DISTRIBUTION OF REDOX-SENSITIVE GROUNDWATER QUALITY PARAMETERS DOWNGRADIENT OF A LANDFILL (GRINDSTED, DENMARK)

The leachate plume stretching 300 m downgradient from the Grindsted Landfill (Denmark) has been characterized in terms of redox-sensitive groundwater quality parameters along two longitudinal transects (285 samples). Variations in the levels of methane, sulfide, iron(II), manganese(II), ammonium, dinitrogen oxide, nitrite, nitrate, and oxygen in the groundwater samples indicate that methane production, sulfate reduction, iron reduction, manganese reduction, and nitrate reduction take place in the plume. Adjacent to the landfill, methanogenic and sulfate-reducing zones were identified, while aerobic environments were identified furthest away from the landfill. In between, different redox environments, including apparent transition zones, were identified in a sequence in accordance with the thermodynamic principles. The redox zones are believed to constitute an important chemical framework for the attenuation processes in the plume.