Appendix K - Tungsten Information - STATES

ABSTRACT
Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, is the first of three military installations studied to assess the
distribution of tungsten at small arms ranges. This study focused on three ranges at Camp
Edwards: Bravo, Charlie, and India. Tungsten was present in surface soils up to 2,080 mg/kg.
The highest observed concentrations of tungsten occur in bullet pockets and soil eroded from
the berm face. Tungsten concentrations decreased in surface soils away from the berm in the
following order: berm face, trough, target, range floor, and firing point. The concentration of
tungsten in surface soils at the firing point is similar to background levels; i.e., 1.5 mg/kg.
Tungsten levels in subsurface soils decreased with depth with an order of magnitude or more
decrease in concentration within the top 25 em. However, samples collected at 150 em still had
tungsten levels above background. Tension Iysimeters, installed into the primary berm face and
the trough area, had dissolved tungsten up to 400 mg/L. The 24 Iysimeters did not exhibit
consistent tungsten concentration trends and no trend was evident with depth. However, the
concentration levels on the range were significantly elevated as compared to background. The
mean tungsten concentration for Iysimeters installed in background locations is 0.09 mg/L and
ranged between 0.011 to 0.169 mg/L. One out of three monitoring wells sampled had tungsten.
Concentrations varied from 0.0044 to 0.56 mg/L in a monitoring well screened at the water
table, approximately 37 m below ground surface, and located 10m downgradient of the Bravo
Range primary berm face. A monitoring well located between Bravo and Charlie Ranges and
several hundred meters downgradient had no reportable tungsten nor did two background wells.