Fort Richardson borders Anchorage, Alaska, to
Tire 1
Tire 2
the west and north. The Garrison headquarters
is located at Fort Richardson, as is the headquar-
ters of the United States Army Alaska (USARAK).
30
The garrison supports rapid deployment of the
Wheel
172nd Separate Infantry Brigade and elements
Samples
of the Arctic Support Brigade within the Pacific
25
theater, and worldwide as directed in support of
Pacific Command's (USARPAC) objectives,
U.S. national interests, and contingency opera-
20
tions. Fort Richardson encompasses 62,000
acres, with 47,000 acres available for training.
Military assets within that area include a heli-
15
port, a drop zone suitable for airborne and air-
land operations, firing ranges, and other infan-
try training areas.
Sampling at Fort Richardson was limited to
10
the hand grenade range. The grenade range is
located in the small arms complex near the
Glenn Highway. The grenade range is not
5m
Samples Collected
divided into individual bays, but is a single open
Fort Richardson, AK
area with six launching bunkers and a large rub- Hand Grenade Range
ber tire 35 m downrange of each to serve as a
15
10
5m
target. The surface soil is mainly gravel and any
Pit
Pit
craters formed during training are filled with
fresh gravel at the end of each exercise. Soil Figure 6. Position of soil samples collected at the hand gren-
samples were collected from the Fort Richardson ade range at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
grenade range on 20 October 2000. The top sur-
face of the soil was frozen, but the soil just be-
neath the surface was thawed at the time of collection.
in an identical manner at distances of 30, 32, and 33 m
The grenade range at Fort Richardson has six
from the launch area. A set of 15 surface soil samples
launching bunkers and six associated target areas
was collected at 35 m, on the line between the two tar-
marked with a large rubber tire. The area between Tar-
get tires, each sampling point separated by 1 m from
gets 1 and 2 was selected for sampling. Since surface
the last. Centered at the tenth position, a seven-sample
craters are filled in with gravel after each exercise, there
sampling wheel, like that described for samples at Fort
were no visual clues to the intensity of use of each area.
Lewis, was collected for surface soil. At the center posi-
The protocol for use of the range, however, was said to
tion, three depth samples were also collected at 15, 30,
utilize the six areas equally.
and 45 cm. The total of 48 soil samples was collected
Training at the Fort Richardson grenade range
at the Fort Richardson grenade range. Because of the
involved mainly the use of M67 hand grenades,
gravelly consistency of the surface soil in the Fort Rich-
although occasionally claymore mines were used as
ardson hand grenade range, all soil samples were col-
well. Over the three-year period a total of 5000 M67
lected using shovels.
grenades and 90 claymore mines have been detonated
on site. Since there are six launching areas at this range,
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS AND MATERIALS
this amounts to about 300 per year per launch area. This
is only about 20% of the detonations in a comparable
Soil sample collection and shipment
area at the Fort Lewis range.
All soil samples at Fort Lewis were collected using
Soil samples were collected as follows. A set of four
stainless-steel trowels or putty knives that were care-
samples was collected at 27 m from the launching point
fully wiped with clean towels, washed with acetone,
(Fig. 6). These samples were collected at the surface,
and air-dried between samples. Shovels were used for
at a 15-cm depth, a 30-cm depth, and a 45-cm depth. A
sampling at Fort Richardson and they were cleaned in
second set of four samples at the same depths was also
a similar manner. As samples were collected they were
taken 27 m from the launch area, 1 m to the left of the
placed in precleaned, amber, straight wall jars. Each
first set. Additional sets of four samples were collected
jar was placed in a Ziploc bag and shipped to the labo-
8
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