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Solute transport through large uniform and layered soil columns
Author(s) -
Porro I.,
Wierenga P. J.,
Hills R. G.
Publication year - 1993
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 - 10.1029/92wr02528
Subject(s) - loam , soil water , retardation factor , dispersion (optics) , hydraulic conductivity , bromide , groundwater , soil science , materials science , mineralogy , geology , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , chromatography , column chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , optics
Solute transport experiments are often conducted with homogeneous soils, whereas transport in real situations takes place in heterogeneous soils. An experiment was conducted to compare unsaturated solute transport through uniform and layered soils. Pulse inputs of tritiated water, bromide and chloride were applied under steady flow conditions to the tops of two large (0.95 m diameter by 6 m deep) soil columns. One column was uniformly filled with loamy fine sand and the other filled with alternating 20‐cm‐thick layers of loamy fine sand and silty clay loam. Soil solution samples were collected during the experiment with suction candles installed at various depths in the columns. Solute transport parameters were estimated by fitting the convection‐dispersion equation to the observed breakthrough curves for each solute at various depths in each column. The match between the resulting calibrated curves and the experiment was better for the layered soil column than for the uniform soil column. The results displayed no clear relationship between the dispersion coefficients and depth for any of the tracers for either column. However, dispersivities were greater in the uniform column (3.5 cm) than in the layered column (1.2 cm), while retardation factors for bromide and chloride were similar (0.8 and 0.83, respectively, for the uniform and layered columns). A retardation factor less than one is attributed to anion exclusion. There was evidence of preferential flow in the uniform soil column. The peak concentrations at 5 m depth were greater than those observed at 4 m. Such behavior is inconsistent with one‐dimensional flow. Similar results were observed in an experiment performed 3.5 years earlier using the same soil column and approximately the same flow rates, but using a different tracer and associated chemical analysis, different soil saturation prior to the execution of the experiment, and different experimental personnel. This supports the thesis that the anomalous behavior is due to some form of preferential flow rather than due to experimental error.