ANL/EAD/TM-80 Remedial Investigation Report for J-Field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Volume 1: Remedial Investigation Results Environmental Assessment Division ' Argonne National Laboratory / /Q Operated by The University of Chicago, under Contract W-31-109-Eng-38, for the United States Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory, with facilities in the states of Illinois and Idaho, is owned byThe United States Government', and operated by the University of Chicago under the-provisions of a contract with the Department of Energy. This technical memo is a product of Argonne's Environmental Assessment - Division (EAD). For information on the division's scientific andengineering activities, contact: • , '""'-• Director, Environmental Assessment Division . , Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, Illinois 60439-4815 / . ' Telephone (630) 252-3107 ,, Presented in this technical memo are preliminary results of ongoing work or work that is more limited in scope and depth than that described in formal reports issued bytrie EAD. • _ Publishing support services were provided by Argonne's Information , and Publishing Division (for more information, see IPD's home page: \ http://www.ipd.anl.gov/). s , ' Disclaimer - This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency , thereof, nor The University of Chicago, nor any of their employees or officers, makes anywarranty, express or implied, or assumes any legalTiability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, .- . apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product,- process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation,-or • favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and' opinions of document authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect , .those of the United States Government or any agency thereof, Argonne National Laboratory, or The University of Chicago. " - Available electronically at http://www.doe.gov/bridge Available fora processing fee to U.S. Department of . Energy and its contractors, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Energy \ : Office of'Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0062 ' phone: (865)! 576-8401 . • fax:(865)576-5728 - , 1 email: [email protected] ANL/EAD/TM-80 Remedial Investigation Report for J-Field, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Volume 1: Remedial Investigation Results by C.R. Yuen, L.E. Martino, R.P. Biang, Y.S. Chang, D. Dolak, R.A. Van Lonkhuyzen, T.L Patton, S. Prasad, J. Quinn, D.H. Rosenblatt, J. Vercellone, and Y.Y. Wang Environmental Assessment Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439 November 1999 Work sponsored by U.S. Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Directorate of Safety, Health, and Environment (A A ) This report is printed on recycled paper. DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. FOREWORD This document presents the results of a remedial investigation (RT) conducted at J-Field in the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), a U.S. Army installation located in Harford County, Maryland. The RI was carried out for the U.S. Army under the direction of the Environmental Conservation and Restoration Division, Directorate of Safety, Health, and Environment at APG, pursuant to the requirements outlined under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended. This report comprises Volume 1 of a three-part series of documents that were prepared to describe the comprehensive evaluation of the site conditions, nature and extent of contamination, and risks to human health and the environment. Volume 2 of this series, prepared by ICF Kaiser Engineers, provides the results of the human health risk assessment. Volume 3, prepared by Argonne National Laboratory, provides the results of the ecological risk assessment. More information on the APG, including J-Field, may be obtained by visiting the APG Web site at www.apg.army.mil. An earlier version of Volume 1 was released by the U.S. Army in 1998. This document has been reviewed by the U.S. Army (the project sponsor) and assigned the following: Distribution restriction statement: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited OP-SEC Control No. 2685-A-3 This page is intentionally left blank. CONTENTS FOREWORD iii NOTATION xiii SUMMARY S-l 1 INTRODUCTION 1-1 1.1 Purpose of Report 1-1 1.2 Site Background 1-1 1.2.1 Site Description 1-1 1.2.2 Site History 1-7 1.2.3 Disposal and Decontamination Procedures 1-10 1.3 Previous Site Investigations 1-11 1.4 Report Organization 1-12 2 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING 2-1 2.1 Surface Features 2-1 2.2 Climate 2-1 2.3 Surface Water Hydrology 2-1 2.4 Geology and Soils 2-4 2.4.1 Geology 2-4 2.4.2 Soils 2-4 2.5 Hydrogeology 2-11 2.5.1 Surficial Aquifer 2-14 2.5.2 Leaky Confining Unit 2-17 2.5.3 Confined Aquifer 2-17 2.5.4 Potomac Group Aquifer 2-18 2.6 Land Use and Demography 2-18 2.7 Ecology 2-19 3 TECHNICAL APPROACH 3-1 3.1 Chemical Agent Screening and Air Quality 3-2 3.1.1 Chemical Agent Screening 3-2 3.1.2 Air Quality 3-5 3.2 Quality Assurance and Control Activities 3-7 3.2.1 Field and Laboratory Audits 3-10 3.2.2 DataReview and Validation 3-11 3.2.3 Data Quality Evaluation 3-13 3.3 Evaluation of Data 3-25 CONTENTS (Cont.) 4 SITE DESCRIPTIONS 4-1 4.1 Toxic Burning Pits AOC 4-1 4.1.1 Main Burning Pits 4-5 4.1.2 VX and Mustard Burning Pits 4-6 4.1.3 Storage Area 4-6 4.1.4 Liquid Smoke Disposal Pit 4-6 4.1.5 Southwestern Suspect Burning Area 4-7 4.1.6 Square Pit 4-7 4.1.7 High Explosives Demolition Ground 4-7 4.2 White Phosphorus Burning Pits AOC 4-7 4.3 Riot Control Burning Pit AOC 4-9 4.4 Prototype Building AOC 4-13 4.5 South Beach Demolition Ground AOC 4-13 4.6 South Beach Trench AOC 4-18 4.7 Robins Point Demolition Ground AOC 4-18 4.8 Robins Point Tower Site AOC 4-20 4.9 Site XI PAOC 4-20 4.10 AreaAPAOC 4-21 4.11 AreaB PAOC 4-22 4.12 AreaCPAOC 4-23 4.13 Ruins Site PAOC across from the White Phosphorus Burning Pits AOC 4-23 4.14 AreaDPAOC 4-25 4.15 Craters PAOC 4-25 5 DATA EVALUATION 5-1 5.1 Toxic Burning Pits AOC 5-1 5.1.1 Soil 5-1 5.1.2 Groundwater 5-10 5.1.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-13 5.2 White Phosphorus Burning Pits AOC 5-14 5.2.1 Soil 5-14 5.2.2 Groundwater 5-17 5.2.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-17 5.3 Riot Control Burning Pit AOC 5-17 5.3.1 Soil 5-17 5.3.2 Groundwater 5-18 5.3.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-18 5.4 Prototype Building AOC 5-22 5.4.1 Soil 5-22 5.4.2 Groundwater 5-22 5.4.3 Surface Water and Sediments 5-22 CONTENTS (Cont) 5.5 South Beach Demolition Ground AOC 5-25 5.6 South Beach Trench AOC 5-25 5.6.1 Soil 5-25 5.6.2 Groundwater 5-28 5.6.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-28 5.7 Robins Point Demolition Ground AOC 5-28 5.7.1 Soil 5-28 5.7.2 Groundwater 5-28 5.7.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-33 5.8 Robins Point Tower Site AOC 5-33 5.8.1 Soil 5-33 5.8.2 Groundwater 5-33 5.8.3 Surface Water and Sediment 5-33 5.9 Other Sites 5-35 5.9.1 Site XI PAOC 5-35 5.9.2 Area APAOC 5-37 5.9.3 AreaB PAOC 5-38 5.9.4 AreaC PAOC 5-38 5.9.5 Ruins Site PAOC across from the White Phosphorus Burning Pits AOC 5-38 5.9.6 AreaD 5-40 5.9.7 Craters PAOC 5-40 6 CONCEPTUAL EXPOSURE MODEL 6-1 6.1 Fate of the Contaminants 6-1 6.1.1 Metals 6-1 6.1.2 Chloride and Nitrite 6-5 6.1.3 Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons 6-5 6.1.4 Aromatic Hydrocarbons 6-7 6.1.5 Polychlorinated Biphenyls 6-9 6.1.6 Chemical Agents and Degradation Products 6-9 6.1.7 Riot Control Agents 6-13 6.2 Potential Migration Pathways and Receptors 6-14 6.2.1 Primary Sources 6-14 6.2.2 Primary Release Mechanisms and Secondary Contamination Sources 6-14 6.2.3 Secondary Release Mechanisms and Contaminated Media 6-16 6.2.4 Potential Exposure Routes and Receptors 6-18 7 REFERENCES 7-1 8 LIST OFPREPARERS 8-1 vn CONTENTS (Cont.) APPENDIX A: Detailed Data Summary A-i APPENDIX B: Sample Log of Waste Sent to J-Field B-l TABLES S. 1 Summary Table of Contaminant Categories Identified in Each AOC orPAOC at J-Field S-4 1.1 Summary of Disposal/Destruction Activities at J-Field 1-8 2.1 Results of Slug Tests 2-14 3.1 National and Maryland State Ambient Air Quality Standards and 1993 Air Quality Conditions in the Vicinity of Aberdeen Proving Ground 3-6 3.2 Estimated Maximum Ambient Concentrations of Selected EPA Target Compounds at the Toxic Burning Pits Area and the Site Boundary 3-8 3.3 Interlaboratory Duplicate Groundwater Sample Summary 3-15 3.4 Duplicate Summary Table for Groundwater Sample Duplicates 3-16 3.5 Duplicate Summary Table for Surface Water Sample Duplicates 3-18 3.6 Duplicate Summary Table for Sediment Sample Duplicates 3-19 3.7 Duplicate Summary Table for Soil Sample Duplicates 3-20 3.8 Analytes in Sediment 3-27 3.9 Regional Background Levels of Analytes in Soil 3-30 3.10 Analytes in Surface Water 3-31 5.1 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the TBP AOC 5-2 5.2 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the WPP AOC 5-15 5.3 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the RCP AOC 5-19 Vlll TABLES (Cont.) 5.4 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the PB AOC 5-23 5.5 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the SBDG AOC 5-26 5.6 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the SBT AOC 5-29 5.7 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the RPDG AOC 5-30 5.8 Summary of RI Samples Collected at the RPTS AOC 5-34 5.9 Summary of Samples Collected at the Site XI, Area A, Area B, Area C, Ruins Site, and Craters PAOCs 5-36 6.1 Measured Half-Lives of Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons Undergoing Abiotic and Anaerobic Biological Transformation 6-6 6.2 Potential for Biotransformation of Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons as a Primary Substrate or through Cometabolism 6-8 FIGURES S.