Reconnaissance investigation of petroleum products in soil and ground water at Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, 1990
Sumioka SS. 1995. Reconnaissance investigation of petroleum products in soil and ground water at Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, 1990. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Investigations Report. 94-4030. United States Geological Survey. Tacoma, WA
Results of a study to determine the extent to which petroleum hydrocarbons leaked from an underground storage tank have affected the unsaturated zone and ground water in the area (Longmire, Mount Rainier National Park). The routine removal of a waste-oil underground storage tank in Mount Rainier National Park at Longmire, Washington, in 1989 led to the discovery that soil surrounding the tank was saturated with unidentified petroleum hydrocarbons. Subsequent investigation by the National Park Service indicated that a petroleum product that smelled like diesel oil was present in the unsaturated zone as far as 120 feet from the tank site. A study was conducted in cooperation with the National Park Service to determine the extent to which the petroleum hydrocarbon(s) have affected the unsaturated zone and ground water in the Longmire area. Measurements of water levels in wells and of water-surface elevations of the Nisqually River and a wetland west of Longmire indicate that ground water does not flow from the maintenance area to the river or to the wetland. Therefore, it is unlikely that petroleum hydrocarbons affect the Nisqually River near Longmire or the wetland. Waste oil and diesel oil were detected in soil samples from the site nearest the waste-oil storage tank site. Diesel oil also was detected in samples from a site about 200 feet northwest of the storage-tank site. Organic compounds of undetermined origin were detected in soil samples from all other sites. Waste oil was not conclusively detected in any of the ground-water samples. Diesel oil was detected in water samples from the well nearest the storage tank and from a well about 200 feet west of the storage-tank site. Groundwater samples from all of the other wells contained organic compounds of undetermined origin. The findings indicate that diesel oil is the most likely source of most of the organic compounds detected in the soil and ground-water samples; however, a specific source of the diesel oil could not be determined. Although detected in soil samples from the vicinity of the storage tank, waste oil could not be identified as the source of organic compounds in ground water.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Sumioka, S
- Date of Issue
- 1995
- Publisher
- United States Geological Survey
- Units
- HIST , MORA
- Keywords
- Contamination, ehistory, Geology, Groundwater, History, Longmire, Management, Mount Rainier National Park, Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Soil Contamination, underground storage tanks, WA