Geochemical modeling and low-frequency geoelectrical methods to evaluate the impact of an open dump in arid and deltaic environments

In Mexico, open dumps that are maintained by the municipality but provide no covering of waste are not uncommon. Further, disposal at these sites is often performed by burning. The aim of this study was to determine the leachate plume from an open dump located in a depositional deltaic environment, with arid climate, low rainfall and where the water table is about 2 m below the surface. The methodology comprised analysis of groundwater monitoring wells and geophysical and geochemical prospecting techniques. The 3D geoelectric interpretation shows a typical area of these depositional environments with low resistive values (10–20 Ω-m) associated with the presence of sands and clays interbedded. However, there is a very low resistivity zone associated with the dump’s impact which reaches values below 5 Ω-m, and it is located where the disposal and burning of wastes occurred. Another zone with values above 16 Ω-m appears as a limit for the advance of the saline. This is interpreted as a sandy lenses area. These sandy lenses with higher porosity transport aquifer’s water. Thus the dump is in direct contact by this conduct with clean groundwater. Piper diagrams constructed with the chemical data analysis reveal that the groundwater in the area corresponds to the chlorinated and/or sulfated sodium type, showing the impact caused by the dump. The monitoring well (NP8, on-site) with the highest dissolved solids content behaves anomalously and belongs to the more conductive zone according to the geoelectric profiles. The subsoil geochemical behavior is influenced by the seasonal water table variations provoking the dissolution of burned and unburned wastes, but the effects of slow flows in the direction of the regional flow are not discarded. Although the most impacted area within the dump is characterized to a depth of 10 m, there is a slow flow in the direction of the regional flow that has been moving pollutants out of the dumpsite during its almost 20 years of operation. The results of this study provide valuable information for the authorities to carry out an appropriate restoration project.