A Simple Model of Soil-Gas Concentrations Sparged into an Unlined Unsaturated Zone

We derive an analytical model of soil-gas contamination sparged into an imlined unsaturated zone. A nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) source lies in the capillary fringe, with an exponential sparge constant within the radius of influence and a constant ambient evaporation rate beyond. Advection, diffusion, and dispersion govern the conservative soil-gas response, expressed as a quasi-steady series solution with radial Bessel and hyperbolic vertical dependence. Simulations suggest that sparged contamination initially spreads beyond the radius of influence down a negative gradient. This gradient eventually reverses, leading to a subsequent influx of ambient contamination. Soil-gas concentrations accordingly reflect slowly varying source conditions as well as slowly varying diffusive transport through the radius of influence. The two time scales are independent: One depends on NAPL, airflow, and capillary fringe characteristics, the other on soil moisture, gaseous diffusivity, and unsaturated zone thickness. The influx of ambient contamination generates an asymptotic soil-gas concentration much less than the initial source concentration. The simple model is applied to a pilot-scale sparging study at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate New York, with physically plausible results.     

Percolation and Particle Transport in the Unsaturated Zone of a Karst Aquifer

Recharge and contamination of karst aquifers often occur via the unsaturated zone, but the functioning of this zone has not yet been fully understood. Therefore, irrigation and tracer experiments, along with monitoring of rainfall events, were used to examine water percolation and the transport of solutes, particles, and fecal bacteria between the land surface and a water outlet into a shallow cave. Monitored parameters included discharge, electrical conductivity, temperature, organic carbon, turbidity, particle-size distribution (PSD), fecal indicator bacteria, chloride, bromide, and uranine. Percolation following rainfall or irrigation can be subdivided into a lag phase (no response at the outlet), a piston-flow phase (release of epikarst storage water by pressure transfer), and a mixed-flow phase (increasing contribution of freshly infiltrated water), starting between 20 min and a few hours after the start of recharge event. Concerning particle and bacteria transport, results demonstrate that (1) a first turbidity signal occurs during increasing discharge due to remobilization of particles from fractures (pulse-through turbidity); (2) a second turbidity signal is caused by direct particle transfer from the soil (flow-through turbidity), often accompanied by high levels of fecal indicator bacteria, up to 17,000 Escherichia coli /100 mL; and (3) PSD allows differentiation between the two types of turbidity. A relative increase of fine particles (0.9 to 1.5 μm) coincides with microbial contamination. These findings help quantify water storage and percolation in the epikarst and better understand contaminant transport and attenuation. The use of PSD as "early-warning parameter" for microbial contamination in karst water is confirmed.     

Analytical Solutions for Water Flow and Solute Transport in the Unsaturated Zone

Analytical solutions for the water flow and solute transport equations in the unsaturated zone are presented. We use the Broadbridge and White nonlinear model to solve the Richards’ equation for vertical flow under a constant infiltration rate. Then we extend the water flow solution and develop an exact parametric solution for the advection-dispersion equation. The method of characteristics is adopted to determine the location of a solute front in the unsaturated zone. The dispersion component is incorporated into the final solution using a singular perturbation method. The formulation of the analytical solutions is simple, and a complete solution is generated without resorting to computationally demanding numerical schemes. Indeed, the simple analytical solutions can be used as tools to verify the accuracy of numerical models of water flow and solute transport. Comparison with a finite-element numerical solution indicates that a good match for the predicted water content is achieved when the mesh grid is one-fourth the capillary length scale of the porous medium. However, when numerically solving the solute transport equation at this level of discretization, numerical dispersion and spatial oscillations were significant.     

Imaging the Underground Coal Gasification Zone with Microgravity Surveys

The paper describes results of microgravity measurements made on the surface over an underground geo reactor where experimental coal gasification was performed in a shallow seam of coal. The aim of the research was to determine whether, and to what extent, the microgravity method can be used to detect and image a coal gasification zone, especially caverns where the coal was burnt out. In theory, the effects of coal gasification process create caverns and cracks, e.g., zones of altered bulk density. Before the measurements, theoretical density models of completely and partially gasified coal were analysed. Results of the calculations of gravity field response showed that in both cases on the surface over the gasification zone there should be local gravimetric anomalies. Over the geo reactor, two series of gravimetric measurements prior to and after gasification were conducted. Comparison of the results of two measurement series revealed the presence of gravimetric anomalies that could be related to the cavern formation process. Data from these measurements were used to verify theoretical models. After the experiment, a small cavern was detected at the depth of the coal seam by the test borehole drilled in one of the anomalous areas.     

Practical Application of Theoretical Models to Magnetometer Surveys on Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites — A Case History

Wastes were to be exhumed and removed from a hazardous and chemical waste disposal site. The major disposal practice was shallow burial of wastes in metal drums in parallel trenches. The actual boundaries of the trenches beneath the landscaped cover were not accurately known.
Theoretical two-dimensional models were used to evaluate the application of magnetic methods to define trench boundaries on the disposal site. The models predicted that both the total field and the vertical component anomalies were diagnostic; however, the vertical component anomaly was more focused on the trench boundaries.
A survey with a vertical component fluxgate magnetometer was successful in defining trench boundaries. Observations made along traverses that trended perpendicular to the long axis of the parallel trenches indicated vertical magnetic intensity values with a cyclical pattern of large positive values over trenches and large negative values over intertrench corridors. Vertical magnetic intensity values determined with theoretical two-dimensional models compared favorably to the observed vertical magnetic values. The models were used to constrain the interpretation of the field observations to define trench boundaries; the magnetic survey defined trench boundaries with an accuracy within ± 2 feet.     

Interpretation of VLF Resistivity Data for Ground Water Contamination Surveys

Very low frequency (VLF) military communications systems provide a primary field that can be used for shallow geophysical surveys to locate ground water contamination and vertical geologic contacts. Useful properties that can be easily obtained from the interaction of the earth and the primary field are the magnitude of the vertical secondary magnetic field, the surface impedence, and the phase angle between the electrical and magnetic horizontal components. The variations in the secondary magnetic field can be related to vertical geologic contacts, such as the edges of landfill trenches. The surface impedence yields an apparent terrain conductivity, which can be used to locate low-resistivity anomalies often associated with contaminated ground water. The phase angle gives information on vertical variations in resistivity, phase angles less than 45° indicating increasing resistivity with depth. The depth of penetration of the VLF field is about one skin depth. For a frequency of 20 kHz, the skin depth in meters is approximately equal to 3.67 where p is terrain resistivity in ohmmeters.     

Hydraulic Conductivity Measurements in the Unsaturated Zone Using Improved Well Analyses

The flow of ponded water into and through the unsaturated zone depends on both the saturated and unsaturated components of the hydraulic conductivity. Recent studies indicate that the ratio of the saturated (K_fs) to the unsaturated (φ_m) components (K_fs/φ_m=α*) of flow lies within prescribed bounds for most field soils, i.e., 1m⁻¹≤α*≤ 100 m⁻¹. In addition, the fact that the calculation of K_fs and φ_m is not strongly dependent on the choice of α*, suggests that a site estimation of α* leads to reasonable "best estimates" of K_fs and φ_m when using the constant head well permeameter technique. As a consequence, measurement of the steady flow rate using only one ponded head may be all that is necessary for many practical applications. Multiple head measurements or independent measurements of α* or φ_m can be used, however, to give more accurate estimates of K_fs if required.