Interdisciplinary characterization of subsurface hydrocarbon contamination on a test site in Hungary

Pesticides, chlorinated organic compounds and hydrocarbons are among the most threatening soil and groundwater contaminants because of their mobility and persistence in the subsurface, their widespread use, and their health effects. Hazardous chemicals getting into underground medium can be especially dangerous because they may remain persistently hidden from human eyes for a long time and their harmful impact on health may appear much later than their emission time and spatially far from the source of contamination. Development and combination of reliable and accurate geophysical methods and hydrogeological transport models with the traditional chemical analytics are greatly needed to assess the risk posed by the contamination plumes of these compounds to the subsurface.The paper presents the successful cooperation of these three disciplines in detailed characterization of subsurface hydrocarbon contaminants in a test site of Hungary. Combining the chemical analysis with high resolution geophysical methods and hydrogeological transport modeling the 4 dimensional characteristics of the contamination can be produced. The interdisciplinary research produced new developments and results in all participating fields of sciences