U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Surface-Water and Ground-Water Hydrology and Contaminant Detections in Ground Water for a Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the Indiana Harbor Canal and Nearshore Lake Michigan Watersheds, Northwestern Indiana ____________________________________________________________________________ Administrative Report Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Surface-Water and Ground-Water Hydrology and Contaminant Detections in Ground Water for a Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the Indiana Harbor Canal and Nearshore Lake Michigan Watersheds, Northwestern Indiana By David A. Cohen, Theodore K. Greeman and Paul M. Buszka ___________________________________________________________________________ Administrative Report Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3 Indianapolis, Indiana June 2002 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GALE A. NORTON, Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CHARLES G. GROAT, Director Administrative Report for use by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. For additional information, write to: District Chief U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division 5957 Lakeside Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46278-1996 CONTENTS Executive Summary . 1 Introduction . 6 Purpose and Scope . 6 Description of Study Area . 9 Location and Extent of Study Area and Natural Resources Damage Assessment Area . 9 Physiography, Surficial Geology, and Land Use . 9 Methods of Study . 17 Locations of Industrial Facilities . 17 Hydrologic Data . 17 Ground-Water Quality Data . 17 Contaminants of Concern . 19 Sources of Ground-Water-Quality Data . .19 Ground-Water-Quality Dataset. 22 Light-Nonaqueous Phase Liquids. 26 Limitations on Use of the Ground-Water-Quality Dataset . 27 Surface-Water and Ground-Water Hydrology . 28 Surface-Water Hydrology . 28 Ground-Water Hydrology . 29 Calumet Aquifer . 29 Confining Unit . 30 Bedrock Aquifer . 30 Ground-Water Hydraulic Properties . 30 Horizontal and Vertical Hydraulic Conductivity . 37 Horizontal and Vertical Gradients . 39 Ground-Water-Flow Velocities. 40 Water-Level Fluctuations . 40 Recharge and Discharge . 41 Surface-Water/Ground-Water Interaction. 42 Effects of Municipal and Industrial Discharges . 51 Effects of Sheet-Pile Barriers . 51 Effects of Sewers . 52 Effects of Pumping . 52 Effects of Wetlands. 52 Directions of Ground-Water Flow . 55 Contaminant Detections in Ground Water. 65 Physical, Chemical, and Microbial Processes that Potentially Affect Contaminants in Ground Water 66 Physical Processes . 66 Chemical Processes Affecting Trace Element or Trace Species Concentrations in Ground Water . 76 Arsenic . 119 Lead. 120 Chromium . 120 Nickel . 121 Cyanide . 121 CONTENTS iii CONTENTS—Continued Chemical and Microbial Processes Affecting Organic-Compound Concentrations in Ground Water122 Phenol and Alkyl Phenols. 123 Benzene and Related Alkyl Benzene Compounds . 124 Items for Additional Study . 125 Summary . 127 References . 132 Appendix A: Ground-Water-Quality Dataset on CD-ROM in back pocket FIGURES 1-7. Maps showing: 1. Location of study area, Natural Resource Damage Assessment area, major political . boundaries and roads, and selected monitoring sites, northwestern Indiana . 7 2. Surficial geology in the study area, northwestern Indiana . .11 3. Location of wetlands in the study area, northwestern Indiana . 13 4. Land use in the study area, northwestern Indiana . 15 5. Approximate thickness of surficial sands and fill deposits in the study area, northwestern Indiana . 31 6. Approximate thickness of the confining unit in the study area, northwestern Indiana . 33 7. Bedrock surface in the study area, northwestern Indiana . .35 8. Ground-water hydrograph showing the daily effects of evapotranspiration, well LK-13 at Hammond, Indiana, 1991 data . 43 9. Locations of four transects of observation wells adjacent to the Indiana Harbor Canal and the Grand Calumet River, northwestern Indiana . 45 10. Graphs showing ground- and surface-water-level profiles along the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal, northwestern Indiana, for August 1986 and March 1988 . 47 11. Hydrographs showing surface-water levels in and.