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Applying Incremental Sampling Methodology to Soils Containing Heterogeneously Distributed Metallic Residues to
J L Clausen1, T Georgian2, K H Gardner3
1U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research Development Center, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA. jay.l.clausen@usace.army.mil.
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
|December 23, 2017
Summary
Incremental sampling methodology (ISM) provides more accurate metal contamination data than grab sampling at military firing ranges. ISM reduces uncertainty and costs by using fewer samples, improving environmental risk assessments.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Geospatial Analysis
Background:
- Military small-arms ranges are often contaminated with metals like lead (Pb) and antimony (Sb).
- Conventional grab sampling methods can yield highly variable and unreliable data for characterizing such contamination.
- High variability in grab samples is due to spatial heterogeneity and extreme outliers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effectiveness of incremental sampling methodology (ISM) against conventional grab sampling for characterizing metal contamination.
- To assess the impact of sampling methodology on data quality, uncertainty, and cost-efficiency.
- To determine the optimal sampling strategy for accurate metal contamination assessment at contaminated sites.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of grab sampling and incremental sampling methodology (ISM) at a military small-arms range.
- Statistical analysis of metal concentration data (Pb, Sb) including variance, distribution, and outlier detection.
- Monte Carlo resampling simulations to evaluate the variability of sample means and confidence limits.
Main Results:
- Grab samples exhibited large variances, non-normal distributions, and poor duplicate agreement, heavily influenced by extreme outliers for Pb and Sb.
- Incremental sampling methodology (ISM) yielded similar median and mean metal concentrations, indicating greater data stability.
- ISM significantly reduced measurement uncertainty and improved data quality for environmental risk assessments.
Conclusions:
- Incremental sampling methodology (ISM) is superior to grab sampling for accurately characterizing metal contamination at complex sites like military ranges.
- ISM enhances data reliability and cost-effectiveness by reducing sample numbers and measurement uncertainty.
- Adopting ISM improves the quality of environmental risk assessments and site remediation decisions.
