On sunny days, dark, swirling rainbows of oil glide across the creek's surface.
Further samples were obtained along two transects away from the trenched area down the hill-slope toward an ephemeral creek, which receives surface runoff from the site.
The water from the cave eventually drains into the El Azufre (EA I), which is a sulfidic surface creek also containing high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide.
Emergency pumping from 12 points to surface creeks finally began lowering the 50 million-gallon mass of water from the two mines, officials said.
Soil sampling and remediation initially focused on the plant site (FMC Corporation), adjacent school property, and drainage ditches and creeks that received surface water flow from the plant.
Ms. Brimmer, who grew up in the area, said she once admired the "pretty greens and blues and reds" on the surface of creeks near the school that state officials now say are contaminated with oil and PCB's.
At his encouragement, I skimmed my hand across the surface of the creek.
Had the chemical been airborne, drifting down as fallout on the surface of the creek?
Best known, perhaps, is Minetta Brook, a creek whose burbling waters supposedly surface, after storms, in the lobby of an apartment building on lower Fifth Avenue, into a bonglike contraption of clear tubing.
Years ago they drew little notice, the pond that never freezes, the rainbow of colors glinting off the surface of a creek, the hard-to-pronounce chemicals sprayed, painted and, yes, sometimes spilled around the mile-long stretch of factories on the south side of town.
In natural sites, surface topography and creek networks are drivers of vegetation diversity, but their development on restored sites has not been well studied.
