Summary
Volatile organic compounds, if present in ground water or soil, will occupy the interstices or voids in soil. These vapors can be sampled and characterized using a portable gas chromatograph.
Soil vapor analysis can be a useful and rapid method for tracing plumes of leaks and spills of many volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). This method is particularly useful for compounds more volatile than xylene (vapor pressure 5mm Hg). Ground water contamination can also be assessed indirectly using this method.
Determinations of contaminant concentrations down to the low parts-per-billion can be made with this system. In addition to providing same-day or quicker results, substantially more samples can be analyzed at a much lower cost per sample compared to well drilling and GC/MS analysis. In addition, the system can be shipped virtually anywhere overnight, and can be ready to run within hours of arrival on-site.
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References
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© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Nadeau, R.J., Lafornara, J.P., Klinger, G.S., Stone, T. (1985). Measuring Soil Vapors for Defining Subsurface Contaminant Plumes. In: Assink, J.W., Van Den Brink, W.J. (eds) Contaminated Soil. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5181-5_47
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5181-5_47
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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