Prediction of the movement of perchlor0ethylene in soil columns

Many toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are being released to the soil through improper waste disposal practices, industrial impoundments, landfills and accidental spills during transport and handling. Once released, the VOCs migrate toward the groundwater and cause contamination. One of the most frequently found VOCs in groundwater supplies is perchloroethylene (PCE). In this study an attempt was made to investigate the transport of PCE in two types of soil. PCE spills were created on soil columns in the laboratory and column breakthrough theory was used to analyze the data. Empirical equations were used to calibrate a contaminant transport model. The programs for this simple model have been prepared for use with IBM microcomputers and are capable to predicting the breakthrough time and concentration of PCE at various depths in the profile.     

Simulation of chromium transport in the unsaturated zone for predicting contaminant entries into the groundwater

Heavy metal contaminations in the top‐soil layers can impose serious threats to groundwater quality. A seepage water prognosis of probable future contaminant entries at the groundwater surface has to take into account the emission characteristics of the source zone and the reactive transport of the contaminated leachate through the unsaturated zone. Here, a possible approach is presented, exemplarily for a site contaminated with chromium, encompassing batch elution experiments, unsaturated soil column leaching experiments with flow interruption, soil monolith lysimeter experiments, and numerical modeling of non‐equilibrium solute transport. The prognosis provides a long‐term prediction of Cr concentrations at the groundwater surface. It must be emphasized, that the modeling results are uncertain, because several of the parameters in the simulations can be determined only with significant errors. Additionally, the approach is not applicable routinely for every hazardous waste site. Our study reveals, however, that reactive contaminants can possibly reach the groundwater at hazardous concentrations within very short time.     

土壤性质对砂土亚表层磷迁移的影响

The soil factors influencing the potential migration of dissolved and particulate phosphorus （P） from structurallyweak sandy subsoils were evaluated by means of soil column leaching experiments. Soil colloids were extracted from two types of soils to make the colloid-bound forms of P solution. Eight sandy soils with diverse properties were collected for packing soil columns. The effects of influent solutions varying in concentrations of colloids, P, and electrolyte, on the transport of P and quality of leachates were characterized. P migration in the soils was soil property-dependent. High soil electrical conductivity values retarded the mobility of colloids and transportability of colloid-associated P （particulate P）. Soil electrical conductivity was negatively correlated with colloids and reactive particulate P （RPP） concentrations in the leachates, whereas, the total reactive P （TRP） and dissolved reactive P （DRP） concentrations in the leachates were mainly controlled by the P adsorption capacity and the P levels in the subsoil. The reactive particulate P in the leachates was positively correlated with the colloidal concentration. Increased colloidal concentration in the influent could significantly increase the colloidal concentration in the leachates. Elevated P concentration in the influent had little effect on P recovery in the leachates, but it resulted in significant increases in the absolute P concentration in the leachates.     

Wasserhaushalt mineralischer Deponiebasisabdichtungen unter dem Einfluß von Temperaturgradienten

Moisture flow in mineral landfill liners under temperature gradients In order to assess the risk of desiccation and cracking of the mineral bottom liner (without plastic liner) of a seven years old warm landfill, water contents were measured and soil hydraulic parameters determined in the lab. No cracks were visible, and a desiccation could not be proven due to the high spatial heterogeneity of the liner. Studies with a newly developed numerical model of coupled moisture and heat transport show that mineral liners might only crack if a plastic liner or very dry waste obstruct the temperature induced vapor transport from the waste to the mineral liner. Whether desiccation occurs under these conditions depends on the distance to groundwater and on the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity functions of the mineral liner and the subsurface. Simulations with unsaturated hydraulic conductivity functions that have been determined by different methods indicate that a new standard method to determine the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of dense clayey substrates is necessary.     

Emission of groundwater‐derived nitrous oxide into the atmosphere: model simulations based on a 15N field experiment

Indirect emissions of the major greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O) occurring from aquatic ecosystems are considered to be a highly uncertain component in the global N₂O budget. In this study, we investigated the fate of N₂O produced by denitrification in a sandy shallow aquifer in northern Germany. The experimental data from a previous ¹⁵N field study and site‐specific diffusion coefficients were used to simulate upward fluxes of groundwater‐derived (¹⁵N‐)N₂O in the soil as well as its ultimate emission into the atmosphere. The one‐dimensional simulation model considered gas diffusion and gas retardation by dissolution in the water phase. The modelled concentration gradients and emissions were in good agreement with the experimental data, indicating that diffusion was the dominant transport process in the soil, and that our model approach was thus suitable for simulating N₂O fluxes from the unsaturated zone to the atmosphere. Furthermore, the results revealed that there was no evidence for consumption of ¹⁵N‐N₂O during upward diffusion from the surface groundwater to the atmosphere. Simulated concentrations and emissions of groundwater‐derived N₂O were found to be very small and a negligible component of total N₂O.     

Risks due to groundwater contamination at a plutonium processing facility

The specter of contaminated groundwater looms over industrialized, suburban, and rural areas. The sources of groundwater contamination are many and the contaminants numerous. Historical waste disposal practices pose the greatest threat to groundwater in the United States. Common solvents such as trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethane, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride have been found in widespread areas. For this study, a risk assessment is performed using a multimedia environmental transport model to estimate public risk from a contaminated groundwater plume. From 1955 to 1973, a crib above the groundwater plume was used for the disposal of plutonium processing waste. The plume contains chemical and radioactive wastes that could pose a health threat to people living in the vicinity of the site. Remedial designs are selected for remediating the different contaminants in the groundwater plume through a multiple phase treatment process. This study evaluates: baseline health risks to the public, health risk reduction to the public as a result of the remedial activities, health risk to the workers directly involved in cleaning up the site, and costs associated with each remedial activity.     

不饱和土壤中可溶性甲醇迁移过程模拟

A combined model of solute transport and water flow was developed to simulate the migration of methanol, a soluble organic chemical, in unsaturated soil zone. The solute transport equation considered convective-dispersive transport in the liquid phase as well as diffusion in the gas phase. The effect of rainfall and evapotranspiration on transport was considered at the boundary conditions of the governing equations. Data on the characteristics of a loam soil and the climatic conditions in southern California were also introduced to compare the results with those from a study in the USA in which the profiles of methanol distribution and water content in the soil zone at different times had been depicted. This comparison showed that there was good agreement between the two studies. The results showed that methanol contamination reached a depth of about 250 cm after 8 760 h. In contrast, if rainfall and evapotranspiration were not considered, the depth was only about 140 cm. The model therefore confirmed that rainfall strongly affected solute transport.     

Processes in Pathogenic Biocolloidal Contaminants Transport in Saturated and Unsaturated Porous Media: A Review

There are several classes of subsurface colloids, abiotic and biotic. Basically, small particles of inorganic, organic and pathogenic biocolloids variety exist in natural subsurface system. Transport of these pathogenic biocolloidal contaminants (Viruses, bacteria and protozoa) pose a great risk in water resources and have caused large outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Biocolloid transport processes through saturated and unsaturated porous media is of significant interest, from the perspective of protection of groundwater supplies from contamination, assessment of risk from pathogens in groundwater and for the design of better water treatment systems to remove biocolloids from drinking water supplies This paper has reviewed the large volume of work that has already been done and the progress that has been made towards understanding the various basic multi-processes to predicting the biocolloid transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media. There are several basic processes such as physical, chemical and biological processes which are important in biocolloid transport. The physical processes such as advection, dispersion, diffusion, straining and physical filtration, adsorption and biological processes such as growth/decay processes and include active adhesion/detachment, survival and chemotaxis are strongly affected on biocolloid transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media. The unsaturated zone may play an important role in protecting aquifers from biocolloidal contamination by retaining them in the solid phase during their transport through the zone. Finally, author here highlighted the future research direction based on his critical review on biocolloid transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media.     

Prediction of Vertical DNAPL Vapour Fluxes in Soils Using Quasi-Analytical Approaches: Bias Related to Density-Driven and Pressure-Gradient-Induced Advection

This study focuses on a detailed analysis of the errors introduced by two quasi-analytical approaches based on either Fick??s first law or a combination of Fick??s and Darcy??s laws to evaluate the vapour flux of chlorinated solvents from a source zone located in the unsaturated zone towards the atmosphere. A coupled one-dimensional numerical flow and transport model was developed and applied to three case studies characterised by different water content profiles in the vadose zone and under different levels of maximum dense nonaqueous-phase liquid vapour concentrations and vapour pressure conditions of the source zone. The steady-state concentration and pressure profiles obtained were then used in the two quasi-analytical approaches to estimate the flux towards the atmosphere. When mass fluxes due to density-driven advection become dominant and the vertical advective mass fluxes are increased due to strong pressure gradients in the soil air, the error was observed to increase when using the pure diffusion approach in the quantification of the surface flux calculated by the numerical model with increasing dimensionless Rayleigh numbers. Without taking into account the advective transport in the approach, the relative error calculated with only Fick??s law overestimates the real vapour flux when density-driven advection is dominant and underestimates it when pressure-gradient-driven advection dominates. The more advanced advective?Cdiffusive quasi-analytical approach fits reasonably well with the numerically obtained mass fluxes except near soil layer discontinuities, where the evaluation of both the concentration gradient and pressure gradient in the porous media as well as the determination of the average effective diffusion coefficients are rendered more difficult.     

Prediction of Contaminants Migration at Unlined Landfill Sites in an Arid Climate – a Case Study

Landfilling of municipal solid waste (MSW) is associated with the generation of leachate that is highly contaminated. Contaminant migration from disposal areas to groundwater poses a threat to the environment and the human health. This study examined the contaminant migration at a landfill site in Kuwait. The migration characteristics of contaminants were analyzed using advanced computing systems to predict the long-term plume concentration in underlying soils and aquifers located directly below the final waste layer. Mathematical models of contaminant migration were applied to existing landfill sites using MIGRATEv9 computer program to illustrate the scope and extent of soil and water contamination. Two main cases were modeled as follows: (1) water table is deep below landfill and (2) water table is rising into the landfill. The models included advective-dispersion, and buried landfills systems. The comparison between models results suggested that vertical Darcy velocity had a significant impact on migration behavior of contaminants. The concentration was increased by 24.5% by increasing the vertical Darcy velocity from 0.005 to 0.009 m/year. Advection–dispersion models and water rising models with fixed top boundary and aquifer bottom boundary at 2 and 3.5 m showed almost the same migration behavior. In addition, models of buried landfill system where water table was 5 m from ground surface produced a maximum contaminant concentration of 17 630 mg/L after 25 years at 5 m depth.     

Small lateral air pressure gradients generated by a large chamber system have a strong effect on CO2 transport in soil

Gas transport in soils is usually assumed to be purely diffusive, although several studies have shown that non-diffusive processes can significantly enhance soil gas transport. These processes include barometric air pressure changes, wind-induced pressure pumping and static air pressure fields generated by wind interacting with obstacles. The associated pressure gradients in the soil can cause advective gas fluxes that are much larger than diffusive fluxes. However, the contributions of the respective transport processes are difficult to separate. We developed a large chamber system to simulate pressure fields and investigate their influence on soil gas transport. The chamber consists of four subspaces in which pressure is regulated by fans that blow air in or out of the chamber. With this setup, we conducted experiments with oscillating and static pressure fields. CO₂ concentrations were measured along two soil profiles beneath the chamber. We found a significant relationship between static lateral pressure gradients and the change in the CO₂ profiles (R² = 0.53; p-value <2e-16). Even small pressure gradients between −1 and 1 Pa relative to ambient pressure resulted in an increase or decrease in CO₂ concentrations of 8% on average in the upper soil, indicating advective flow of air in the pore space. Positive pressure gradients resulted in decreasing, negative pressure gradients in increasing CO₂ concentrations. The concentration changes were probably caused by an advective flow field in the soil beneath the chamber generated by the pressure gradients. No effect of oscillating pressure fields was observed in this study. The results indicate that static lateral pressure gradients have a substantial impact on soil gas transport and therefore are an important driver of gas exchange between soil and atmosphere. Lateral pressure gradients in a comparable range can be induced under windy conditions when wind interacts with terrain features. They can also be caused by chambers used for flux measurements at high wind speed or by fans used for head-space mixing within the chambers, which yields biased flux estimates.     

地表水-地下水交互下傍河土壤硝酸盐氮迁移规律试验研究

为了研究地表水与地下水不同补给关系下硝酸盐氮在傍河农田的迁移规律,选取大沽河河床沙样作为沙槽试验介质,设计地表水与地下水相互补给装置,模拟无补给、地表水补给地下水和地下水补给地表水3种方式下硝酸盐氮在土壤中的迁移,通过测定各取样点硝酸盐氮含量和到达时间,分析了其迁移规律。结果表明:纯淋洗实验中,淋洗强度与沙样颗粒越小,硝酸盐氮在表层沙中的累积越明显,硝酸盐氮的迁移也越慢。地表水与地下水相互补给试验中,补给水位上升,硝酸盐氮的积累量增加、迁移到饱水带的时间缩短;补给水力坡度为0.5时,硝酸盐氮在细沙饱水带中迁移速度约为5.3 cm/min;水力坡度变为0.7时,迁移速度约为9.4 cm/min;补给水力坡度为0.5时,硝酸盐氮在中沙饱水带的迁移速度约为12.3 cm/min。硝酸盐氮在包气带中的积累量随着沙层深度的增加而减少;淋洗强度、水力坡度及沙样颗粒越大,硝酸盐氮在包气带和饱水带中的迁移速度越快;补给水位越高,硝酸盐氮迁移至饱水带的时间越短。     

固体废物处理厂地下水污染预测及控制模拟

[目的]以江苏省镇江市新区大港片区某固体废物处理厂为研究对象,对地下水污染情况进行模拟研究,为同类建设项目及企业的地下水污染预测和防治提供参考。[方法]通过系统分析该固体废物处理厂野外水位和水质观测数据以及水文地质条件等资料,利用Visual Modflow软件构建了地下水水流和溶质运移模型。[结果]对厂区污水处理站防渗破损后特征污染物CODMn和氨氮运移情况以及地表硬化污染控制措施对污染物的阻隔效果进行预测评价,数值模拟预测污染物的影响范围、超标范围和最大运移距离。预测时间20a后,污染物影响范围最大,运移距离最远,且CODMn影响范围较氨氮大,运移距离较远;地表硬化后,20a后污染羽未超出评价范围。[结论]污染物主要沿水流方向迁移,对水环境的影响随时间逐渐增大,污染物浓度随着迁移距离的增加而减小,不同污染物在地下水含水层中的溶质运移范围和迁移距离不同。地表硬化措施能有效控制污染物扩散。     

Impact of drilling waste pollution on land cover in a high subarctic forest-tundra zone

Global climate changes can lead to the destruction of the permafrost zone and contribute to the active transfer of pollutants to natural waters. This can be especially pronounced in the areas of oil and gas production in the Arctic. This study aimed to define the landscape components (i.e., groundwater, soil water, soil, and indicator plant species) of chemical pollution with metals, oil hydrocarbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, from the discharge of drill cuttings. Studies at two sites in the forest-tundra zone of Western Siberia (Russia) were carried out within two years of pollution. Pollutant migration was found in peaty-gley heavy loamy soils and iron-illuvial clayey podburs, but lateral migration of different pollutants did not exceed 200 m. Additionally, radial migration was practically absent owing to the high buffering capacity of the soil organic horizon and the upward flow of matter in the seasonal melt layer. The main indicators of drilling waste pollution were high concentrations of Sr, Ba, petroleum hydrocarbons, and Cl^- ions. At the waste disposal sites, the concentration of Ba and Sr in the soil water were 1 150 and 1 410 μg L^-1, respectively; in groundwater, they reached 721 and 2 360 μg L^-1, respectively. In the soil, Ba and Sr accumulated in the peaty horizon (798 and 706 mg kg^-1, respectively). The concentration of Cl^- ions in the soil water at the site of waste discharge was 1 912 mg L^-1, and at a distance of 200 m, it decreased to 77.4 mg L^-1. The Cl^- concentration in the groundwater was lower, and at a distance of 200 m, it was 38.9 mg L^-1. The highest concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons in the surface layer was found in the peaty-gley soils (up to 2 400 mg kg^-1). In glandular-illuvial podburs, it was 420 mg kg^-1. In horizons BH and BC, it was close to the background values (27 and 33 mg kg^-1, respectively). Alkalinization of soils and water under the influence of drill cuttings led to the death of oligotrophic and acidophilic vegetation at a distance of up to 50 m, and to the restructuring of the species and spatial structure of plant communities up to 100 m.     

非饱和土壤热质运移的数学模型

A system atic study of coupled heat and mass transfer in unsaturated soils under complex boundary conditions was carried out and a mathematical model of heat and mass transfer in unsaturated soils was established by non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory. The gradient of volumetric moisture content, the gradient of temperature, the salt mass concentration and vapor pressure were the primary driving forces influencing the process of heat and mass transfer in unsaturated soils. Based on the thermodynam ic analysis and the mass and energy conservation principles, a set of mass and energy equations were developed. The initial and boundary conditions of soil column for one dimension were also given out.     

研究土壤热湿迁移特性的非平衡热力学方法

运用非平衡热力学理论分析了土壤非饱和区热湿迁移的热力学“力”和“流”,建立了迁移过程的热力学唯象方程。通过对土壤非饱和区热湿迁移机理的分析,利用扩散定律和气体状态方程推导了热湿迁移唯象方程中的有关唯象系数的数学表达式,分析了温度、含水率及蒸汽分压力对唯象系数的影响。     

制革场地土壤和地下水中铬污染来源及污染特征研究进展

近年来，制革场地土壤和地下水中的铬污染引起了国内外广泛关注。通过分析制革工艺流程、废水和固废的性质及其处置的历史与现状，提出制革场地的铬污染源自含铬浴液和废水的滴漏以及固废和污泥的不当堆置与填埋。制革场地土壤铬污染以三价铬为主，六价铬含量相对较低，但部分仍远超国家标准限值。污染主要集中于生产车间、污泥存放点和废水排放点，场地表层土壤全铬远高于深层土，且污染时间短的场地土壤中有效态铬（交换态铬和水溶态铬）含量较高；而地下水中的总铬和六价铬，受土壤铬分布、污染时间、水文地质等多种因素影响。针对制革场地伴有酸碱和有机物污染的特点，进一步论述了有机物和土壤pH对铬在土壤中环境效应（迁移、形态转化和氧化）的影响，指出应重点关注有效态铬和六价铬的含量和形成机制。最后讨论了制革场地铬的环境风险防控主要面临的挑战和对策。     

Nitrate and chloride loadings as anthropogenic indicators

Agricultural, urban, forest and groundwater protection areas as well as nitrate and chloride concentrations are documented in maps. Areal distribution shows regionally elevated nitrate and chloride concentrations in connection with urban areas and agricultural use. Transport of nitrate and chloride tends to be conservative in the groundwater of the investigated area. Therefore, the elevated concentrations of these anions are suitable as indicators of anthropogenic impact on the groundwater. The average concentration of nitrate and chloride from all surveyed wells amounts to 26 and 17 mg L^?1, respectively. It is shown that wells recharged through forests have lower nitrate and chloride concentrations (average: 21 and 13 mg L^?1, respectively). Wells affected by waste deposits have an average nitrate concentration of 35 mg L^?1 and chloride concentration of 24 mg L^?1. Urban use results in an average value of 28 mg L^?1 nitrate and 24 mg L^?1 chloride. As nitrate and chloride concentrations are stable with respect to the depth of the groundwater table, degradation processes or other protective effects of the unsaturated zone can be omitted.