany block
movements of coherent soil.
21-2 BTH 28 Lightfoot, Randall E. [218233]
ANALYZING THE STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES, GEOLOGIC CONDITIONS, AND FRIABILITY
OF GARNET SANDS FROM FOUR MINE SOURCES AROUND THE WORLD: IMPLICATIONS
FOR THE DRY-AIR ABRASIVE SAND BLAST-CLEANING INDUSTRY
LIGHTFOOT, Randall E., Augustana College, 1411 Dahlgren Lane, Minooka, IL 60447,
randalllightfoot09@augustana.edu
Due to its relatively high specific gravity, chemical inertness, isometric geometry, nontoxicity,
lack of crystalline silica, ability to be recycled, low friability, and high hardness, garnet sand
(var. almandine–pyrope) is one of the leading non-metallic abrasive media being used in the
dry-air abrasive sand blast-cleaning industry. The primary task of this industry is to blast-clean
steel infrastructure, remove all mill-scale and rust/corrosion, while simultaneously preparing
the steel for a top-coating, which increases the integrity and longevity of the steel. Marco
Industries (Davenport, IA) has provided five garnet sand samples from four localities. Two of
the five samples are of hard rock origin while the remaining three samples were mined from
fluvial systems. One hard rock garnet sample was mined from khondalites in the granulite belt
of the North China Craton, Inner Mongolia, and the other from a meta-gabbro-derived garnetamphibolite
from Gore Mountain, New York, U.S.A. Two of the three fluvial garnet sands were
SESSION NO. 21
mined from the Thamirabarani River feeding into Bengal Bay, Eastern India, and the other from
the Hutt River emptying into Port Gregory, Western Australia. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy,
scanning electron microscopy, and grain size analysis methods were used to determine bulk
and trace element compositions, change in geometry, percent degradation, percent dusting, and
friability of each garnet sample. In order of increasing friability, the sample rank: 1: NY-garnet
sample, 2: India (1) garnet sample, 3: India (2) garnet sample, 4: Australia garnet sample, and
5: Mongolia garnet sample. Data show that the superior garnet sand with the lowest friability is
from Gore Mountain and the most inferior, highest friability, is from Mongolia. Another rank was
assigned to each garnet in terms of increasing dust created during one blast operation, with
particles ranging from 1 to 100 μm in diameter. India (2) garnet sand created 7.7% dust, New
York garnet sand created 8.9% dust, India (1) garnet sand created 12.7% dust, garnet sand from
Australia created 14.4% dust and garnet from Mongolia created 26.8% dust. The percentages
show how much of the garnet sand degraded after one blast operation, and provide insight about
the friability of each garnet sand.
21-3 BTH 29 Baratta, Vanessa M. [218415]
THE EFFECTS OF FREEZE-THAW CYCLES AND STORMWATER RUNOFF INPUT ON THREE
BIOSWALE SOIL MIXTURES
BARATTA, Vanessa M., Geoscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242,
vanessa-baratta@uiowa.edu, BETTIS, E. Arthur III, Geoscience, University of Iowa,
121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242, WARD, Adam S., Department of Geoscience,
University of Iowa, 121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52240, and WEIRICH, Frank,
Department of Geosciences, University of Iowa, 121 Trowbridge Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242
Urbanization and the growth of suburbs are world-wide phenomena. One product of this
development is a dramatic increase in impermeable surfaces and a consequent increase in
stormwater runoff. Bioretention cells (biocells) are one best management practice frequently
used to mitigate the impacts of urban stormwater runoff. To ensure that a biocell will continue to
perform adequately in the long term, it is imperative that the varieties of conditions it will sustain
through time are considered during its initial design. Although biocells are frequently used for
stormwater management, very few quantitative data exist on how they perform through time and
in varied physical environments. In regions with seasonal freeze-thaw cycles, it is important to
understand the physical effects of freeze-thaw cycles on biocell materials so that the integrity
of the design will not be compromised by seasonal change. This project utilizes manufactured
laboratory columns to investigate the effects of freeze-thaw cycles and runoff sediment input on
the infiltration capacity of three different biosoil mixtures. These tests will provide an analog for
long-term changes in biocell infiltration rates due to seasonal variations, which will provide critical
data on which soil mixture would be best implemented in geographic regions susceptible to
freeze-thaw activity. Furthermore these results will inform design standards for biocells to insure
their long-term use.
21-4 BTH 30 Erich, Kyla J. [218479]
WOLF CREEK DAM: A CASE STUDY OF FOUNDATION REMEDIATION FOR DAMS BUILT ON
KARST FOUNDATIONS
ERICH, Kyla J., Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409,
kje6f4@mail.mst.edu
Wolf Creek Dam was completed in 1952 as a 5,736 ft long and 258 ft high combination
embankment-concrete gravity dam. Its storage capacity of 6 million acre feet makes it the ninth
largest reservoir in the nation. The dam was built on a heavily karstified limestone foundation and
began exhibiting signs of excess foundation seepage in late 1967. This led to extensive corrective
work beneath the earthen core of the right abutment embankment to reduce underseepage. In
2006 an independent assessment by the Dam Safety Action Classification Peer Review Panel
recommended that Wolf Creek Dam exhibited “Urgent and Compelling” foundation seepage
issues that required immediate attention. This classification triggered the most complex dam
foundation remediation project of any dam in the world, with an estimated total cost of $594
million, requiring six years of construction. The drilling and grouting techniques being applied
insitu beneath the embankment section will likely establish new standards of practice for
remediation and foundation beneficiation for hydraulic structures built on karst sites, specifically
embedded barrier walls.
21-5 BTH 31 Crane, Renee [218684]
ALLOWING TIME FOR ACTIVATED CARBON CONDITIONING IN CONTAMINATED SOILS
INCREASES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STABILIZATION/SOLIDIFICATION
CRANE, Renee, 1070 Claymoor Drive, Apartment 2A, Kalamazoo, MI 49009,
renee.e.crane@wmich.edu and CASSIDY, Daniel, Geosciences, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Stabilization and Solidification (S/S) can be a cost-effective remediation tool for contaminated
soils and sediments, and is considered an accepted technology by the US EPA. S/S involves
mixing amendments into the contaminated material which reduce the leachability of the
contaminants. Though originally designed for inorganic contaminants, S/S is increasingly being
used for sites contaminated with organic compounds.
Two amendments commonly used for organics are Portland cement (or other pozzolanics
like quick lime or fly ash) and powdered activated carbon (PAC). Cementing agents reduce the
leaching of organic contaminants by reducing the permeability of leachate, and by encapsulating
soil particles to which contaminants are adsorbed. The PAC serves as surface area to which
organic contaminants adsorb very strongly. Ideally, PAC should be given time to adsorb
contaminants before cementing agents are added, called PAC conditioning. However, in practice
both amendments are typically added at the same time to reduce costs. Laboratory studies
conducted on phenol suggest that there is no benefit by allowing PAC conditioning before adding
cementing agents. However, these studies were done on soils artificially contaminated with
phenols, whereas aged contaminated soils tend to behave quite differently. Moreover, phenols are
not very common contaminants of soils.
We will present results from laboratory studies on 6 different soils with aged contamination
from BTEX (i.e., benzene, toluene, ethyl benzenes, and xylenes). The studies measured leaching
(using the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure, or SPLP) in soils amended with PAC and
Portland cement simultaneously, and compared PAC conditioning times of 1 month, 3 months,
6 months, 9 months, and 1 year. Results demonstrate that pre-treatment with PAC before
cement dosing dramatically reduces leaching and increases the effectiveness of S/S for organic
contaminants.
2013 GSA North-Central Section Meeting 51