6 Applied Geological Investigations at State Geological Surveys in the Northeastern Section of GSA (Posters)

This technical session will highlight the high-level, applied work done by state geological surveys to address diverse environmental issues including geologic hazards, groundwater and surface water, and economic mineral deposits in the Northeast Section region.

Sunday, 22 March 2026
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CCC, Ballroom C

Four- Dimensional Characterization of the Surficial and Fractured Rock Aquifers Beneath the Wolcott Elementary School, North-Central Vermont

Paper number: 6-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Vermont Geological Survey (VGS) collaborates with academic colleagues (SUNY at Plattsburgh), sister divisions at the VT DEC (Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection), and geological consultants (Hoffer Consulting and Stone Environmental) to analyze environmental issues. The Town of Wolcott is evaluating the feasibility of constructing a new leach field behind the Wolcott Elementary School to process town wastewater and needs our expertise to evaluate the subsurface geology. The VGS and partners completed geophysical well logging, groundwater chemistry, passive seismic surveys, and soils borings with monitoring wells to bedrock at the site to develop a conceptual site model. A major concern is predicting whether effluent from the new leach field will affect the existing school well.  

 

The school’s bedrock well was completed in 1988. It is 372’ deep with 82’ of overburden, 94’ of casing length, and a driller’s yield of 150 gpm. The well was logged using Borehole Camera, Temperature, Conductivity, Gamma, Caliper, Acoustic Borehole Imager (ABI), and Heat Pulse Flowmeter (HPF) tools under ambient conditions. When integrated, temperature, conductivity, caliper, ABI, and HPF tools show groundwater entering the well at ~230’ along gently dipping fractures in the Moretown Fm, flowing downward to 344’ and exiting the well.

 

Using the overburden thicknesses from drilled bedrock wells, shallow monitoring wells, and a passive seismic survey, a SW – NE cross section shows the bedrock surface to be a plateau at an elevation of 750’ ASL beneath the athletic fields that slopes downward to a 729’ ASL elevation at the school well. The slope of the Top of Rock may direct groundwater flow to the N and NE. The surficial aquifer is of limited extent.

 

Groundwater recharge ages from the school well consist of two age fractions, 1) a dominant older age fraction of 61 – 73 years (CFC 113 and CFC11) and 2) a subordinate younger fraction of 36 years (SF6). NaCl and the artificial sweetener Acesulfame, both wastewater indicators, were detected in this well and are ostensibly derived from the current school leach field. Since the school was constructed in 1989, these tracers correlate with the younger groundwater age fraction. Ongoing work seeks to calculate potential groundwater travel times from the current and proposed leach fields to receptor wells.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026NE-411209

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