Geochemical and physical properties of soils and shallow sediments at the Savannah River Site

A program to characterize the geochemical and physical properties of the unimpacted soils and shallow sediments at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has been completed. The maximum, minimum, median, standard deviation, and mean values for metals, radionuclides, inorganic anions, organic compounds, and agricultural indicator parameters are summarized for six soil series that were identified as representative of the 29 soil series at SRS. The soils from unimpacted areas of SRS are typical of soils found in moderately aggressive weathering environments, including the southeastern United States. Appendix 8 organic compounds were detected in all samples. Since these constituents are not generally present in soil, this portion of the investigation was intended to assess possible laboratory artifacts. An additional objective of the SRS Soil Study was to determine if the composition of the split spoon sampler biased chemical analysis of the soils. Twenty-five duplicate samples were analyzed for a number of metals, radiological and agricultural parameters, and organics by two laboratories currently contracted with to analyze samples during waste site characterization. In all cases, the absolute values of the average differences are relatively small compared to the overall variability in the population. 31 refs., 14 figs., 48 tabs