Solute transport through large uniform and layered soil columns

Journal Article · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Water Resources Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/92WR02528· OSTI ID:6244850

Porro, I; Hills, R G ^[1]; Wierenga, P J ^[2]

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1. New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces (United States)
2. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson (United States)

The transport of chemicals in real situations usually takes place in heterogenous soils, unlike laboratory scale experiments, which usually use homogenous, repacked soils in small columns. This experiment was conducted to compare solute transport through uniform and layered soils. The convection-dispersion equation was fit to observed breakthrough curves for tritium, bromide and chloride in uniform and layered 6-m columns. When fitted, the equation provided a reasonable prediction of the overall trend of the observed breakthrough curves in the layered column but only in the upper half of the uniform soil column. This supports the thesis that a uniform soil model can approximate solute transport through layered soils if the length scales of the layers are small relative to the prediction scales and if the transport properties are appropriately chosen. Dispersivities were greater in the uniform column than in the layered column. Dispersion coefficients appeared to be unrelated to depth in both column for the tracers considered. Calibration of the convection-dispersion equation at a shallow depth adequately predicted solute breakthrough at the largest depth in the uniform column, but not in the layered column.

• OSTI ID: 6244850
• Journal Information: Water Resources Research; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resources Research; (United States) Vol. 29:4; ISSN WRERAQ; ISSN 0043-1397
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CALIBRATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONVECTION
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVALUATION
HEAT TRANSFER
HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS
HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURES
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MIXTURES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
SOILS
SOLUTES
TRITIUM
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES