Published: 1996
Total Pages: 10
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Data from two airborne geophysical surveys of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) were extremely valuable in deciding whether a 1000-acre (400 hectare) parcel of the ORR should be released to the City of Oak Ridge for industrial development. Our findings, based on electromagnetic and magnetic data, were incorporated in the federally mandated Environmental Assessment Statement (EAS), and in general supported claims that this land was never used as a hazardous waste disposal site. We estimated the amount of iron required to produce each anomaly using a simple dipole model. All anomalies with equivalent sources greater than approximately 1000 kg of iron were checked in the field, and the source of all but one identified as either a bridge, reinforced concrete debris, or a similarly benign object. Additionally, some smaller anomalies (equivalent sources of roughly 500 kg) have been checked; thus far, these also have innocuous sources. Airborne video proved invaluable in identifying logging equipment as the source of some of these anomalies. Geologic noise may account for some of the remaining anomalies. Naturally occurring accumulations of magnetic minerals in the soil on the ORR have been shown to produce anomalies which, at a sensor height of 30 m, are comparable to the anomaly produced by about 500 kg of iron. By comparison, the electronic noise of the magnetic gradiometer, 0.01--0.02 nT/m, is equivalent to only about 50--100 kg of iron at a 30 m sensor height. The electromagnetic data, combined with field mapping of karst structures, provided evidence of a northeast-southwest striking conduit spanning the parcel. The possible existence of a karst conduit led the EAS authors to conclude that this is a ''sensitive hydrologic setting.'' We conclude that aerial geophysics is an extremely cost-effective, and efficient technique for screening large tracts of land for environmental characterization.