Premium
An experimental study of solute transport in a stony field soil
Author(s) -
Schulin Rainer,
Genuchten Martinus Th.,
Flühler Hannes,
Ferlin Peter
Publication year - 1987
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/wr023i009p01785
Subject(s) - tracer , transect , soil science , hydrology (agriculture) , dispersion (optics) , bromide , chloride , sampling (signal processing) , geology , environmental science , mineralogy , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , physics , oceanography , organic chemistry , detector , nuclear physics , optics
The transport of two conservative tracers, bromide and chloride, was studied in a stony field soil under natural soil, vegetative, and climatic conditions. Small tracer pulses were applied evenly over the 94‐m 2 plot area in April 1982 (bromide) and October 1982 (chloride). A 15‐m‐long, 3‐m‐deep transect through the plot area was extensively sampled in May 1983, approximately 400 days after the bromide and 200 days after the chloride was applied. Tracer concentrations were obtained from 842 samples taken at 61 locations along the transect. Two‐dimensional contour plots of the data showed a relatively uniform displacement in the vertical direction, as well as a significant horizontal redistribution during the study period. The data were analyzed with the classical convection‐dispersion equation (CDE) and with a regional stochastic model that assumes logarithmic distributions of the pore water velocity and the dispersion coefficient across the field. Both models successfully described momentary field‐averaged concentration distributions but failed to predict observed concentration data in October 1984 when another, less intensive sampling was carried out. Pore water velocities could be estimated reasonably well with as few as five vertical sampling lines, whereas dispersion coefficients and solute loads required numerous additional samplings. A field scale dispersivity of about 8 cm was obtained for the CDE model. Between 75 and 130% of the applied tracers were recovered in 1982. The effects of sampling size (0.3 versus 3 kg dry soil weight) were found to be relatively small.