Central New York Association of Professional Geologists


Upcoming events

    • Wednesday, December 04, 2024
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204
    Register

    Abstract

    A preliminary environmental investigation conducted by the current private owners of a former US Navy facility, NAS Green Cove Springs, found evidence of historic releases of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances from the facility to the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida. The current owners subsequently entered the voluntary cleanup program with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to understand the origin, nature, and extent of contamination caused by the suspected releases.

    Beginning in the 1940s until 1960, the Naval Station berthed up to 500 ships of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Fourteen piers, up to a quarter mile long, were constructed to dock and maintain these ships. Ships were kept in a state of near-readiness and maintenance was ongoing. Each pier contained one or more electrical transformers containing 100 to 150 gallons of Askeral di-electric fluid. Askeral, a mixture of PCBs and chlorinated benzenes, was directly released to the river during maintenance activities based on witness testimony. Based on this information and other historical records, it was concluded that releases of hazardous substances to the river likely occurred in connection with the Navy’s activities. However, in the subsequent five decades of private ownership, the site has been operated as a private port facility, with several tenants engaged in marine services, which may have contributed to conditions in the river and confound interpretation of the Navy’s historical releases.

    The primary goal of the study was to determine if releases to the St. Johns River related to historical Navy activities contributed to sediment contamination. To achieve this goal, a multiple line of evidence approach was used. Extensive sampling of Site sediments adjacent to the piers was performed. This sampling included the collection of surface and subsurface sediment samples from 32 locations within the pier area. Locations adjacent to former transformer locations were targeted during this sampling. PCBs demonstrated a significant increase with sediment depth at most locations. To estimate the timeframe in which the higher PCBs observed at depth in the sediment were deposited, a geochronology evaluation was conducted using sediment cores collected at five locations. Cesium-137 in sediment was used to construct a time history of sediments at various depths. Associated with atmospheric testing of thermonuclear weapons, the location in the sediment column where Cesium-137 first appears and where it is measured in its highest concentration can be used as time markers within the sediments representing 1954 and 1963, respectively. Using these markers, sediment intervals corresponding to the Navy’s occupation of the site were identified. From this interval, a reference sample was analyzed for PCB congeners to facilitate forensic analysis. The PCB congener profile of this sample revealed a relatively unweathered profile consistent with Aroclor-1260, a known Aroclor used in the manufacture of Askeral. The PCB composition of the

    remaining sediment samples was compared to the composition of the reference sample to determine if they are similar (and therefore consistent with PCBs associated with historical Navy releases). This analysis demonstrated that the PCB congener signature found in sediments throughout the site is consistent with a known Aroclor mixture used by the Navy during its operations at the site. Finally, metals and PAHs are frequently observed together in deeper sediment intervals, supporting their common historical origin and contemporaneous release. In addition, elevated levels of these metals and PAHs are within the sediment horizons identified as representing the Navy’s presence at the site.

    Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the sources of contamination in Site sediment are related to Navy releases and that several sources of uncontrolled releases of contaminants existed during that time. These contaminants, including PCBs, are primarily found at depth but have mixed throughout the sediment column and are present at low levels in surface sediments. Overall, this approach conclusively demonstrated for the current owners that site contaminants, particularly PCBs, were historical in origin and related to legacy releases during the Navy’s presence at the site. Subsequent investigations defined the full nature and extent of those historical releases. These investigations confirmed that elevated PCBs are confined to deeper sediments near known historical Navy releases.

    • Wednesday, December 04, 2024
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204
    • 50
    Register

    Abstract

    A preliminary environmental investigation conducted by the current private owners of a former US Navy facility, NAS Green Cove Springs, found evidence of historic releases of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances from the facility to the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida. The current owners subsequently entered the voluntary cleanup program with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to understand the origin, nature, and extent of contamination caused by the suspected releases.

    Beginning in the 1940s until 1960, the Naval Station berthed up to 500 ships of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Fourteen piers, up to a quarter mile long, were constructed to dock and maintain these ships. Ships were kept in a state of near-readiness and maintenance was ongoing. Each pier contained one or more electrical transformers containing 100 to 150 gallons of Askeral di-electric fluid. Askeral, a mixture of PCBs and chlorinated benzenes, was directly released to the river during maintenance activities based on witness testimony. Based on this information and other historical records, it was concluded that releases of hazardous substances to the river likely occurred in connection with the Navy’s activities. However, in the subsequent five decades of private ownership, the site has been operated as a private port facility, with several tenants engaged in marine services, which may have contributed to conditions in the river and confound interpretation of the Navy’s historical releases.

    The primary goal of the study was to determine if releases to the St. Johns River related to historical Navy activities contributed to sediment contamination. To achieve this goal, a multiple line of evidence approach was used. Extensive sampling of Site sediments adjacent to the piers was performed. This sampling included the collection of surface and subsurface sediment samples from 32 locations within the pier area. Locations adjacent to former transformer locations were targeted during this sampling. PCBs demonstrated a significant increase with sediment depth at most locations. To estimate the timeframe in which the higher PCBs observed at depth in the sediment were deposited, a geochronology evaluation was conducted using sediment cores collected at five locations. Cesium-137 in sediment was used to construct a time history of sediments at various depths. Associated with atmospheric testing of thermonuclear weapons, the location in the sediment column where Cesium-137 first appears and where it is measured in its highest concentration can be used as time markers within the sediments representing 1954 and 1963, respectively. Using these markers, sediment intervals corresponding to the Navy’s occupation of the site were identified. From this interval, a reference sample was analyzed for PCB congeners to facilitate forensic analysis. The PCB congener profile of this sample revealed a relatively unweathered profile consistent with Aroclor-1260, a known Aroclor used in the manufacture of Askeral. The PCB composition of the

    remaining sediment samples was compared to the composition of the reference sample to determine if they are similar (and therefore consistent with PCBs associated with historical Navy releases). This analysis demonstrated that the PCB congener signature found in sediments throughout the site is consistent with a known Aroclor mixture used by the Navy during its operations at the site. Finally, metals and PAHs are frequently observed together in deeper sediment intervals, supporting their common historical origin and contemporaneous release. In addition, elevated levels of these metals and PAHs are within the sediment horizons identified as representing the Navy’s presence at the site.

    Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the sources of contamination in Site sediment are related to Navy releases and that several sources of uncontrolled releases of contaminants existed during that time. These contaminants, including PCBs, are primarily found at depth but have mixed throughout the sediment column and are present at low levels in surface sediments. Overall, this approach conclusively demonstrated for the current owners that site contaminants, particularly PCBs, were historical in origin and related to legacy releases during the Navy’s presence at the site. Subsequent investigations defined the full nature and extent of those historical releases. These investigations confirmed that elevated PCBs are confined to deeper sediments near known historical Navy releases.


    • Wednesday, January 08, 2025
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204

    TBA

    • Wednesday, February 05, 2025
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204

    TBA

    • Wednesday, March 05, 2025
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204

    TBA

    • Wednesday, April 02, 2025
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204

    TBA

    • Wednesday, May 07, 2025
    • 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    • Spaghetti Warehouse, 689 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13204

    TBA

Past events

Wednesday, November 06, 2024 *PDH Credit*- November 2024 Meeting: J.R. Slosson (SUNY Oswego), "Western Waters: Solute Loading in Colorado's Rivers from Landslides to Road Deicer”
Wednesday, November 06, 2024 * NO PDH CREDIT*- November 2024 Meeting: J.R. Slosson (SUNY Oswego), "Western Waters: Solute Loading in Colorado's Rivers from Landslides to Road Deicer”
Wednesday, October 02, 2024 * NO PDH CREDIT* October 2024 Meeting: Aaron Mohammed (SU), "Groundwater Dynamics in Changing Cold Regions "
Wednesday, October 02, 2024 *PDH Credit*- October 2024 Meeting: Aaron Mohammed (SU), "Groundwater Dynamics in Changing Cold Regions"
Wednesday, September 04, 2024 *PDH Credit*- September 2024 Meeting: Dan Walker (EAEST): Environmental Sequence Stratigraphy and its use in contaminated site characterization and remediation
Wednesday, September 04, 2024 * NO PDH CREDIT* September 2024 Meeting: Dan Walker (EAEST): Environmental Sequence Stratigraphy and its use in contaminated site characterization and remediation
Wednesday, May 01, 2024 *PDH Credit*- May 2024 Meeting: Dr. Maddy Nyblade, SUNY ESF "Geoscience, Colonialism, and Just Ways Forward: A Minnesota Case-Study"
Wednesday, May 01, 2024 *NO PDH Credit*- May 2024 Meeting: Dr. Maddy Nyblade, SUNY ESF "Geoscience, Colonialism, and Just Ways Forward: A Minnesota Case-Study"
Friday, April 26, 2024 CNYAPG/AIPG 2024 Field Day!
Wednesday, April 03, 2024 April 2024 Meeting: Dr. Scott Maguffin, SUNY Oneonta. "Redox Dynamics: Shaping the Fate of Nutrients and Contaminants in Water, Wetlands, and Agriculture"
Wednesday, March 06, 2024 *PDH Credit*- March 2024 Meeting: Bill Kappel & John Williams, USGS. "Challenges of Geothermal drilling/installation across Central and Western New York"
Wednesday, March 06, 2024 *NO PDH Credit*- March 2024 Meeting: Bill Kappel & John Williams, USGS. "Challenges of Geothermal drilling/installation across Central and Western New York"
Wednesday, February 07, 2024 *PDH Credit*- February 2024 Meeting: Dr. Mark Holland, St. Lawrence University. "Topic: TBD"
Wednesday, February 07, 2024 *NO PDH Credit*- February 2024 Meeting: Dr. Mark Holland, St. Lawrence University. "Topic: TBD"
Wednesday, January 03, 2024 *PDH Credit*- January 2024 Meeting: Jim Stewart, John P Stopen Engineering, LLP. "Some Significant Engineering Considerations for Facilities in areas of Camillus Shale and Utica Shale"
Wednesday, January 03, 2024 *NO PDH Credit*- January 2024 Meeting: Jim Stewart, John P Stopen Engineering, LLP. "Some Significant Engineering Considerations for Facilities in areas of Camillus Shale and Utica Shale"
Wednesday, December 06, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- December 2023 Meeting: Dr. Kris Kusnerik, Hamilton College
Wednesday, December 06, 2023 *PDH Credit*- December 2023 Meeting: Dr. Kris Kusnerik, Hamilton College
Wednesday, November 01, 2023 *PDH CREDIT* November 2023 Meeting: Dr. Bryce Hand, Syracuse University. "Syracuse Meltwater Channels."
Wednesday, November 01, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- November 2023 Meeting: Dr. Bryce Hand, Syracuse University. "Syracuse Meltwater Channels."
Wednesday, October 04, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- October 2023 Meeting: Dr. David Valentino, SUNY Oswego. "A Neoproterozoic (?) Basin Beneath Ithaca, NY"
Wednesday, September 06, 2023 *PDH CREDIT* September 2023 Meeting: Felicia Bechtel, RETTEW. "How to Find, Map, and Manage What You Want to Hit or Miss Before Digging, Drilling, Or Building"
Wednesday, September 06, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- September 2023 Meeting: Felicia Bechtel, RETTEW. "How to Find, Map, and Manage What You Want to Hit or Miss Before Digging, Drilling, Or Building"
Wednesday, May 03, 2023 *PDH CREDIT* May 2023 Meeting: David Finkelstein, Hobart and Wm Smith Colleges, Topic TBD
Wednesday, May 03, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- May 2023 Meeting: David Finkelstein, Hobart and Wm Smith Colleges, Topic TBD
Wednesday, April 05, 2023 *NO PDH Credit*- April 2023 Meeting: Jean Patota: Your PG License and Tips to Keep It
Wednesday, April 05, 2023 *PDH CREDIT*- April 2023 Meeting: Jean Patota: Your PG License and Tips to Keep It
Wednesday, March 01, 2023 March 2023 Meeting: Jesse Lubbers: Horizontal Directional Drills - Identifying & Mitigating Risks
Wednesday, February 01, 2023 February Meeting:Helbert Garcia (CNYAPG 2022 Student Grant Recipient) - The impact of glacial/interglacial cycles on erosion/sedimentation rates in low latitude tropical mountains.
Wednesday, January 04, 2023 January Meeting. Teresa Jordan, Cornell University. Cornell’s Geothermal Heat Aspiration and 2022 Cornell University Borehole Observatory
Wednesday, December 07, 2022 December Meeting: Tao Wen, Syracue University. “Using Machine Learning Approaches To Address Carbon Cycling-Related Questions”
Wednesday, November 02, 2022 November Meeting:David Barclay, SUNY Cortland. Megathrusts and tree-rings: high precision dating of the penultimate great earthquake in southern Alaska
Wednesday, October 05, 2022 October Meeting: Nicholas Metz, Hobart and Wm Smith Colleges- Rivers in the Sky: An Investigation of Atmospheric Rivers over the Northeastern US
Wednesday, September 07, 2022 (NEW) September Meeting: Mr. Derrick Pratt (Erie Canal Museum): The Erie Canal- Then and Now: A Crash Course
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 May Meeting: Mr. Jon Fox (Fox Professional Geology): Environmental Petrography Survey of Selected Upstate New York Bedrock Formations and Applications in Chemical Hydrogeology
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 April Meeting: Dr. Paul Harnick, Colgate Unversity The Ghosts of Populations Past: What Old Shells Reveal about Current and Future Oceans
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 March Meeting: Dr. Andrew Kozlowski (NYS Geologic Survey). Advances in Understanding Late Pleistocene Event-Stratigraphy in Central New York: From Application to Paleoclimate Correlation
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 February Meeting: Bob Darling, SUNY Cortland
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 January Meeting: Robert Titus, Hartwick College - retired The Hudson River School of Art and its Ice Age origins
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 December Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dave Valentino (SUNY Oswego) Characterization of brittle deformation in Adirondack basement and the link to macroscopic features in the overlying Paleozoic strata
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 November Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dave Eckhardt- USGS Retired "Adventures in Africa"
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 October Meeting: Karen Harpp - Colgate University
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 Bill Kappel, USGS retired - "Return to Retsof – Surface Geophysics Strikes Back"
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 May FREE Virtual Meeting: Dr. Joe Levy – Colgate University
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 April FREE Virtual Meeting: Nicolás Pérez-Consuegra (2020 CNYAPG Scholarship award winner) – Syracuse University
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 March FREE Virtual Meeting: Dr. Alka Singhal– Ramboll
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 February FREE Virtual Meeting: Dr. John Halfman– Hobart & William Smith
Wednesday, January 20, 2021 January FREE Virtual Meeting: John Gartner– Norwich University
Wednesday, December 16, 2020 December FREE Virtual Meeting: Dr. Laura Lautz– National Science Foundation- Legacy effects of cemeteries on groundwater quality and nitrate loads to headwater streams
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 November FREE Virtual Meeting: Dr. Nick Warner– SUNY Geneseo- Update on the InSight mission to Mars
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 October Virtual Meeting (NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED): Dr. Barbara Tewksbury– Hamilton College- From Orbit to Outcrop and Outcrop to Orbit: Teaching Astronauts to Think Like Geologists
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 May Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Speaker to be determined
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 April March Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Speaker to be determined
Wednesday, March 18, 2020 CANCELLED: March Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. David Eckhardt – USGS (retired) - "Investigating Aquifer Sources for Potable Drinking Water in Tanzania, East Africa"
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 February Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Page Quinton - SUNY Potsdam. "Carbon isotopes in shallow epicontinental seas: lessons from the Late Ordovician"
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 January Dinner Meeting and Speaker: CNYAPG Student Research Scholarship Award Winner
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 December Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Kyle Makovsky – (Doctoral Candidate) Syracuse University. "Rockin’ the Bakken - Life and times of a Wellsite Geologist in North Dakota"
Wednesday, November 20, 2019 November Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Justin Stroup – Assistant Professor SUNY Oswego. “Understanding the Little Ice Age from the perspective of the Tropics: insights from Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru”
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 October Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Li Jin – Professor SUNY Cortland. "Applications of INtegrated CAtchment (INCA) models to simulate flow and water quality under changes in future climate and socioeconomics"
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 September Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Catherine Beck – Professor Hamilton College. "Impact of paleoenvironmental variability on hominin evolution as documented from a multiproxy perspective in the Turkana Basin, Kenya"
Saturday, May 18, 2019 Tug Hill Plateau Field Trip
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 May Dinner Meeting and Speaker: (rescheduled from March) - Dr. Esteban Gazel, Assoc. Professor Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Cornell University. "The rocks that joined the Americas: Is there a connection with climate and evolution of life?"
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 April Dinner Meeting: Scott Samson, Syracuse University. Inherited, enriched, heated, or recycled? The Grenville Orogeny: Examining potential causes of Earth's most zircon fertile magmatic episode
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 March Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Mr. Guy Swenson, P.G. "Hydraulics of Subsurface Injections"
Wednesday, February 20, 2019 February Dinner Meeting: Laura Demott, Syracuse University (CNYAPG 2017-18 scholarship winner) - Assessing Microbial Influence on Deposition of Frondose Lacustrine Carbonate Tufas from Winnemucca Dry Lake, NV, USA
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 January Dinner Meeting: Dr. Donald I Siegel, Syracuse University, “The Dismissal of Facts in Water-Related Decision Making: Root Causes and What to do About It”
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 December Dinner Meeting: Larry Brown, Cornell University, "3D Seismic Reflection Imaging with Uncontrolled Sources using Large N Arrays."
Friday, November 16, 2018 CANCELED due to weather ±++++++++November Dinner Meeting: Dr. Page Quinton, Assistant Professor, SUNY Potsdam. "Carbon isotopes in shallow epicontinental seas: lessons from the Late Ordovician"
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 October Dinner Meeting: Nick Warner, SUNY Geneseo - "The InSight mission to Mars: A geologist's approach to landing site evaluation"
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 September Dinner Meeting: Dr. Jeff Karson, Syracuse University, “Fire and Ice: Living with Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Glaciers in Iceland ”
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 May Meeting: Jamesville Quarry Field trip
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 April Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Bill Kappel (Retired USGS) & John Williams (Current USGS) "Time-domain electromagnetic soundings for the delineation of saline groundwater in the Genesee River Valley, western New York"
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 March Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Moran (EcoLogic, LLC), "The Cayuga Lake Modeling Project (CLMP) "
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 February Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Joe Gonzales (Syracuse Univ) "Pressure-temperature-time histories across the Burgess Branch Fault Zone, northern Vermont" and Mariana Rhoades (St. John Fisher College), "Historic Quarries and the Stone Industry..."
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 January Dinner Meeting and Speaker: John Nadeau, NYSCPG: "The State of Professional Geology in New York "
Wednesday, December 20, 2017 December Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Keith White (Arcadis) “Winning with Karst: Effectively Managing Contaminated Karst Aquifers”
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 November Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Richard Young (Emeritus Geneseo Geology), "When did the last, late Wisconsin continental ice sheet actually retreat from West-Central, NY?
Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Joint Meeting with NEAIPG and NYSCPG
Thursday, October 12, 2017 Schweinfurth Art Center Geologists and Friends Reception
Wednesday, September 20, 2017 September Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Andrew Kozlowski (New York State Geological Survey)
Thursday, August 17, 2017 Summer Break
Thursday, July 20, 2017 Summer Break
Thursday, June 15, 2017 Summer Break
Thursday, May 18, 2017 May Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Charles Ver Straeten (NYS Museum) Explosive volcanic eruptions, and the fate of volcanic ash in sedimentary environments
Thursday, April 20, 2017 April Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Rachel Lee (SUNY Oswego) Compositional and Textural Analysis of Maar-Diatreme Volcanic Deposits at Hopi Buttes Volcanic Field (AZ) Using GigaPan and Thermal Infrared Imagery
Thursday, March 16, 2017 March Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Peter Knuepfer (SUNY Binghamton) Evidence for Changing Flood Frequency, Upper Susquehanna River Basin
Thursday, February 16, 2017 February Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Barbara J. Tewksberry (Dept. of Geosciences, Hamilton College) Karst Development in Western Egypt
Thursday, January 19, 2017 January Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth K. Thomas (SUNY Buffalo) I Can See Clearly Now: Improving our ability to reconstruct past rain and snowfall by monitoring seasonal trends of hydrogen isotopes in environmental water and sedimentary leaf wa
Thursday, December 15, 2016 ** CANCELED **December Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Andrew Kozlowski (New York State Geological Survey)
Thursday, November 17, 2016 November Dinner Meeting and Speaker: Dr. Jeff Over (SUNY Geneseo)
Thursday, October 20, 2016 October Dinner Meeting and Speaker
Friday, October 07, 2016 2016 High Resolution Site Characterization and Emerging Contaminants Symposium
Copyright CNYAPG, All rights reserved
Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software