Transport of a conservative solute through a shallow pond bottom

Conference · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:7242865

Long, R H; Benson, S; Alavi, M; Narasimhan, T N

A field experiment has been performed in an evaporation pond at Kesterson Reservoir, Merced County, California, aimed at determining average solute fluxes through pond sediments and at estimating the magnitude and degree of spatial variability of water and solute transport properties. Kesterson Reservoir, a series of shallow ponds located at the terminus of the San Luis Drain, became the object of intense public interest and scientific investigation after it was discovered in 1983 that the disposal of irrigation drain waters bearing hazardous levels of a naturally occurring element, selenium, was having serious environmental effects on plant and animal life. The primary focus of the experiment was to gain insight into the mechanism of selenium migration and immobilization. As a first step in analyzing the selenium migration data, permeability and apparent dispersion coefficient values were obtained through the history-matching of breakthrough curves of a conservative solute, chloride, at 40 sampling locations within 5 sites throughout a 40-ha (100-acre) cell following pond-flooding. Chloride occurring naturally throughout the soil profile was utilized in a modeling effort as a conservative tracer under conditions of transient flow, and a deterministic one-dimensional fluid flow and transport mathematical model employing the integrated finite difference method (IFDM) was employed in the effort. 29 refs., 9 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 7242865
• Report Number(s): LBL-25217; CONF-8804135-1; ON: DE88010883
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CALIFORNIA
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION IX
FLOW RATE
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SEDIMENTS
SELENIUM
SEMIMETALS
SOILS
SOLUTES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WATER
WATER RESERVOIRS