Abstract
This research examines the feasibility of analyzing tree cores to detect benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m, p, o-xylene (BTEX) compounds and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in groundwater in eastern Canada subarctic environments, using a former landfill site in the remote community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination at the landfill site is the result of environmentally unsound pre-1990s disposal of households and industrial solid wastes. Tree cores were taken from trembling aspen, black spruce, and white birch and analyzed by headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. BTEX compounds were detected in tree cores, corroborating known groundwater contamination. A zone of anomalously high concentrations of total BTEX constituents was identified and recommended for monitoring by groundwater wells. Tree cores collected outside the landfill site at a local control area suggest the migration of contaminants off-site. Tree species exhibit different concentrations of BTEX constituents, indicating selective uptake and accumulation. Toluene in wood exhibited the highest concentrations, which may also be due to endogenous production. Meanwhile, MTBE was not found in the tree cores and is considered to be absent in the groundwater. The results demonstrate that tree-core analysis can be useful for detecting anomalous concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons, such as BTEX compounds, in subarctic sites with shallow unconfined aquifers and permeable soils. This method can therefore aid in the proper management of contamination during landfill operations and after site closures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Algreen M (2015) The feasibility of tree coring as a screening tool for selected contaminants in the subsurface. PhD thesis at the Technical University of Denmark, Department of Environmental Engineering. Available at: http://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/the-feasibility-of-tree-coring-as-a-screening-tool-for-selected-contaminants-in-the-subsurface%2880785fd4-7426-46b4-9b33-28883e29ad53%29.html. Accessed on 07 Oct 2015
Algreen M, Kalisz M, Stalder M, Martac E, Krupanek J, Trapp S, Bartke S (2015) Using pre-screening methods for an effective and reliable site characterization at megasites. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22(19):14673–14686
Allen A (2001) Containment landfills: the myth of sustainability. J Eng Geol 60:3–19
BFA Beatty Franz & Associates Limited (1996) Remediation alternatives for South escarpment drum removal risk assessment, Goose Bay. CFB 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, contract reference# 96-5
Barrett A, Lawlor J (1995) The economics of waste management in Ireland. Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin
Borden RC, Daniel RA, LeBrun Iv LE, Davis CW (1997) Intrinsic biodegradation of MTBE and BTEX in a gasoline-contaminated aquifer. Water Resour Res 33(5):1105–1115
Briggs GG, Bromilow RH, Evans AA (1982) Relationships between lipophilicity and root uptake and translocation of non-ionised chemicals by barley. Pestic Sci 13:495–504
Burken JG, Schnoor JL (1998) Predictive relationships for uptake of organic contaminants by hybrid poplar trees. Environ Sci Technol 32:3379–3385
Burken JG, Vroblesky DA, Balouet JC (2011) Phytoforensics, dendrochemistry, and phytoscreening: new green tools for delineating contaminants from past and present. Environ Sci Technol 45(15):6218–6226
Christensen TH, Kjeldsen P, Bjerg PL, Jensen DL, Christensen JB, Baun A, Albrechtsen HJ, Heron G (2001) Biogeochemistry of landfill leachate plumes. Appl Geochem 16:659–718
Cifrian E, Andres A, Viguri RJ (2013) Estimating monitoring indicators and the carbon footprint of municipal solid waste management in the region of Cantabria, Northern Spain. Waste Biomass Valor 4:271–285
Curtis F, Lammey J (1998) Intrinsic remediation of a diesel fuel plume in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. Environ Pollut 103:203–210
Cutter BE, Guyette RP (1993) Anatomical, chemical and ecological factors affecting tree species choice in dendrochemistry studies. J Environ Qual 22:611–619
Dunn CE (2007) Biogeochemistry in mineral exploration. In: Hale M (ed) Handbook of 367 exploration and environmental Geochemistry, Series 9. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Eggen T, Moeder M, Arukwe A (2010) Municipal landfill leachates: a significant source for new and emerging pollutants. Sci Total Environ 408(21):5147–5157
El-Fadel M, Findikakis A, Leckie J (1997) Environmental impacts of solid waste landfilling. J Environ Manage 50(1):1–25
El-Fadel M, Sadek S, Chahine W (2001) Environmental management of quarries as waste disposal facilities. J Environ Manage 4:515–531
AMEC Earth and Environmental (2009) TCE plume refinement – South escarpment area, CFB 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Contract no: DCC#HQ06010, Commission#75
AMEC Earth and Environmental (2011) Site investigation central/Eastern landfill, CFB 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Contract no: DCC#IE090214, Commission#2.3.5.1
AMEC Earth and Environmental (2012) Confirmatory groundwater sampling of the TCE impacts in the South Escarpment Area, 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Contract no: DCC#IE090214, Commitment#2.3.5.3
FEI Franz Environmental Inc. (2006) Hydrogeological Study of the South Escarpment Area, CFB 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Contract no: DND Report#06–27
Fetta D, Papadopoulos A, Loizidou M (1999) A study on the landfill leachate and its impact on the groundwater quality of the greater area. Environ Geochem Health 21(2):175–190
Heiden AC, Kobel K, Komenda M, Koppmann R, Shao M, Wildt J (1999) Toluene emissions from plants. Geophy Res Lett 26(9):1283–1286
Holm O (2011) Development and application of a method for investigation and monitoring of CVOC contaminated sites by taking samples from plants. PhD thesis at the Technical University of Berlin, faculty III– Prozesswissenschaften (in German). Available at: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-tuberlin/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3182. Accessed on 13 Oct 2015
Holm O, Rotard W, Trapp S, Dési R (2011) Guide to Phytoscreening: Using tree core sampling and chemical analyses to investigate contamination in the groundwater and soil, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany: 27. Available at: https://www.ufz.de/export/data/38/34096_Guide_to_Phytoscreening_20111121_FINAL.pdf. Accessed on 16 Aug 2013
JWEL Jacques Whitford Environment Limited (1992) Environmental Clean-up study, CFB 5 Wing Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Contract no: JWEL Project#7250
Kjeldsen P, Barlaz MA, Rooker AP, Baun A, Ledin A, Christensen TH (2002) Present and long-term composition of MSW landfill leachate: a review. Crit Rev Env Sci Technol 32(4):297–336
Landmeyer JE, Vroblesky DA, Bradley PM (2000) MTBE and BTEX in trees above gasoline-contaminated groundwater. In: Wickramanayake GB et al (eds) Case studies in the remediation of chlorinated and recalcitrant compounds, Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on remediation of chlorinated and recalcitrant compounds, Monterey, California., pp 17–24
Laner D, Fellner J, Brunner PH (2011) Environmental compatibility of closed landfills - assessing future pollution hazards. Waste Manag Res 29(1):89–98
Larsen M, Burken JG, Macháčková J, Karlson UG, Trapp S (2008) Using tree core samples to monitor natural attenuation and plume distribution after a PCE spill. Environ Sci Technol 42:1711–1717
Limmer MA, Burken JG (2015) Phytoscreening with SPME: variability analysis. Int J Phytorem 17(11):1115–1122
Limmer MA, Balouet JC, Karg F, Vroblesky DA, Burken JG (2011) Phytoscreening for chlorinated solvents using rapid in vitro SPME sampling: application to urban plume in Verl, Germany. Environ Sci Technol 45(19):8276–8282
Liverman DGE (1997) Quaternary Geology of the Goose Bay Area, Current Research, Department of Mines and Energy, Geological Survey, Newfoundland and Labrador, Report 97-1:173–182
Ma X, Richter AR, Albers S, Burken JG (2004) Phytoremediation of MTBE with hybrid poplar trees. Int J Phytoremediat 6(2):157–167
Machackova J, Wittlingerova Z, Vlk K, Zima J, Linka A (2008) Comparison of two methods for assessment of in situ jet-fuel remediation efficiency. Water Air Soil Poll 187:181–194
Manfredi S, Tonini D, Christensen TH (2009) Landfilling of waste: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions. Waste Manag Res 27(8):825–836
Newman LA, Gordon MP, Heilman P, Cannon DL, Lory E, Miller K, Osgood J, Strand SE (1999) Phytoremediation of MTBE at a California naval site. Soil & Groundwater Cleanup., pp 42–45
Nichols EG, Cook RL, Landmeyer JE, Atkinson B, Malone DR, Shaw G, Woods L (2014) Phytoremediation of a petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated shallow aquifer in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA. Remed J 24:29–46
Nunn GAG, van Nosttrand T (1996) Geology of the Kenemich River map area (NTS 13G/SW), Labrador, Department of Mines and Energy, Geological Survey, Newfoundland and Labrador, Report 96-1:73–83
Padilla KL, Anderson KA (2002) Trace element concentration in tree-rings biomonitoring centuries of environmental change. Chemosphere 49:575–585
Papastergios G, Fernandez-Turiel J-L, Filippidis A, Gimeno DA (2011) Determination of geochemical background for environmental studies of soils via the use of HNO3 extraction and Q–Q plots. Environ Earth Sci 64:743–751
Reimann C, Filzmoser P, Garrett RG (2005) Background and threshold: critical comparison of methods of determination. Sci Total Environ 346:1–16
Rein A, Trapp S (2009) Model Driven Soil Probing, Site Assessment and Evaluation, EU FP 7 Project Grant Nr. 213161, Activity report 2009. Cited in Holm O, Rotard W, Trapp S, Dési R. (2011): Guide to Phytoscreening – Using tree core sampling and chemical analyses to investigate contamination in the groundwater and soil. Available at: www.ufz.de/export/data/38/34096_Guide_to_Phytoscreening_20111121_FINAL.pdf. Accessed on 11 Aug 2015
Rowe RK, Quigley RM, Booker JR (1997) Clayey barrier systems for waste disposal facilities. Chapman and Hall
Ryan M (2010) Environmental standards for municipal solid waste landfill sites, Newfoundland and Labrador. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Available at: http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/. Accessed on 09 Jun 2015
Sawhney LB, Kozloski RP (2004) Organic pollutants in leachates from landfill sites. J Environ Qual 13(3):349–352
Schumacher JG, Struckhoff GC, Burken JG (2004) Assessment of subsurface chlorinated solvent contamination using tree cores at the Front Street site and a former dry cleaning facility at the Riverfront Superfund Site, NewHaven, Missouri, 1999–2003: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5049, 35 p. Available at: http://mo.water.usgs.gov/Reports/sir2004-5049-schu/complete.pdf. Accessed on 11 Jun 2015
Serco (2001) Remedial options evaluation, stillwater #1. Canadian Department of National Defence, Goose Bay, Labrador
Slack RJ, Gronow JR, Voulvoulis N (2005) Household hazardous waste in municipal landfills: contaminants in leachate. Sci Total Environ 337:119–137
Sorek A, Atzmon N, Dahan O, Gerstl Z, Kushisin L, Laor Y, Mingelgrin U, Nasser A, Ronen D, Tsechansky L, Weisbrod N, Graber ER (2008) “Phytoscreening”: the use of trees for discovering subsurface contamination by VOCs. Environ Sci Technol 42(2):536–542
Squillace PJ, Pankow JF, Korte NE, Zogorski JS (1997) Review of the environmental behavior and fate of methyl tertiary-butyl ether. Environ Toxicol Chem 16:1836–1844
Trapp S (2007) Fruit tree model for uptake of organic compounds from soil and air. SAR QSAR Environ Res 18(3-4):367–387
Trapp S, Karlson U, Larsen M, Legind C (2005) Correlation between below and above surface contamination, Biological procedures for diagnosing the status and predicting evolution of polluted environments BIOTOOL project, deliverable 12
Valvasori A, Fonkwe DLM, Piercey JS, Conliffe J (2015) Orthomagmatic Fe-Ti-V oxide mineralization hosted in Paleoproterozoic anorthosite in the Cape Caribou River Allochthon, Grenville Province, Southeast Labrador: Preliminary Results, Current Research, Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador, Report 15-1:125–138
Vroblesky DA (2008) User’s guide to the collection and analysis of tree cores to assess the distribution of subsurface volatile organic compounds: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008–5088. Available at: http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/sir2008-5088. Accessed on 05 Jun 2013
Vroblesky DA, Nietch CT, Morris JT (1999) Chlorinated ethenes from ground water in tree trunks. Environ Sci Technol 33(3):510–515
Vroblesky DA, Clinton BD, Vose JM, Casey CC, Harvey GJ, Bradley PM (2004) Ground water chlorinated ethenes in tree trunks: case studies, influence of recharge, and potential degradation mechanism. Ground Water Monit R 24(3):124–138
Wardle RJ, Ash C (1986) Geology of the Goose Bay-Goose River area, Current Research, Mineral Department of Mines and Energy, Geological Survey, Newfoundland and Labrador, Report 86-1:113–123
Weishaar JA, Tsao D, Burken JG (2009) Phytoremediation of BTEX hydrocarbons: potential impacts of diurnal groundwater fluctuation on microbial degradation. Int J Phytorem 11(5):509–523
Wells C (2013) 5 Wing Goose Bay remediation project-A case study in sustainability? RPIC Federal Contaminated Sited Regional Workshop, Halifax (Nova Scotia), June 19, 2013. Available at: http://www.rpicibic.ca/. Accessed on 08 Oct 2013
White ML, Russo RS, Zhou Y, Ambrose JL, Haase K, Frinak EK, Sive BC (2009) Are biogenic emissions a significant source of summertime atmospheric toluene in the rural Northeastern United States? Atmos Chem Phys 9(1):81–92
Wilson J, Bartz R, Limmer M, Burken J (2013) Plants as bio-indicators of subsurface conditions: impact of groundwater level on BTEX concentrations in trees. Int J Phytorem 15(3):257–267
Wittlingerova Z, Machackova J, Petruzelkova A, Trapp S, Vlk K, Zima J (2013) One-year measurements of chloroethenes in tree cores and groundwater at the SAP Mimoň Site, Northern Bohemia. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 20(2):834–847
Zagozewski R, Judd-Henrey I, Nilson S, Bharadwaj L (2011) Perspectives on past and present waste disposal practices: a community-based participatory research project in three Saskatchewan First Nations Communities. Environ Health Insights 5:9–20
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to the Canadian Department of National Defence for its interest and support and for access to the landfill site, and to the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay for supporting this research project. Special thanks to C. Cooney, environmental officer Canadian Force Base 5 Wing Goose Bay, and D. AuCoin, M. Clough and other staff at the environmental office of Defence Construction Canada Goose Bay for their generous logistical and field support, and for access to unpublished contract reports on the landfill site assessment and remediation. R. Sparkes (Labrador Institute) graciously assisted with community consultation at various stages of the project. M. Mills, D. Frawley, and S. Murphy (Labrador Institute) are acknowledged for their assistance during tree-core sampling. We thank G. Van Biesen (CREAIT-Memorial University) for his analytical assistance, support and valuable discussions. D. Frawley also kindly prepared the figures for this manuscript. M. Mills (Labrador Institute) and D. Chipley (Queen’s University) are thanked for their constructive editorial comments that greatly improved this manuscript. We appreciate additional insightful comments by Environmental Sciences and Pollution Research and four anonymous reviewers. This research benefited from financial support by the Harris Centre MMSB Waste Management Applied Research Fund 2014–2015 and the Memorial Undergraduate Career Experience Program (MUCEP) grant-Spring 2014 to M. L.D. Fonkwe. This research is also supported by funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agencies (ACOA) and the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture, and Rural Development, Newfoundland and Labrador (BTCRD NL).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Supplementary material 1
(DOCX 0.99 MB)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fonkwe, M.L.D., Trapp, S. Analyzing tree cores to detect petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater at a former landfill site in the community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, eastern Canadian subarctic. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 16137–16151 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6802-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6802-2