TYPICAL PROJECTS

Private Industrial Client - Kansas City, KS.  Buffalo Geological was the prime contractor for the investigation and remediation of gasoline, PCE, and TCE contamination in soil and groundwater at this former industrial site.  Although not a CERCLA (superfund) site, compliance followed the superfund process.  Working with a team of lawyers and client representatives, Buffalo Geological helped negotiate the Consent Order.  Buffalo then conducted the various CAS/CAP/CA stages including design of an extensive vapor extraction and air sparge remedial system.  Buffalo Geological supervised the remedial system construction and performed all subsequent compliance issues.

Kansas City Remediation

Buffalo Geological Consulting worked in support of drainage engineering at a new golf course in Clark County Washington, by conducting a categorization of soil types through test pit excavations, piezometers, and performance of rising head hydraulic conductivity tests.

Mr. Mansfield was the senior hydrogeologist for a geologic assessment of the San Fernando Valley Groundwater basin during a multiple CERCLA Superfund site project. He created the conceptual geological framework for groundwater flow and contaminant transport computer models for the basin.

We created the geological Conceptual Site Model for a Oregon County road maintenance shop where contamination of soil and groundwater spread far beyond the source area.  The work was performed in support of a proposed risk-based closure proposal.

Buffalo Geological Consulting manages the groundwater monitoring programs for a number of industrial and municipal landfills. Tasks include the collection of groundwater samples, assessment of the analytical results, and preparation of quarterly and annual reports.

Mr. Mansfield performed an extensive trench investigation of Holocene faulting associated with the Imperial Fault in southern California.  The work was in connection with a groundwater quality characterization and evaluation.  A municipal landfill had been constructed directly straddling the Fault leading to public worry about the danger to surrounding water resources in the event of an earthquake. The primary water-bearing zones were identified using electric-log analysis and hydro-chemical correlation. Almost a mile of shallow trenches were excavated to expose and identify subsurface evidence of fault displacement. By using tip resistance and friction ratio data from fourteen cone penetrometer surveys at the site, we created the only reliable correlations of otherwise indistinguishable strata.

We routinely perform site geologic hazard investigations that are required by various ordinances when construction is planned within a geologic hazard overlay zone. Geologic hazards in the north coast area of Oregon, for example, generally involve floods, landslides, and earthquakes.

Buffalo Geological developed a specialized apparatus designed to obtain continuous sediment samples, under water, for use at a major Oregon coastal port. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required sediment samples through the entire prism intended for dredging and our device and method was successfully used by both the Port Authority and the Coast Guard facility at the Port.  The project was conducted according to US Army Corps of Engineers protocols and the Dredge Material Evaluation Framework (DMEF) for the Lower Columbia River Management Area.

Buffalo Geological Consulting was hired to determine the reasons a large detention pond failed shortly after construction. During the first winter following construction the facility filled with water and ceased to infiltrate. The facility is built in a sand and gravel profile that should have provided excellent infiltration. We conducted a boring program and discovered a very subtle, six inch thick layer of impermeable clay, horizontally distributed a few feet below the original bottom of the facility. Once identified, reconstruction of the facility was engineered to penetrate this layer. In another detention facility failure, we identified the cause as a filter fabric which was unable to prevent clogging. The failure resulted from incomplete assessment of the mobile silt content of the surrounding soil prior to construction.