Geophysics Field Camp 2000

During the Spring semester, 2000, the University of Arizona Geophysics Field Camp (GEN/GEOS 416/516 class) conducted geophysical surveys in the vicinity of the United Musical Instruments facility near Nogales, Arizona. This site is a super-fund site, due to the presence of contaminants, including TCE, in the ground water. The contaminants are presumed to have come from cleaning and electroplating solutions, which had been dumped into a small pond on the UMI property. The U.S. Geological Survey provided the funding for our study. The objective was to determine subsurface structural information that would help interpret possible future movement of the contaminant plume. Transient electromagnetic (TEM) data were most useful for interpreting the subsurface geohydrology. Water table was found at a depth of approximately 30 meters, north of the UMI building. A particularly interesting feature in the TEM data was a high-resistivity anomaly and an associated low-resistivity anomaly 10 to 1 00 meters northeast of the UMI building. We interpret the high-resistivity anomaly as possibly being due to an impermeable levee that was associated with a buried stream channel and the low-resisitivity anomaly as possibly being due to the pooling of conductive contaminated fluids against the impermeable levee. DC resistivity surveys were dominated by cultural coupling, which was pervasive m the survey area. Magnetic readings were used to help locate potential cultural interference. Gravity surveys indicated a low-density anomaly, which may be due to a buried stream channel. This feature could be related to the features mapped with the TEM surveys. The seismic survey indicated progressively more compacted and cemented alluvium, overlying the Nogales formation. The seismic data did not provide any direct information about the geohydrology of the areaThe Geophysics Field Camp Reports are made available by the Laboratory for Advanced Subsurface Imaging (LASI) and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit the LASI website for more information http://www.lasi.arizona.edu