Hydrologic and Chemical Data from an Experiment to Examine Temporal Variability in Water Samples from Screened Wells on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Reilly, Thomas

An experiment was designed to evaluate the changing chemical composition of the water pumped from a well screened in a physically and chemically heterogenous aquifer. Well F453-63, at the U.S. Geological Survey Toxic-Substances Hydrology research site located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was selected because it was known that the screen penetrated both the oxic and anoxic zones of the sewage plume from the Otis Air Base sewage-disposal sand beds. The experiment was conducted on August 12, 1992. Well F453-63 was sampled over time as it was pumped continuously, and three multilevel samplers were used to document the vertical distribution of selected chemicals in the ground water in the immediate vicinity of the well. All water samples collected during the experiment were analyzed in the field for specific conductance and pH. The samples were subsequently analyzed for concentrations of ferrous iron (Fe+2), total iron, boron, calcium, chloride, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, zinc, and nitrogen species (including nitrous oxide, ammonium, nitrite and nitrate). The results of these chemical analyses along with appropriate physical measurements of the site and aquifer material are documented in this data report.