Glacial deposits, as much as 360 feet thick, underlie the study area. The upper 29 to 118 feet, a sand and gravel unit, is the aquifer tapped by all wells in the area. This unit is underlain by impermeable clay that is at least 100 feet thick. Ground-water flow is northeastward at an estimated rate of 2 to 5 feet per day. Hydraulic conductivities in the aquifer range from 85 to 250 feet per day; 120 feet per day provided the best match of field data in a ground-water flow model. The depth to water ranged from 1 to 20 feet. Chemical analyses indicate that ground water is contaminated with organic chemicals from near the Hangar/Administration building at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at East Bay, about 4,300 feet northeast. The plume, which follows ground-water flow lines, ranges from 180 to 400 feet wide. In the upper reach of the plume, hydrocarbons less dense than water occur at the surface of the water table; they move downward in the aquifer as they move toward east Bay. Maximum concentrations of the MAJOR organic compounds include: benzene, 3,390 ug/L; toluene, 55,500 ug/L; xylene, 3,900 ug/L, tetrachloroethylene, 3,410 ug/L; amd bis (2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate, 2,100 ug/L. Soils are generally free of these hydrocarbons; however, in the vicinity of past drum storage, aircraft maintenance operations, and fuel storage and dispensing, as much as 1,100 ug/kg of tetrachloroethylene and 1,500 ug/kg of bis (-ethyl hexyl) phthalate were detected. At a few locations higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, characteristic of petroleum distillates were found. (USGS)
RECORD ID: 8602814
F&G CODE: 05a; 02f
Publication
Twenter, F.R., Cummings, T.R., and Grannemann, N.G., 1983, Ground-water
contamination in East Bay Township, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey
Water-Resources Investigations Report 85-4064, 63 p.
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