We produce vast amounts of waste. Much of this waste ends up in landfill sites. Almost all landfill sites are old quarries. One of the tasks of an environmental geoscientist could be to decide whether an old quarry is suitable for use as a landfill site.
What the Syllabus Says - and the Details
Environmental geologists study:
Planning for and monitoring of waste disposal...
Some of the rubbish placed into a landfill site will steadily rot away. As it does so it will produce flammable gases such as methane, toxic (poisonous) gases, and various chemicals that will dissolve in water. So - easy job - just stop the site catching fire or poisoning the local environment!
You'll need to identify a site of suitable size where the rock is impermeable (to stop polluted water flowing into the ground). Your site will need suitable road access - check the rock under the road is strong enough to deal with all the heavy lorries arriving.
Monitoring of potentially polluted water - get your geochemists to check the chemical content of the water in the ground and in the local streams on a regular basis. If you're poisoning the water then you're poisoning farmland, and possibly the local water supply!
Restoration of polluted soils - Landfill sites, quarries and spoil heaps from mines can all end up polluting the water that flows through them and this will pollute the soils where that water then flows to. Whilst you may need to construct concrete barriers in the ground to prevent this flow while the industry is happening, there will come a time when it finishes. At this point you will need to test the soil to see how polluted it is - and quite possibly entirely cover the area with new!
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