Soil and Groundwater Sampling Tools

Continuous soil sampling is an advanced technique for collecting soil samples at regular intervals. This method provides an uninterrupted profile of soil properties, allowing for detailed analysis of subsurface conditions. By utilizing protective liners, this technique preserves sample integrity, ensuring accurate analysis of soil composition and contamination levels.

Key capabilities:

1. Continuous soil profile: collecting continuous soil samples to capture variations in soil composition, texture, and structure.
2. High-Resolution Data: provides precise, high-resolution data for analysis.
3. Minimizes cross-contamination: reduces the risk of sample contamination, ensuring accurate results.

Applications: soil classification, identifying contaminant levels, such as heavy metals, organic, and emerging pollutants across different soil layers.

Discrete groundwater sampling is a technique used to collect water samples from specific depths within a well or borehole. Targeting distinct subsurface layers provides accurate data on groundwater quality and composition at various depths. It offers a clear and detailed understanding of subsurface contamination and hydrogeological conditions, essential for effective environmental assessments and groundwater management.

Key capabilities:

1. Sampling from high permeable zones: collecting groundwater samples from targeted depths (specifically from high permeable zones).
2. High-Resolution Data: ensures accurate representation of groundwater quality at multiple depths.
3. Minimally Invasive and Real-Time Monitoring: uses specialized equipment to collect samples with minimal environmental disruption; additionally, it enables in situ well creation, which helps in real-time monitoring of groundwater quality.

Applications: Assessing groundwater quality soil classification and identifying contaminant levels, such as heavy metals, organic pollutants, and emerging pollutants across different soil layers.

Unsaturated pore water sampling is a technique used to collect water samples from the soil's unsaturated zone (the area above the water table). This method helps to analyze the moisture content, chemical composition, and contamination levels in the pore spaces of unsaturated soils, which is crucial for understanding water movement and pollutant transport in the vadose zone.

Key capabilities:

1. Sampling in the Vadose Zone: extracting water samples from unsaturated soil layers using drainage centrifugation.
2. Contaminant detection and soil moisture profiling.

Applications: Monitoring pollutant movements through unsaturated soils, such as pesticides, fertilizers, or leachate, from landfills.

Soil pore gas sampling is a technique used to collect gases in the pore spaces of soil, providing valuable information about subsurface conditions, contamination, and microbial activity. This method is commonly used to monitor gases such as methane (CH₄), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and other volatile compounds that may indicate environmental processes or contamination.

Key capabilities:

1. Gas Composition Analysis: Measures gases like methane, carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soil pore spaces.
2. Real-Time Monitoring: Provides immediate data on gas concentrations for quick assessment and decision-making.
3. Non-Invasive: Collects gas samples with minimal disturbance to the soil structure, preserving the sample's integrity.

Applications:   Ideal for monitoring landfill gas emissions and migration, including methane and leachate gases, to assess environmental impact

A permanent groundwater monitoring well installed using a helical auger is an effective method for long-term groundwater assessment. The helical auger drilling technique enables the installation of monitoring wells with minimal disturbance to surrounding soil layers, ensuring accurate and reliable groundwater data. This method is particularly suitable for sites requiring continuous water quality monitoring, contamination levels, and hydrogeological conditions.

Applications: Ideal for monitoring landfill leachate migration and groundwater quality around contaminated sites.