Groundwater doming adjacent to the red mud impoundments, Facility 204, south of Copano Bay, Texas

Groundwater doming adjacent to the red mud impoundments at Sherwin Alumina Plant Facility 204 is confirmed by a field analysis of water levels and a FEMWATER groundwater model. Surface sand paleochannel and paleocrevasse splay deposits found under the impoundment form category III land use soils which make very poor solid and liquid waste disposal sites.; This thesis involves the drilling of monitor wells, laboratory analysis of the soil samples from the wells, and measurement of water levels across Facility 204, correlation of the subsurface geology, and study of the piezometric surface underlying the red mud impoundments. Seventeen boreholes and fourteen environmental subsoil probe cores were drilled and completed away from the facility boundary for evaluating the nature of the piezometric surface in the area away from the observed water dome. The collected soils from drilling two types of boreholes at each location were analyzed in the laboratory and compiled into borehole logs. Boreholes from this study and from previous studies were compiled and correlated to develop the hydrogeology of a conceptual model for this site. A FEMWATER groundwater model was constructed to analyze the relationships between the natural groundwater flow and anomalous water doming at the facility.; The drilling program was unable to confirm that vertical fractures exist in the clay layer 26 ft (7.9 m) below ground surface under the red mud impoundments. A more extensive drilling program will be needed to resolve this concern. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...