Environmental significance of acid sulfate “clays” as waste covers

The current regulatory requirement for cover soils in landfills and surface impoundments is that the soils attain, upon compaction, a very low hydraulic conductivity of 10−7 cm/s or less. Although the influence of the interaction between waste chemicals and clay soil on waste migration has been extensively studied, attempts to incorporate as design components the effects of sulfidic (sulfide-bearing) clays on the integrity of clay caps have largely been ignored. These influences may include increasing the permeability of the cover to percolating moisture, enhancing erosion of clay covers, and killing of vegetation on downslopes of the cover. Consequently, it is suggested that clay cap designers test the acid-generating capabilities of potential clay cap materials before exploiting these earth formations. This can be done by incubating a sample of the candidate capping material (with pH > 3.5) under moist aerobic conditions (field capacity) at room temperature. The soil will be said to contain sulfidic materials if it shows a drop in pH (1 ∶ 1 by weight in water) of 0.5 or more units to a pH value of 4.0 or less within eight weeks. Decisions should then be made as to whether the soil should be avoided or used with amendments to the cap design.