Migration of contaminants through the unsaturated zone overlying the Hesbaye chalky aquifer in Belgium: a field investigation

peer reviewedThis paper presents the results of a detailed field investigation that was performed for studying groundwater recharge processes and solute downward migration mechanisms prevailing in the unsaturated zone overlying a chalk aquifer in Belgium. Various laboratory measurements were performed on core samples collected during the drilling of boreholes in the experimental site. In the field, experiments consisted of well logging, infiltration tests in the unsaturated zone, pumping tests in the saturated zone and tracer tests in both the saturated and unsaturated zones. Results show that gravitational flows govern groundwater recharge and solute migration mechanisms in the unsaturated zone. In the variably saturated chalk, the migration and retardation of solutes is strongly influenced by recharge conditions. Under intense injection conditions, solutes migrate at high speed along the partially saturated fissures, downward to the saturated zone. At the same time, they are temporarily retarded in the almost immobile water located in the chalk matrix. Under normal recharge conditions, fissures are inactive and solutes migrate slowly through the chalk matrix. Results also show that concentration dynamics in the saturated zone are related to fluctuations of groundwater levels in the aquifer. A conceptual model is proposed to explain the hydrodispersive behaviour of the variably saturated chalk. Finally, the vulnerability of the chalk to contamination issues occurring at the land surface is discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Etude phénoménologique de la propagation d'une susbtance miscible en milieu non saturé et application au transfert des nitrates vers la nappe aquifère de Hesbay

Pel·lícules mudes que més cridaren l'atenció a Mallorca (i II)

Abstract not availabl

Valorisation de la Carte des Sols dans un cadre inattendu - Le tourisme à caractère scientifique

Patrimoine géologique et pédologique en Province de Namur - 500 millions d'années de façonnement de notre paysag

OM-MADE:An open-source program to simulate one-dimensional solute transport in multiple exchanging conduits and storage zones

International audienceOM-MADE (One-dimensional Model for Multiple Advection, Dispersion, and storage in Exchanging zones) is an open-source python code for simulating one-dimensional solute transport in multiple exchanging conduits and storage zones in steady-state flow conditions. It aims at helping the interpretation of multi-peaked skewed breakthrough curves (BTCs) that can be observed in tracer tests conducted in karstic systems. OM-MADE is based on the resolution of classical mass conservation equations. In OM-MADE, all parallel and exchanging flow zones are divided along the direction of flow into reaches, in which all model parameters are kept constant. The total flowrate may be modified through lateral in and outflows. The solute may also be affected by decay processes either in mobile or immobile zones. Each reach is subdivided into discrete segments of equal length. The partial differential equations can be solved using two second order schemes, one based on an operator-split approach, the other on Crank-Nicholson pondered scheme. A verification is performed against analytical solutions, OTIS software [Runkel, 1998], and the dual-advection dispersion equation (DADE) proposed by Field and Leij [2012]. An application to a tracer test carried out in the karstic area of Furfooz (Belgium) is then performed to reproduce the double-peaked positively skewed BTC that has been observed. It constitutes a demonstration of the software capacities in the case of two reaches and three exchanging zones, among which two are mobile ones and one represents a storage zone. It thus permits to verify numerically the consistency of the conceptual interpretation of the observed BTC

Multipeaked breakthrough curves in karstic rivers:effects of a diffluence-confluence system

In karstic environments, it is not unusual for an underground river to split into two or more streams (diffluence) and merge back together downstream (confluence). This kind of behavior can generate multipeaked breakthrough curves (BTCs) in dye tracing at a sampling site located downstream of the confluence(s). It is also possible that such a phenomenon is difficult to highlight with dye tracing if the tracer clouds coming from the different streams reach the sampling locations at the same time. In this study, an attempt at quantifying the importance of different criteria in the occurrence of a multipeaked BTC is done by performing a dye tracing campaign in a two-tributaries diffluence-confluence (DC) system and using a one-dimensional solute transport model. The results from both field data and the solute transport model suggest that a double-peaked BTC occurs downstream of a DC system if the following conditions are met: (1) the injection is done close enough to the diffluence, (2) the sampling point is located not too far from the confluence, and (3) the two (or more) streams have sufficiently contrasted travel times from the diffluence to the confluence. The paper illustrates that, even if a diffluence occurs in a karstic river, multipeaked BTCs are not necessarily observed downstream of the confluence if these three conditions are not met. Therefore, characterizing a DC system using dye tracing is a real challenge. This could explain why publications that report studies involving multipeaked BTCs are quite rare.</p