A numerical technique for simulation of the effect of soil nitrogen transport and transformations on groundwater contamination

Two numerical models, one for the vadose zone and the other for the aquifer system, are utilized to predict nitrate pollution potential in groundwater. Transport by dispersion and convection of mobile species of nitrogen, ammonium ion exchange, first order nitrogen transformations, and nitrogen plant uptake are included in the formulation for the vadose zone. Transport of nitrate in the aquifer is assumed to be affected only by dispersion-convection phenomena. Justifications for one-dimensional conceptualization of flow in the vadose zone and two-dimensional representation for the aquifer, under various field conditions, are presented. To illustrate the concept, a simple hypothetical problem is solved. The approach presented here provides an efficient means of long-term simulation of large-scale field problems.