Characterization and quantification of pneumatic fracturing effects at a clay till site.

Environmental fracturing offers assistance to remediation efforts at contaminated, low-permeability sites via creation of active fracture networks, and hence, reduction of mass transport limitations set by diffusion in low-permeability matrices. A pilot study of pneumatic fracturing, focusing on direct documentation of fracture propagation patterns and spacing, was performed at a typical basal clay till site. The study applied a novel package of documentation methods, including injection of five tracers with different characteristics (bromide, uvitex, fluorescein, rhodamine WT, and brilliant blue), subsequent tracer-filled fracture documentation via direct and indirect methods, and geological characterization of the fractured site.