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Areal Variation and Chemical Modification of Weathered Shale Infiltration Characteristics¹

ABSTRACT

Spatial variability of infiltration into a weathered shale subsoil were evaluated at a site proximal to one used for shallow land burial of low-level radioactive waste at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Double-ring infiltrometers were installed at 48 locations on a 2- by 2-m grid after the removal of 1 to 2 m of soil (Litz-Sequoia association, Typic Hapludults). Infiltration rates were measured before and during the 0- to 20- and 239- to 259-day periods following treatment with solutions of NaOH, KOH, NaF, NaAlO₂, and Na₂SiO₃ at rates of 151 equivalents/m². None of these chemical treatments significantly altered infiltration rate, indicating that chemical modification of soil exchange properties may be achieved without inducing hydrologic disturbance in these subsoils. A semivariogram analysis of infiltration data showed that areal variability was random; any spatial patterning must therefore occur at a smaller scale than 2 m. The frequency distribution of infiltration rate fitted a lognormal model with a geometric mean of 2 cm per day and a coefficient of variation of 130%.

¹ Research sponsored by the Office of Waste Operations and Technology, U.S. DOE, under contract W-7405-eng-26 with Union Carbide Corp. Publication no. 1699, Environmental Sciences Division, ORNL.

² Research Staff Member, Research Associate, and Biological Laboratory Specialist, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Lab., Oak Ridge, TN 37830.

Received for publication November 20, 1980. Accepted for publication February 11, 1981.