In situ formation of reactive barriers for pollution control

A reactive barrier formation method comprising:

• identifying a quantity of minerals in the subsurface;
• delivering a quantity of an oxidizing agent into the subsurface to oxidize the identified minerals,
• wherein the quantity of delivered oxidizing agent is sufficient to oxidize the identified minerals to form a reactive barrier of oxidized soil material,
• the reactive barrier comprising a sufficient quantity of oxidized soil material to reduce the level of a soil contaminate migrating through the barrier to an acceptable level.

A method for preventing the spread of soil pollution comprising:

• identifying a site of soil contamination wherein the soil is contaminated by at least one soil contaminate susceptible to degradation to benign products by reaction with an oxidant;
• determining a direction of contaminate migration;
• injecting an oxidizing agent into the ground in the path of the contaminate migration;
• reacting the injected oxidizing agent with a naturally occurring soil component to form a treatment barrier of the oxidized naturally occurring soil material;
• the treatment barrier being formed of a sufficient quantity of oxidized soil material to reduce the quantity of the soil contaminate migrating through the barrier to an acceptable level before the soil contaminate leaves the barrier.

A reactive barrier formation method comprising:

• positioning one or more reagent delivery tubes in subsurface contact with a soil;
• supplying an oxidizing reactive reagent to the soil through the tube;
• reacting the oxidizing reactive reagent with a naturally occurring component of the soil to form a reactive barrier;
• the reactive barrier reacting with soil contaminates migrating into the barrier to reduce the level of soil contaminates migrating through the barrier to acceptable levels.