Locating, Identifying, and Characterizing PFAS Impacted Soils in the Field with Spectral Induced Polarization

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Overview

Locating, identifying, and characterizing PFAS impacted soils in the field is a challenging and needed objective. Non-invasive geophysical methods/techniques deployed from the surface of the earth have proven successful for mapping many contaminants of concern, monitoring active and passive remediation due to biogeochemical alterations, and used to develop and refine conceptual site model development. One such method, spectral induced polarization (SIP) has demonstrated a response coincident with known PFAS concentrations within the shallow soil profile. Two papers are currently in review on these results and more field work is anticipated during the 2023 field season. A presentation explaining the SIP method and on the findings in these papers will highlight the technology, its capabilities, pitfalls, and future research direction.

Impact/Purpose

Locating and characterizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), such as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) source zones is an important step in assessing soil, water, and potential human exposure to PFAS substances. Since PFAS can alter the surface chemistry of soil particles, the geophysical method called spectral induced polarization (SIP), is shown with lab and field measurements to detect a polarization response within AFFF impacted zones. This presentation is a briefing on the latest PFAS geophysics research summarizing laboratory results and results from three different field investigations. Two of the three field sites show good correlation to the highest PFAS concentrations and the highest SIP response suggesting SIP may be an appropriate method to mapping PFAS in soil.

Citation

Werkema, D., S. Falzone, E. Siegenthaler, A. Avelar, D. Ntarlagiannis, K. Keating, L. Slater, AND C. Schaefer. Locating, Identifying, and Characterizing PFAS Impacted Soils in the Field with Spectral Induced Polarization. EPA, State, and Tribal Bimonthly PFAS science call webinar, online, OR, December 11, 2023.