Abstract

Identifying the Extent of a Subsurface Petroleum Contamination Plume
Track: Environmental Management
Authors: Andrew Van Name

The goal of my work is to depict the extent of a subsurface contamination plume. GIS gives me an advantage by allowing the data to determine the result and to minimize any personal bias that I might introduce to the data. Analysis of the data is performed using basic symbology and 3D analyst. Specifically the Natural Neighbors tool and Contour tool. The desired outcome is a gradient and isocontours illustrating thickness and the zero contour of the plume. However the raw data will not produce a coherent zero contour. Visual analysis of the data is required to determine where a zero contour might lie. Then the data is modified so it allows for the drawing of a sensible zero contour that delineates the extent of the contamination plume. This can be useful because it allows the analyst to constrain their data so the visualization makes sense to the their audience.