Soil pipe flow tracer experiments: 2. Application of a streamflow transient storage zone model

Soil pipes are important subsurface flow pathways in many soil erosion phenomena. However, limited research has been performed on quantifying and characterizing their flow and transport characteristics. The objectives of this research were to determine the applicability of a streamflow model with transient storage in deriving flow and transport characteristics of soil pipes. Tracer data from pulse inputs were collected in four different soil pipes after a fluorescein dye was injected in the upstream end of each soil pipe network in three branches (west, middle, and east) of a main catchment and a back catchment in Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed in Mississippi. Multiple sampling stations were positioned along each soil pipe network. The transient storage zone model OTIS‐P was executed inversely to estimate transport parameters by soil pipe reach such as the soil pipe cross‐sectional area (A), soil storage zone cross‐sectional area (A_s), and exchange rate between the soil pipe and the soil storage zone (α_s). Model convergence was achieved, and simulated breakthrough curves of the reaches were in good agreement with actual tracer data for eight of the nine reaches of the three branches of the Main Catchment and five of the seven reaches of the Back Catchment soil pipe. Simulation parameters for the soil pipe networks were similar to the range of values reported for flow and transport characteristics commonly observed in streams. Inversely, estimated soil pipe flow velocities were higher with increased tortuosity, which led to a smaller cross‐sectional areas predicted for the soil pipe flowpaths, while other parameters were not sensitive to tortuosity. In general, application of One‐Dimensional Transport with Inflow and Storage‐P to this unique soil pipe condition suggested larger transient storage (A_s and α_s) compared with most stream systems. This was hypothesized to be because of relatively higher ratio of the wetted perimeter to flow area in the soil pipe, the hydraulic roughness of the soil pipe, potential retention in collapsed portions of the pipe, and interaction with smaller preferential flow systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gas tracer transport through a heterogeneous fracture zone under two phase flow conditions: Model development and parameter sensitivity

Large amounts of gas can result from anaerobic corrosion of metals and from chemical and biological degradation of organic substances in underground repositories for radioactive waste. Gas generation may lead to the formation of a gas phase bubble and to the migration of radioactive gaseous species. Transport occurs in, at least, in two forms: (1) gas bubble, migration is controlled by advection, dispersion and diffusion in the gas phase, and (2) within water pockets, the dissolved species migrate mainly by diffusion. We consider a two-dimensional system representing an isolated heterogeneous fractured zone. A dipole gas flow field is generated and gas tracers are injected. The delay in the breakthrough curves is studied. A simple method is used to solve the gas species transport equations in multiphase conditions. This method is based on a formal analogy between the equations of gas transport in a two phase system and the equations of solute tracer transport in water saturated systems. We perform a sensitivity analysis to quantify the relevance of the various transport mechanisms. We find that gas tracer migration is very sensitive to gas tracer solubility, which affects gas tracer transport of both mobile and immobile zones, and shows high sensitivity to diffusion in the gas phase, to heterogeneity and to gas pressure, but the largest sensitivity was observed with respect to injection borehole properties, i.e. borehole volume and water filled fraction.     

Particle path characteristics at the large gravel‐bed river Danube: results from a tracer study and numerical modelling

A tracer study performed on a 3 km long reach of the Danube River in Austria is presented. Forty artificial stones of three different sizes (intermediate b‐axis: 25 mm, 40 mm, 70 mm) were produced and a coded radio acoustic transmitter was implanted. The measurement system had to be improved to be applicable to large rivers with water depths up to 12 m. The positions of the stones were observed approximately once a week, depending on hydrology, over a period of at least one year by radio‐tracking from a boat, including a 15 year flood event. Transport paths and velocities, as well as the incipient motion of bedload transport, could be monitored for the first time on a large gravel‐bed river. The particle paths were found to be mostly bankline‐parallel, even though the stones passed a 30° river bend. The median of the transverse particle displacement was found to be 4% of the longitudinal displacement. Calculations considering both transverse slope and transverse flow velocities showed transverse transport to be 6·6% of the longitudinal transport indicating that marginal lateral transport is mainly influenced by morphology. A three‐dimensional (3D) numerical model using a stochastic particle tracing approach was validated with the data, indicating that the observed positions are well reproduced by the model. Within the observation period, 74% of all stones passed the reach. With more than 1000 detections, particle transport could be characterized by a mean travel velocity of about 10 m per day (variable for the different grain sizes); single tracer stones were transported up to 1000 m during a single flood event. Size‐selective behaviour could be shown and the incipient motion of the large 70 mm gravel was detected at lower discharges than predicted by commonly used uniform bedload transport formulae. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantifying the effect of a freeze–thaw cycle on soil erosion: laboratory experiments

In this paper we quantitatively test the hypothesis that soil freeze–thaw (FT) processes significantly increase the potential for upland hillslope erosion during run‐off events that follow thaw. We selected a highly frost‐susceptible silt to obtain an upper bound on FT effects, and completed three series of six experiments each to quantify differences in soil erosion and rill development in a bare soil following a single FT cycle. Each series represented a specific soil moisture range: 16–18 per cent, 27–30 per cent and 37–40 per cent by volume, with nominal flow rates of 0·4, 1·2 and 2·4 L/min and slopes of 8° and 15°. Each experiment used two identical soil bins: one a control (C) that remained unfrozen, and another that was frozen and thawed once. Standard soil characterization tests did not detect significant differences between the FT and C bins. We measured cross‐sectional geometry of an imposed straight rectangular rill before each experiment, sediment load during and rill cross‐sections after. Changes in cross section provided detailed measures of erosion at specific locations, while sediment load from time series run‐off samples integrated the rill erosion. Several parameters, including average maximum rill width, average maximum rill depth, rill cross‐section depth measures and sediment load, all followed similar trends. Each was greater in the FT than in the C, with values that generally increased with slope and flow. However, soil moisture was the only parameter that affected the FT/C ratios. Average sediment load grouped by soil moisture provided FT/C ratios of 2·4, 3·0 and 5·0 for low, mid and high moisture, respectively. In contrast, a ‘dry’ experiment at 4–5 per cent soil moisture had FT/C of 1·02 for sediment load. These results show a dramatic increase with soil moisture in the rate and quantity of bare soil eroded due to the FT cycle. As both FT and C results were highly sensitive to initial conditions, minimum differences in soil weight, bulk density and soil moisture through each series of experiments were required to achieve consistent results, indicating that rill erosion may be chaotic. Published in 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lateral water flux in the unsaturated zone: A mechanism for the formation of spatial soil heterogeneity in a headwater catchment

Measurements of soil water potential and water table fluctuations suggest that morphologically distinct soils in a headwater catchment at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire formed as a result of variations in saturated and unsaturated hydrologic fluxes in the mineral soil. Previous work showed that each group of these soils had distinct water table fluctuations in response to precipitation; however, observed variations in soil morphology also occurred above the maximum height of observed saturation. Variations in unsaturated fluxes have been hypothesized to explain differences in soil horizon thickness and presence/absence of specific horizons but have not been explicitly investigated. We examined tensiometer and shallow groundwater well records to identify differences in unsaturated water fluxes among podzols that show distinct morphological and chemical differences. The lack of vertical hydraulic gradients at the study sites suggests that lateral unsaturated flow occurs in several of the soil units. We propose that the variations in soil horizon thickness and presence/absence observed at the site are due in part to slope‐parallel water flux in the unsaturated portion of the solum. In addition, unsaturated flow may be involved in the translocation of spodic material that primes those areas to contribute water with distinct chemistry to the stream network and represents a potential source/sink of organometallic compounds in the landscape.     

Hillslope erosion in a grassland environment: Calibration and evaluation of the SIBERIA landscape evolution model

Field measurement and modelling of soil erosion provides insights into landscape systems as well as the potential for enhanced landscape management. There are a number of field and numerical methods by which soil erosion and deposition can be quantified. Here we examine the capability of the SIBERIA landscape evolution model to quantify short-term erosion and deposition on a well-managed cattle grazing landscape on the east coast of Australia. The model is calibrated by two methods (1) a geomorphological approach using a site digital elevation model (DEM) and soil data and (2) a laboratory-scale flume. The two calibration processes resulted in similar model input parameters and estimated erosion rates of 3.1 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ and 4.4 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively. These were found to closely match erosion rates estimated using the environmental tracer ¹³⁷Cs (2.7–4.8 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹). However, erosion and deposition estimated at individual points along the hillslope was not well correlated with ¹³⁷Cs at the same position due to the temporal averaging of the model and microtopography. Sensitivity analysis showed the model was more sensitive to parameterisation than sub-DEM-scale topography. This places confidence in the model's ability to estimate erosion and deposition across an entire hillslope and catchment on decadal time scales. We also highlight the robustness and flexibility of the calibration methods.     

High frequency S wave envelope synthesis using a multiple nonisotropic scattering model: application to aftershocks from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Based on the formulation of a multiple non-isotropic scattering process, a characteristic source time is introduced to define the initial impulse width of energy density at the source. An analytical expression of the initial intensity spectral density of a seismic wave is incorporated into the integral equation of seismic wave energy density. And, a recursive formula of Green’s function is derived to obtain the higher order Green’s function, which is included to describe the stronger non-isotropic scattering process. Then, the effect of the scattering pattern on the energy density envelope is investigated by the modified scattering theory. Significant differences are found in the decay of the energy density envelopes with distances using different scattering patterns. The envelope synthesized by the forward dominated scattering pattern is larger than the results obtained by the isotropic and backward dominated scattering pattern. Different scattering patterns are also used to fit the observation data from the aftershocks of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. It is concluded that the envelopes synthesized by the forward scattering pattern can match the data better than the isotropic and backward dominated scattering cases, and a new interpretation of the coda wave is given. Finally, using the forward dominated scattering pattern, the envelope broadening of the observed data is reproduced.