GRAVITY INVESTIGATION OF THE KING ROAD LANDFILL, LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO

The King Road Landfill, west of Toledo, Ohio, was abandoned and fenced during the 1980s. Several experiments are currently under way there in search of low-cost alternatives to costly capping followed by perpetual monitoring and maintenance. Waste characterization is essential for modeling the long-term impact this landfill has on local water resources and for developing a strategy for utilizing this property, which is becoming surrounded by suburban residential and commercial developments. Invasive methods for waste characterization, such as drilling, are currently not an option and seismic methods appear of little value in waste characterization. Instead, gravity stations were taken over the landfill and in the surrounding area. The purpose is to characterize the density of the waste and differentiate it from the local geology. This study may help determine if waste was deposited in pits dug into the sand of the Oak Openings belt, or if it was deposited directly on top of the sand. Although the waste is mostly covered, some exposures suggest waste varies from residential solid waste in some areas to industrial waste in others. Gravity was collected over the landfill in an attempt to test the hypothesis that waste type differs significantly and to map any important variations in bulk density of landfill waste.