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Application of a continuous‐flow centrifugation method for solute transport in disturbed, unsaturated sediments and illustration of mobile‐immobile water
Author(s) -
Gamerdinger A. P.,
Kaplan D. I.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2000wr900063
Subject(s) - loam , soil science , saturation (graph theory) , compaction , water content , centrifuge , moisture , flume , water flow , silt , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , geotechnical engineering , environmental science , flow (mathematics) , soil water , materials science , mechanics , geomorphology , mathematics , physics , combinatorics , nuclear physics , composite material
A centrifuge method was adapted for evaluating solute transport during steady state flow. Solute breakthrough curves were obtained on three sediment types at average water contents ranging from 14 to 84% moisture saturation. Interruptions in flow for sampling, a potential limitation of the method, had no apparent effect on breakthrough curves for the tracers and conditions evaluated. Compaction was observed for a silt loam sediment but was not observed for fine and coarse sand sediments. Regions of immobile water developed with decreasing moisture saturation; these results extend the range of previous reports. The continuum from a single to a multiregion flow domain was illustrated, and a modeling approach for estimating dispersion and mobile‐immobile water parameters was applied. The fraction of immobile water ranged from 48 to 80%; solute velocity in the mobile domain was up to fivefold greater than the average pore water velocity.