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Noninvasive characterization of the Trecate (Italy) crude-oil contaminated site: links between contamination and geophysical signals

  • New approaches for low-invasive contaminated site characterization, monitoring and modelling
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Abstract

The characterization of contaminated sites can benefit from the supplementation of direct investigations with a set of less invasive and more extensive measurements. A combination of geophysical methods and direct push techniques for contaminated land characterization has been proposed within the EU FP7 project ModelPROBE and the affiliated project SoilCAM. In this paper, we present results of the investigations conducted at the Trecate field site (NW Italy), which was affected in 1994 by crude oil contamination. The less invasive investigations include ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys, together with direct push sampling and soil electrical conductivity (EC) logs. Many of the geophysical measurements were conducted in time-lapse mode in order to separate static and dynamic signals, the latter being linked to strong seasonal changes in water table elevations. The main challenge was to extract significant geophysical signals linked to contamination from the mix of geological and hydrological signals present at the site. The most significant aspects of this characterization are: (a) the geometrical link between the distribution of contamination and the site’s heterogeneity, with particular regard to the presence of less permeable layers, as evidenced by the extensive surface geophysical measurements; and (b) the link between contamination and specific geophysical signals, particularly evident from cross-hole measurements. The extensive work conducted at the Trecate site shows how a combination of direct (e.g., chemical) and indirect (e.g., geophysical) investigations can lead to a comprehensive and solid understanding of a contaminated site’s mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible by funding from the EU FP7 collaborative projects ModelPROBE “Model driven soil probing, site assessment and evaluation” and SoilCAM “Soil contamination: advanced integrated characterization and time-lapse monitoring.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Giorgio Cassiani, Jacopo Boaga & Matteo Rossi

  2. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Andrew Binley & Arash JafarGandomi

  3. Department of Geodynamics and Geophysics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Andreas Kemna & Adrian Flores Orozco

  4. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany

    Markus Wehrer

  5. Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, Technical University of Wien, Vienna, Austria

    Adrian Flores Orozco

  6. Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali: Archeologia, Storia dell’Arte, del Cinema e della Musica, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Rita Deiana

  7. UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany

    Peter Dietrich, Ulrike Werban & Ludwig Zschornack

  8. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Ambiente, del Territorio e delle Infrastrutture, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Alberto Godio

  9. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Gian Piero Deidda

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  1. Giorgio Cassiani
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  2. Andrew Binley
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  3. Andreas Kemna
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  4. Markus Wehrer
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  5. Adrian Flores Orozco
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  6. Rita Deiana
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  7. Jacopo Boaga
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  9. Peter Dietrich
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  10. Ulrike Werban
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  11. Ludwig Zschornack
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  12. Alberto Godio
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  13. Arash JafarGandomi
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  14. Gian Piero Deidda
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Correspondence to Giorgio Cassiani.

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Responsible editor: Michael Matthies

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Cassiani, G., Binley, A., Kemna, A. et al. Noninvasive characterization of the Trecate (Italy) crude-oil contaminated site: links between contamination and geophysical signals. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 8914–8931 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2494-7

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