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Denis R. LeBlanc

Publications and source records attributed to Denis R. LeBlanc.

68 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS2002

Detection of fresh ground water and a contaminant plume beneath Red Brook Harbor, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2000

Trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene were detected in ground water in a vertical interval from about 68 to 176 feet below sea level beneath the shoreline where the contaminant plume emanating from a capped landfill on the Massachusetts Military Reservation intersects Red Brook Harbor. The highest concentrations at the shoreline, about 15 micrograms per liter of trichloroethene and 1 microgram per liter of tetrachloroethene, were measured in samples from one well at about 176 feet below sea level. The concentrations of nutrients, such as nitrate and ammonium, and trace metals, such as iron and manganese, in these same samples are typical of uncontaminated ground water on Cape Cod. Fresh ground water (bulk electrical conductance less than 100 millisiemens per meter) is present beneath the harbor at 40 of 48 locations investigated within about 250 feet of the shoreline. Fresh ground water also was detected at one location approximately 450 feet from shore. The harbor bottom consists of soft sediments that range in thickness from 0 to greater than 20 feet and overlie sandy aquifer materials. Trichloroethene was detected at several locations in fresh ground water from the sandy aquifer materials beneath the harbor. The highest trichloroethene concentration, about 4.5 micrograms per liter, was measured about 450 feet from shore.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2002

Simulated pond-aquifer interactions under natural and stressed conditions near Snake Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

A numerical model was used to simulate pond-aquifer interactions under natural and stressed conditions near Snake Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Simulation results show that pond-bottom hydraulic conductivity, which represents the degree of hydraulic connection between the pond and the aquifer, is an important control on these interactions. As this parameter was incrementally increased from 10 to 350 feet per day, the rate of ground-water inflow into the pond under natural conditions increased by about 250 percent, the associated residence times of water in the pond decreased by about 50 percent, and ground-water inflow to the pond shifted closer to the pond shore. Most ground-water inflow (90 to 98 percent) was in the upper model layer, which corresponded to shallow, near-shore areas of the pond, over the entire range of pond-bottom hydraulic conductivity. Ground-water flow paths into the pond became more vertical, the contributing area to the pond became larger, and the pond captured water from greater depths in the aquifer as the hydraulic conductivity of the pond bottom was increased. The pond level, however, remained nearly constant, and regional ground-water levels and gradients differed little over the range of pond-bottom hydraulic conductivity, indicating that calibrated models with similar head solutions can have different pond-aquifer interaction characteristics. Hydrologic stresses caused by a simulated plume-containment system that specifies the extraction and injection of large volumes of ground water near the pond increased the pond level by about 0.4 foot and ground-water inflow rates into the pond by about 25 percent. Several factors related to the operation of the simulated containment system are affected by the hydraulic conductivity of the pond bottom. With increasing pond-bottom hydraulic conductivity, the amount of injected water that flows into Snake Pond increased and the amount of water recirculated between extraction and injection wells decreased. Comparison of simulations in which pond-bottom hydraulic conductivity was varied throughout the pond and simulations in which hydraulic conductivity was varied only in areas corresponding to shallow, near-shore areas of the pond indicate that the simulated hydraulic conductivity of the pond bottom in deeper parts of the pond had little effect on pond-aquifer interactions under both natural and stressed conditions.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2001

Estimation of hydraulic parameters from an unconfined aquifer test conducted in a glacial outwash deposit, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

An aquifer test conducted in a sand and gravel, glacial outwash deposit on Cape Cod, Massachusetts was analyzed by means of a model for flow to a partially penetrating well in a homogeneous, anisotropic unconfined aquifer. The model is designed to account for all significant mechanisms expected to influence drawdown in observation piezometers and in the pumped well. In addition to the usual fluid-flow and storage processes, additional processes include effects of storage in the pumped well, storage in observation piezometers, effects of skin at the pumped-well screen, and effects of drainage from the zone above the water table.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2000

Estimation of hydraulic parameters from an unconfined aquifer test conducted in a glacial outwash deposit, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

An aquifer test conducted in a sand and gravel, glacial outwash deposit on Cape Cod, Massachusetts was analyzed by means of a model for flow to a partially penetrating well in a homogeneous, anisotropic unconfined aquifer. The model is designed to account for all significant mechanisms expected to influence drawdown in observation piezometers and in the pumped well. In addition to the usual fluid-flow and storage processes, additional processes include effects of storage in the pumped well, storage in observation piezometers, effects of skin at the pumped-well screen, and effects of drainage from the zone above the water table. The aquifer was pumped at a rate of 320 gallons per minute for 72-hours and drawdown measurements were made in the pumped well and in 20 piezometers located at various distances from the pumped well and depths below the land surface. To facilitate the analysis, an automatic parameter estimation algorithm was used to obtain relevant unconfined aquifer parameters, including the saturated thickness and a set of empirical parameters that relate to gradual drainage from the unsaturated zone. Drainage from the unsaturated zone is treated in this paper as a finite series of exponential terms, each of which contains one empirical parameter that is to be determined. It was necessary to account for effects of gradual drainage from the unsaturated zone to obtain satisfactory agreement between measured and simulated drawdown, particularly in piezometers located near the water table. The commonly used assumption of instantaneous drainage from the unsaturated zone gives rise to large discrepancies between measured and predicted drawdown in the intermediate-time range and can result in inaccurate estimates of aquifer parameters when automatic parameter estimation procedures are used. The values of the estimated hydraulic parameters are consistent with estimates from prior studies and from what is known about the aquifer at the site. Effects of heterogeneity at the site were small as measured drawdowns in all piezometers and wells were very close to the simulated values for a homogeneous porous medium. The estimated values are: specific yield, 0.26; saturated thickness, 170 feet; horizontal hydraulic conductivity, 0.23 feet per minute; vertical hydraulic conductivity, 0.14 feet per minute; and specific storage, 1.3x10-5 per foot. It was found that drawdown in only a few piezometers strategically located at depth near the pumped well yielded parameter estimates close to the estimates obtained for the entire data set analyzed simultaneously. If the influence of gradual drainage from the unsaturated zone is not taken into account, specific yield is significantly underestimated even in these deep-seated piezometers. This helps to explain the low values of specific yield often reported for granular aquifers in the literature. If either the entire data set or only the drawdown in selected deep-seated piezometers was used, it was found unnecessary to conduct the test for the full 72-hours to obtain accurate estimates of the hydraulic parameters. For some piezometer groups, practically identical results would be obtained for an aquifer test conducted for only 8-hours. Drawdowns measured in the pumped well and piezometers at distant locations were diagnostic only of aquifer transmissivity.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1996

Infiltration and solute transport experiments in unsaturated sand and gravel, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Experimental design and overview of results

A series of infiltration and tracer experiments was conducted in unsaturated sand and gravel deposits on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A network of 112 porous cup lysimeters and 168 time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes was deployed at depths from 0.25 to 2.0 m below ground surface along the centerline of a 2-m by 10-m test plot. The test plot was irrigated at rates ranging from 7.9 to 37.0 cm h −1 through a sprinkler system. Transient and steady state water content distributions were monitored with the TDR probes and spatial properties of water content distributions were determined from the TDR data. The spatial variance of the water content tended to increase as the average water content increased. In addition, estimated horizontal correlation length scales for water content were significantly smaller than those estimated by previous investigators for saturated hydraulic conductivity. Under steady state flow conditions at each irrigation rate, a sodium chloride solution was released as a tracer at ground surface and tracked with both the lysimeter and TDR networks. Transect-averaged breakthrough curves at each monitoring depth were constructed both from solute concentrations measured in the water samples and flux concentrations inferred from the TDR measurements. Transport properties, including apparent solute velocities, dispersion coefficients, and total mass balances, were determined independently from both sets of breakthrough curves. The dispersion coefficients tended to increase with depth, reaching a constant value with the lysimeter data and appearing to increase continually with the TDR data. The variations with depth of the solute transport parameters, along with observations of water and solute mass balance and spatial distributions of water content, provide evidence of significant three-dimensional flow during the irrigation experiments. The TDR methods are shown to efficiently provide dense spatial and temporal data sets for both flow and solute transport in unsaturated sediments with minimal sediment and flow field disturbance. Combined implementation of lysimeters and TDR probes can enhance data interpretation particularly when three-dimensional flow conditions are anticipated.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS1985

Digital models of ground-water flow in the Cape Cod aquifer system, Massachusetts

The Cape Cod aquifer system was simulated with three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water-flow models. Five areas were modeled to provide tools that can be used to evaluate the hydrologic impacts of regional water development and waste disposal. The model boundaries were selected to represent the natural hydrologic boundaries of the aquifer. The boundary between fresh and saline ground water was treated as an interface along which there is no dispersion. The saline-water zone was treated as static (nonflowing). Comparisons of calculated and observed values of head, position of the boundary between fresh and saline water, and ground-water discharge (at locations where data were available) indicate that the simulated groundwater reservoirs generally agree with field conditions. Model analyses indicate that the total steady-state freshwater-flow rate through the five modeled areas is approximately 412 cubic feet per second.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1984

Sewage plume in a sand and gravel aquifer, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Secondarily treated domestic sewage has been disposed of on surface sand beds at the sewage treatment facility at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, since 1936. Infiltration of the sewage through the sand beds into the underlying unconfined sand and gravel aquifer has resulted in a plume of sewage-contaminated ground water that is 2,500 to 3,500 feet wide, 75 feet thick, and more than 11,000 feet long. The plume extends south and southwest of the sand beds in the same direction as the regional flow of ground water, and is overlain by 20 to 50 feet of ground water derived from precipitation that recharges the aquifer. The bottom of the plume generally coincides with the contact between the permeable sand and gravel and underlying finer grained sediments. The distributions in the aquifer of specific conductance, temperature, boron, chloride, sodium, phosphorus, nitrogen (total of all species), ammonia, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, and detergents are used to delineate the plume. In ground water outside the plume, the detergent concentration is less than 0.1 milligrams per liter as MBAS (methylene blue active substances), the ammonia-nitrogen concentration is less than 0.1 milligrams per liter, the boron concentration is less than 50 micrograms per liter, and specific conductance is less than 80 mircromhos per centimeter. In the center of the plume, detergent concentrations as high as 2.6 milligrams per liter as MBAS, ammonia-nitrogen concentrations as high as 20 milligrams per liter, boron concentrations as high as 400 micrograms per liter, and specific conductance as high as 405 micromhos per centimeter were measured. Chloride, sodium, and boron are transported by the southward-flowing ground water without significant retardation, and seem to be diluted only by hydrodynamic dispersion. The movement of phosphorus is greatly restricted by sorption. Phosphorus concentrations do not exceed 0.05 milligrams per liter farther than 2,500 feet from the sand beds. Detergent concentrations in the plume are highest between 3,000 and 10,000 feet from the sand beds and reflect the introduction of nonbiodegradable detergents in 1946 and the conversion to biodegradable detergents in 1964. The center of the plume as far as 5,000 feet from the sand beds contains nitrogen as ammonia, but no nitrate and no dissolved oxygen. Ammonia is gradually oxidized to nitrate between 5,000 and 8,000 feet from the sand beds, and at distances greater than 8,000 feet oxidation of ammonia is essentially complete. Ammonia also is oxidized to nitrate along the top and sides of the plume within 5,000 of the beds where the contaminated ground water mixes with uncontaminated ground water that contains up to 11 milligrams per liter dissolved oxygen.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1982

Potential hydrologic impacts of ground-water withdrawal from the Cape Cod National Seashore, Truro, Massachusetts

The hydrologic impacts of continuous ground-water withdrawals at 0.75, 1.0, and 1.24 Mgal/d (million gallons per day) from a test-well site in the Cape Cod National Seashore, Truro, Massachusetts, were evaluated with a three-dimensional finite-difference steady-state-flow digital model. The digital model was prepared during an earlier study and is only briefly described. Continuous withdrawal of more than 1.0 Mgal/d from a well screened from 10 to 40 feet below sea level at the test site will result in upward movement of the freshwater-saltwater interface, and most likely saltwater will eventually contaminate the well. Pumping from a shallower well will decrease the potential for the movement of saltwater into the well, but the water table may be drawn down to the well screen. It is unlikely that movement of the freshwater-saltwater interface in response to pumping from the test site at the simulated rates will result in saltwater contamination of the shallow domestic supply wells in Truro. For the simulated pumping schemes, the water-table decline below average (1963-76) levels did not exceed 0.6 foot except near the pumping wells. Continuous withdrawal at the average year-round rate and the average summer rate will decrease freshwater discharge to the wetland and ocean along the northeastern boundary of the aquifer. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1981

Digital models of ground-water flow in the Cape Cod aquifer system, Massachusetts

The Cape Cod aquifer system was simulated with three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water-flow models. Five areas were modeled to provide tools that can be used to evaluate the hydrologic impacts of regional water development and waste disposal. The model boundaries were selected to represent the natural hydrologic boundaries of the aquifer. The boundary between fresh and saline ground water is treated as an interface along which there is no dispersion. The saline-water zone is treated as static (nonflowing). Comparisons of calculated and observed values of head, position of the boundary between fresh and saline water, and ground-water discharge at locations where data are available indicate that the simulated ground-water reservoirs generally agree with field conditions. Model analyses indicate that the total steady-state freshwater-flow rate through the five modeled areas is approximately 412 cubic feet per second.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1978

Progress report on hydrologic investigations of small drainage areas in New Hampshire: preliminary relations for estimating peak discharges on rural, unregulated streams

The magnitude and frequency of floods on rural, unregulated streams in New Hampshire with drainage areas between 0.27 and 622 square miles may be estimated from drainage area, main-channel slope, and a precipitation intensity index. Based on multiple-regression analyses of data from 59 gaged sites in New Hampshire and adjacent areas of bordering states, peak discharges for recurrence intervals of 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years can be estimated equations. The estimating relations can be applied to streams where flows are not significantly affected by regulation, diversion, or urbanization; where usable manmade storage does not exceed 4.5 million cubic feet per square mile; or where the basin characteristics are within a specified range. The average standard error of the estimate ranged from 35 percent for the 2-year flood to 58 percent for the 100-year flood. (Woodard-USGS)

New Hampshire↗