Spring Creek

In addition to the James River area, chlordecone residues of 0.025 and 0.23 mg/kg (ppm) were detected in trout and suckers, respectively, collected from Spring Creek 18 miles downstream of the Nease Chemical Plant in Pennsylvania (EPA 1978c). This plant produced small quantities of chlordecone from 1966-1974 (Epstein 1978). 

Figure 2. Location of Spring Creek and its two tributaries, Boulder and Slick-rock Creeks, which contain acid mine drainage and drain the Iron Mountain...

Figure 4. Distribution of dissolved iron redox species for varying concentrations of reduced and oxidized iron, (a) Hornet effluent (b) Boulder Creek (c) Spring Creek (d) Spring Creek reservoir. Analyses for these four sarriples are...

B - Hornet Effluent, G - Boulder Creek, J - Spring Creek, N - Spring Creek. 

Amorphous ferric hydroxide. Most of Spring Creek below the Boulder Creek confluence is iron stained and actively precipitates iron hydroxide. 

Hinkle S. R. (1996) Age of groundwater in basalt aquifers near Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery, Skkamania County, Washington. US Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4272. 

Spring Creek, Virginia, they observed some calcite precipitation at SI, (calcite saturation index) values between +0.1 and -t-0.7. Major precipitation ofcalcite as travertine took place at a waterfall where the local turbulence facilitated COt oulgassing. The CO2 loss caused the water to exceed calcite saturation by up to 20 times SI, = +1.3). 

Herman, J. S., and M. M. Lorah. 1987. CO2 outgassing and calcite precipitation in Falling Spring Creek, Virginia. Chemical Geol. 62(3-4) 251-62. 

Robl, T.L., 1974. Factors affecting the state of saturation of the waters of Puckett Spring Creek with respect to calcite. Thesis, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., 59 pp. Robl, T.L., 1977. Factors controlling the geochemistry of vadose and stream waters in a... 

Surface and subsurface drainage below the plant flows into Spring Creek, a stream known for its fine trout fishing, scenic beauty, and the location of Benner Springs Fish Research Station, operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Figure 1). Water samples in this stream near the source of contamination have been found to contain 20 to 90 ng/kg (ppt) of the marker compound during the past 10 years Q) ... 

Spring Creek and its tributary, Slab Cabin Creek, are perched above the regional water table from Route 26 downstream towards Houserville. Water levels in well J of Figure 1 drilled within less than ten feet of Spring Creek commonly stand from 11 to 13 feet below the level of the stream surface as do water levels in test well K located along its valley slope or wall (Figures 1 and 5). Both wells were cased into bedrock and obtain water from solution openings. 

A downward component of flow is present during periods of high seasonal water table and when Spring Creek and Slab Cabin Run are in flood. During periods of flood, surface water comes into contact with isolated carbonate bedrock outcrops located along the valley slopes of these creeks and provide local pathways for contaminated surface waters to enter the karst aquifer. Elsewhere, flood waters come in contact with residual and transported soil that blankets the lower portion of valley slopes, hence, preventing the direct entry of surface water into the local aquifer. 

Figure 5. Spring Creek perched above the regional water table near Houserville as revealed by water levels measured in wells and piezometers placed in channel bottom sediments.

Although it has been shown that surface water flows downward through the flood plain of Spring Creek, finding a chemical example of this interaction in a stream bed for the marker compound requires extremely careful work which has not yet been completed. 

The marker compound was detected in an upland well located north of the plant and across the western groundwater divide of this subbasin The static water level in this well stands above the elevation of Spring Creek and water levels near the plant. It is unlikely that contaminated groundwater crossed beneath this groundwater divide through upturned, somewhat poorly permeable beds of dolomite and the thin, artesian sandstone aquifer ... 

Figure 7. Concentrations of the marker compound found in home water supplies located along Spring Creek for two different sampling times, 1977/78 in open graph and 1984 in darkened graph. NR is not reported ND is not detected.

Figure 8. Height-of-land profile of domestic water supplies containing the marker compound showing relative depths of wells below the stream bed of Spring Creek. The house location axis is to scale.

Figure 10(a,b). The marker compound found in water from flooded Spring Creek and two selected homes nearby stream analysis (a) at point H in Figure 1, and home water analysis (b) in House G-B. 

Figure 10(c). The marker compound found in water from flooded Spring Creek at House G-C. 

Table III. Cross Section Stream Analysis for the Marker Compound, Spring Creek, 1984...

Figure 11. Surface-water measurements of marker compound concentrations at various distances along Spring Creek showing the range of concentrations in shaded tone.

Domestic wells along Spring Creek also can induce streambed infiltration for the same reason. Induced flow may be a significant pathway for further groundwater dispersal in the future as more... 

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