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Simulation of solute transport in a mountain pool‐and‐riffle stream with a kinetic mass transfer model for sorption
Author(s) -
Bencala Kenneth E.
Publication year - 1983
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/wr019i003p00732
Subject(s) - sorption , riffle , streams , kinetic energy , mass transfer , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , sediment , sediment transport , flow (mathematics) , strontium , soil science , geology , mechanics , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , computer network , organic chemistry , adsorption
In natural channels there are often long periods of low flow during which solutes have repeated opportunity for contact with relatively immobile bed materials. Such conditions can exist in very small pool‐and‐riffle mountain streams. If a solute can sorb onto bed materials, then both hydrodynamic and chemical processes control solute transport. A simulation of these processes is presented for a carefully controlled and intensively monitored strontium injection experiment. The numerical model couples nonreactive, transient storage with a kinetic mass transport model for sorption. The results are compared to both in‐stream and on‐sediment strontium measurements. In mountain streams the stream hydrology is complex and is governed by a wide variety of time and distance scales. The present simulations assist in interpreting the relative roles of hydrologic and sorptive kinetic processes, and indicate the practical limits of our process and parameter knowledge. The simulations are relatively insensitive to the details of the kinetic mechanisms and to the spatial variability of the stream parameters.