Notable case, Edgewood, Maryland, United States
Aberdeen Proving Ground, J-Field
An army proving ground where chemical munitions were burned and detonated in open pits. It is one of the first sites where EPA field-tested hybrid poplars to contain and treat groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents.
At a glance
- Status
- Remediation under way
- Media
- groundwater, soil
- Kind of site
- military, chemical works
- National list
- Listed 1990National Priorities List
- Area. The monitored demonstration plantation is about 2,034 m². The coordinates stand for Aberdeen Proving Ground as a whole, not J-Field itself.
Contaminants
National list
On the list (final)United States
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
- Listed
- 1990
- Official id
- MD2210020036 ↗
About this list
The list of contaminated sites that are national priorities for federal clean-up under CERCLA (Superfund, 1980), kept by EPA (40 CFR Part 300, Appendix B). Listing makes a site eligible for long-term remedial action paid by the Superfund; sites are proposed and then listed through Federal Register notices, and deleted when no further response is needed.
Includes federal facilities (Defense, Energy). Dates are the years of the Federal Register notices (final listing, deletion); 'listed' is empty for proposed sites. Some sites still on the list have had partial deletions. Contaminants and media: contaminants of concern from decision documents (RODs, ROD amendments, ESDs; EPA, fiscal years 1981-2024, SEMS document HQ/406315); for sites with no decision document (mostly proposed or recently listed) the contaminants are those EPA records for the site (FOIA-015, document HQ/406366), with no medium. 'Deleted' means EPA found no further response needed, which can include land-use controls still in force.
Status
Remediation under way
According to the 2002 EPA report (demonstration project completed in 1999) the poplars were exerting hydraulic influence on the groundwater and the plume did not leave the site during the growing season. The present status has not been checked.
Story
Aberdeen Proving Ground lies at the tip of the Gunpowder Neck peninsula on Chesapeake Bay. At J-Field, from the 1940s to the 1970s, the Army burned and detonated munitions containing chemical agents, and their packing, in open trenches (the toxic pits), using large quantities of solvent-based decontaminating agents. The shallow groundwater was contaminated with 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, trichloroethylene and dichloroethylene at up to 260 ppm, 5 to 40 feet below ground; the plume moves slowly towards a freshwater marsh about 500 feet away.
Unexploded ordnance and a low-permeability aquifer made conventional techniques hard to apply. In 1996 the Army and EPA planted hybrid poplars to control the plume hydraulically and, over time, to remove the solvents.
Timeline
- 1996Hybrid poplars planted (spring).
- 1998Some trees excavated to examine roots; new plantings in October, including native species.
- 2002EPA publishes the cost and performance report.
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale, 1996–1999
Populus sp. (hybrid poplar, clone 510)
Field demonstration by the Army, EPA Region 3 and the EPA Environmental Response Team: two-year-old hybrid poplars (clone 510) planted deep, at 5–6 feet, to reach groundwater; 156 viable trees on about 2,034 m², with surface drainage to carry rainwater away. Monitoring by groundwater sampling, sap-flow measurement and analysis of transpiration gas.
Outcome Groundwater levels showed a depression under the plantation. The trees were taking up about 1,091 gallons (4,129 litres) a day, against the 7,000 gallons a day estimated by USGS for full hydraulic control. Contaminant uptake was still minimal; no detectable emissions in transpiration gas. Roots of the trees excavated in 1998 had stayed within the planting hole.
PhytoremediationField pilot, 1996–
Populus deltoides × Populus trichocarpa
In spring 1996 the US Army, with the EPA, planted hybrid poplars (183 set out, 156 viable) on about 2,034 m², with roots directed deep so as to tap the groundwater; native species were added in 1998.
Outcome The trees drew about 1,091 gallons of water a day (some 4,100 litres) and contained the plume during the growing season; emissions through transpiration were not detectable. The federal profile says, however, that contaminant uptake was «minimal» at that stage: the documented effect is hydraulic, not degradation.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: field
- Populus × canadensisCanadian poplar (P. deltoides × P. nigra)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Fungi
- Trametes versicolorTurkey tailChlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Nearby
Sources
- Cost and Performance Report: Phytoremediation at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Edgewood Area J-Field Site, US EPA, Technology Innovation Office, 2002
- Aberdeen Proving Ground (coordinates), Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.