--> Abstract: Underground Injection of Hazardous Industrial Waste in Louisiana, by J. S. Hanor; #90987 (1993).

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HANOR, JEFFREY S., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.

ABSTRACT: Underground Injection of Hazardous Industrial Waste in Louisiana

Large volumes of liquid industrial wastes, including 30 percent HCl, concentrated NaOH solutions, and halogenated organics, have been disposed of by injection into sediments of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Geologic justification for this practice has included assumptions that the wastes will be confined by sealing faults and impermeable shale layers. Transport models in recent permit applications designed to predict the fate of injected wastes have assumed that molecular diffusion is the only significant vertical solute transport mechanism operating in the deep subsurface. The validity of these assumptions and models can be tested by examining the spatial distribution of natural tracers in the subsurface, such as dissolved NaCl released during dissolution of salt domes.

Recent work on spatial variations in the salinity of deep pore waters in the Louisiana Gulf Coast demonstrates that the hydrogeology of the region is far more complex and dynamic than has generally been assumed. The distribution of dissolved salt in areas of deep well injection cannot be explained simply by molecular diffusion alone and must involve ongoing large-scale vertical convective and dispersive transport. Rates of solute transport are still poorly known, however, in part because of the current lack of information on the scale dependence of sediment permeability and the potential involvement of non-Darcian transport processes. The detailed subsurface geology and permeability architecture of most injection sites are also poorly known, but such information is needed to predict p thways of migration of injected wastes.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.