Investigations

Fate of Landfill Leachate: Norman Municipal Landfill, Norman, Oklahoma

Landfill leachate has contaminated ground water in an alluvial aquifer adjacent to the Canadian River near Norman, Oklahoma. The landfill accepted municipal wastes for more than 60 years until it closed in 1985. Ground water at the site is contaminated by dozens of organic compounds, many of which are toxins and carcinogens. Investigations at the site focus on the interactions between the contaminant plume, the aquifer, and the river. The study results will be readily transferable to numerous municipal landfills across the country.

Related Headlines (back to top)

• USGS Scientists Contribute to the Landmark “Treatise on Geochemistry”
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• How do you Clean Up Gasoline Spills Naturally?
• Relying on Nature to Clean Up Contaminated Ground Water

More Information

• Norman Toxics Site Home Page -- The Norman research team maintains its own home page that contains additional information about the Norman Toxics Site.
• Project Bibliography
• Organic Compounds in Near-Surface Environments: Understanding Fate in a Changing Biogeochemical Landscape
• Geochemical Studies at the Norman Landfill
• Toxics Geophysics Project
  
• Texas A&M; University, USGS Scientists, Study Whether Methane Is Present Beneath Landfills, How it May Naturally Decay an article in the New Waves newsletter of the Texas Water Resources Institute, Vol. 13, No. 3 November 2000 issue
• For additional information about the Norman Toxics Site please send e-mail to Scott Christenson at

Project Remediation Related Activities

• Quantifying Subsurface Biodegradation

Other Landfill Remediation Related Activates

• Landfill Leachate Mobilizes Arsenic Bound in Aquifer Sediments: Saco, Maine
• Alternative Landfill Cover Assessment

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