Comprehensive Principles of Quantitative Hydrogeology Established By Darcy (1856) and Dupuit (1857)

Henry Darcy and Jules Dupuit were born 1 year apart, were classmates during their undergraduate and graduate education in civil engineering, and were colleagues in the French corps of civil engineers, with overlapping appointments as inspector general in the early 1850s. At that time Darcy turned over, to Dupuit, his position as Director of Water and Bridges in Paris and the research on pipe flow he had begun there in 1849. In these pipe flow experiments, Darcy discovered what he referred to as a “law” of fluid mechanics, which is that above a certain velocity threshold, the head loss is proportional to velocity squared, and below that threshold, the head loss is linearly proportional to velocity. During the remainder of their careers, Darcy and Dupuit applied this law with their collective, extensive, prior knowledge of fluid mechanics, geology, aquifers, wells, and springs to quantitative studies of fluid flow in the subsurface (and also in pipes, aqueducts, rivers, and sand filters). Two monographs by Darcy (1856) and Dupuit (1857) are mutually cited retrospectives on much of this research, submitted at nearly the same time, to the same Corps des Ponts et Chaussées publisher, near the end of their careers. Between these two monographs, many of the fundamentals of quantitative hydrogeology were established, including the equation for groundwater motion, average linear velocity, average travel time, effective hydraulic conductivity for layered heterogeneity, conservation of mass in confined and unconfined flow, the nature of the regional pieziometric surface, porous flow versus flow through discrete fractures and karst conduits, the equation for a cone of depression around flowing wells, superposition of the effects of multiple wells, and capture zone geometries of wells within a regional flow field

Diaromatic sulphur-containing 'naphthenic' acids in process waters

Polar organic compounds found in industrial process waters, particularly those originating from biodegraded petroleum residues, include 'naphthenic acids' (NA). Some NA have been shown to have acute toxicity to fish and also to produce sub-lethal effects. Whilst some of these toxic effects are produced by identifiable carboxylic acids, acids such as sulphur-containing acids, which have been detected, but not yet identified, may produce others. Therefore, in the present study, the sulphur-containing acids in oil sands process water were studied.A fraction (ca 12% by weight of the total NA containing ca 1.5% weight sulphur) was obtained by elution of methylated NA through an argentation solid phase extraction column with diethyl ether. This was examined by multidimensional comprehensive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCxGC-MS) in both nominal and high resolution mass accuracy modes and by GCxGC-sulphur chemiluminescence detection (GCxGC-SCD).Interpretation of the mass spectra and retention behaviour of methyl esters of several synthesised sulphur acids and the unknowns allowed delimitation of the structures, but not complete identification. Diaromatic sulphur-containing alkanoic acids were suggested.Computer modelling of the toxicities of some of the possible acids suggested they would have similar toxicities to one another and to dehydroabietic acid. However, the sulphur-rich fraction was not toxic or estrogenic to trout hepatocytes, suggesting the concentrations of sulphur acids in this sample were too low to produce any such effects invitro. Further samples should probably be examined for these compounds. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd