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Simple analytical solutions for oxygen transfer into anaerobic groundwater
Author(s) -
Liu Sanheng,
Liedl Rudolf,
Grathwohl Peter
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2009wr008434
Subject(s) - groundwater , oxygen , aquifer , water table , flux (metallurgy) , capillary fringe , simple (philosophy) , diffusion , groundwater pollution , chemistry , groundwater model , mass transfer , groundwater flow , mechanics , thermodynamics , environmental science , physics , geology , geotechnical engineering , chromatography , philosophy , organic chemistry , epistemology
The oxygen flux from the atmosphere into aquifers plays a key role for the biodegradation of organic solutes in groundwater and changing the water chemistry in general. In this paper, simple analytical solutions for the reactive transport of oxygen into groundwater are derived and compared to numerical models. The oxygen transfer is described analogous to diffusion into a semi‐infinite domain with instantaneous reaction. We assume the capillary fringe does not exist and the concentration of oxygen is constant at the water table. Steady state analytical solutions are derived for the oxygen flux and for the concentration profiles of the reactants and products that could be volatile and nonvolatile. The simple approach is validated with numerical simulations. We can show that the analytical solutions agree very well with the numerical model. On the basis of this finding, simple analytical solutions can be used to calculate the depth of oxidation fronts in groundwater and the reactive transport of oxygen into groundwater.