Evaluation of Three Iowa Soil Materials as Liners for Hazardous-Waste Landfills

A hazardous-waste landfill site usually requires a liner constructed of compacted soil material to help prevent the migration of hazardous wastes from the landfill. The performance of a compacted soil liner is partly a function of the physical properties of the soil materials used. The physical properties of three Iowa soil materials were examined to obtain information concerning their effectiveness as liner materials. Particle size distribution, Atterberg limits, particle density, undisturbed bulk density, and moisture-density relations were determined for till, loess, and paleosol materials. In addition, permeability and solute breakthrough measurements were made on compacted samples of the three materials. All compacted soil materials had permeabilities of less than 10-9 meters per second. On the basis of the physical properties of each soil material and current methods used to evaluate the potential effectiveness of a liner, the till soil material seemed to be the best suited