Sampling Data May Help Locate Buried Ordnance

5 Sampling Data May Help Locate Buried Ordnance 

Soil gas surveys can be done rapidly and easily and can cover a wide area. One new type uses a Cortex shoelace with absorbent pellets inside (called the Goresorber). The shoelace is inserted into the ground with a two-foot push tube. (Clearance with a metal detector is recommended.) The lace is withdrawn in a day or so and the pellets analyzed for CWM or explosive breakdown products. A geographic information systems (CIS) computer printout is made extrapolating areas of increased concentrations. This method can be used to locate all manner of landfills or contaminated soils. Similarly, soil samples can hint at burial sites. Where most soil samples are clean but some reveal CWM or explosive breakdown products, this may present evidence of a nearby burial site. 

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