Analytical studies of groundwater-head fluctuation in a coastal confined aquifer overlain by a semi-permeable layer with storage

Analytical studies are carried out to investigate groundwater-head changes in a coastal aquifer system in response to tidal fluctuations. The system consists of an unconfined aquifer, a semi-confined aquifer and a semi-permeable confining unit between them. An exact analytical solution is derived to investigate the influences of both leakage and storage of the semi-permeable layer on the tide-induced groundwater-head fluctuation in the semi-confined aquifer. This solution is a generalization of the solution obtained by Jiao and Tang (Water Resource Research 35 (1999) 747-751) which ignored the storage of the semi-confining unit. The analytical solution indicates that both storage and leakage of the semi-permeable layer play an important role in the groundwater-head fluctuation in the confined aquifer. While leakage is generally more important than storage, the impact of storage on groundwater-head fluctuations changes with leakage. With the increase of leakage the fluctuation of groundwater-head in the confined aquifer will be controlled mainly by leakage. The study also demonstrates that the influence of storativity of the semi-permeable layer on groundwater-head fluctuation is negligible only when the storativity of the semi-permeable layer is comparable to or smaller than that of the confined aquifer. However, for aquifer systems with semi-permeable layer composed of thick, soft sedimentary materials, the storativity of the semi-permeable layer is usually much greater than that of the aquifer and its influence should be considered. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.postprin

Estimation of submarine groundwater discharge in Plover Cove, Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong by 222Rn

Algal blooms in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong have received much attention and submarine groundwater discharge is speculated to be a significant pathway carrying nutrients into the constricted estuary. Plover Cove, a small cove in the Harbour, was selected for SGD analysis using 222Rn budget. The volumetric SGD rates are estimated to be about 8000 m3/day for neap tide and about 17,000 m3/day for spring tide. Result of nutrient analysis of the porewater indicates that the nutrient loading through this pathway is speculated to be crucial for eutrophication in Tolo Harbour. Current practice for the management of algal blooms in Hong Kong, in which nutrient loading through SGD was ignored, has to be reviewed and the control measures of groundwater contamination are obviously required. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.postprin

Airflow induced by pumping tests in unconfined aquifer with a low-permeability cap

Most analytical and numerical models developed to analyze pumping test data focus on saturated flow below the water table. Traditionally the soil above the initial water table prior to pumping has been thought to have little influence on the test results and has usually been ignored. It is hypothesized that, if the unsaturated zone is capped by low-permeability soil, airflow in the unsaturated zone may be developed during pumping and may have impact on the drawdown in the aquifer. A transient, three-dimensional and variably saturated flow model is employed to simulate the pumping-induced air and groundwater flows in both the saturated zone and unsaturated zone with a low-permeability layer. The results demonstrate that negative pressure in the unsaturated zone can be generated by pumping. The negative pressure begins to appear as the drawdown rate increases to a maximum, approaches a peak before the drawdown rate becomes zero, and then gradually disappears. Drawdown obtained from the capped aquifer is much greater because the water in the pores in the unsaturated zone is sucked by the negative pressure and the gravity drainage from the pores is hampered. Consequently, the drawdown versus time curve does not conform to the traditional S-shaped curve for an unconfined aquifer but is similar to that of a confined aquifer. If the airflow caused by the low-permeability cap is ignored, the error in estimated drawdown could be over 80% for the specific parameters and aquifer configuration used in the study. The possible errors in parameter estimation when airflow is ignored are explored. Overall, the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer can be overestimated and the specific yield of the aquifer underestimated if airflow is ignored. The estimation error for specific yield tends to be greater than that in hydraulic conductivity. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.published_or_final_versio

A new model for predicting relative nonwetting phase permeability from soil water retention curves

Relative permeability of the nonwetting phase in a multiphase flow in porous media is a function of phase saturation. Specific expressions of this function are commonly determined by combining soil water retention curves with relative nonwetting phase permeability models. Experimental evidence suggests that the relative permeability of the nonwetting phase can be significantly overestimated by the existing relative permeability models. A new model for the prediction of relative nonwetting phase permeability from soil water retention curves is proposed in this paper. A closed form expression can be obtained in combination with soil water retention curves. The model is mathematically simple and can easily and efficiently be implemented in numerical models of multiphase flow processes in porous media. The predicting capability of the proposed model is contrasted with well-supported models by comparing the measured and predicted relative air permeability data for 11 soils, representing a wide range of soil textures, from sand to silty clay loam. In most of the cases the proposed model improves the agreement between the predicted relative air permeability and the measured data. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.published_or_final_versio

Cell-type specific analysis of translating RNAs in developing flowers reveals new levels of control

Determining both the expression levels of mRNA and the regulation of its translation is important in understanding specialized cell functions. In this study, we describe both the expression profiles of cells within spatiotemporal domains of the Arabidopsis thaliana flower and the post-transcriptional regulation of these mRNAs, at nucleotide resolution. We express a tagged ribosomal protein under the promoters of three master regulators of flower development. By precipitating tagged polysomes, we isolated cell type specific mRNAs that are probably translating, and quantified those mRNAs through deep sequencing. Cell type comparisons identified known cell-specific transcripts and uncovered many new ones, from which we inferred cell type-specific hormone responses, promoter motifs and coexpressed cognate binding factor candidates, and splicing isoforms. By comparing translating mRNAs with steady-state overall transcripts, we found evidence for widespread post-transcriptional regulation at both the intron splicing and translational stages. Sequence analyses identified structural features associated with each step. Finally, we identified a new class of noncoding RNAs associated with polysomes. Findings from our profiling lead to new hypotheses in the understanding of flower development

Macrobenthic Community in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong and its Relations with Heavy Metals

The present study investigated the macrobenthic community in Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong, aiming at linking heavy metal concentrations to differences in macrobenthic community. The stations investigated in Tolo Harbour have widely contrasting features, with some areas located in the Plove Cove displaying both high species richness and abundance while other areas displaying quite impoverished or even void of macrobenthos. High diversity and abundance of macrobenthos in areas with low heavy metal concentrations were recorded. Strong negative correlation between macrobenthic diversity and heavy metal concentrations was found, and this implicated the pollution-induced degradation of macrobenthos in some locations in Tolo Harbour. These results support the Pearson-Rosenberg model for succession along a pollution gradient. © 2010 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 01 Dec 201

Changes to the groundwater system, from 1888 to present, in a highly-urbanized coastal area in Hong Kong, China

Historical groundwater levels in a coastal region of Hong Kong Island (China) were reviewed and compared with data collected recently to reveal changes to the groundwater regime over the last century. The coastal springs and seeps have disappeared and the lower boundary of the seepage zone has moved uphill. Groundwater was found to be flowing upward along the boundary of natural slopes and urbanized areas. Artesian flows were commonly noted in the deep piezometers in the lower urbanized areas. Moreover, an overall rise in water levels in a 10-year period was observed in the urbanized areas, except in areas with good drainage. Extensive urbanization since the 1950s has included large-scale land reclamation, deep foundations of high-rise buildings, an underground transport system, water mains and horizontal drains in slopes; the effect has been a slow but gradual increase in the water level of the hillslope groundwater system. Further urbanization activities such as the westward extension of the underground transport system and new major drainage systems in the slopes, should be assessed for possible further changes to the groundwater system. The results presented here may serve as reference for other highly-urbanized coastal areas in the world. © Springer-Verlag 2008.postprin

Assessment of soil radon potential in Hong Kong, China, using a 10-point evaluation system

Radon and its progenies have been ranked second of being responsible for lung cancer in humans. Hong Kong has four major groups of uranium-rich plutonic and volcanic rocks and is suffering from radon emanated therefrom. However, there is a lack of radon potential maps in Hong Kong to resolve the spatial distribution of radon-prone areas. A ten-point radon potential system was developed in Germany (2005) to predict radon potential using both the in situ geogenic and geographic parameters under hierarchical ranking. Primarily, the ten-point system requires the desk study of the geological environment of sampling sites, which has an advantage of saving resources and manpower in extensive radon potential mapping over the traditional soil radon concentration sampling method. This paper presents a trial of radon potential mapping in Hong Kong to further verify the system. Despite some slight departures, the system demonstrates an acceptable correlation with soil radon concentrations (R 2 = 0.62-0.66) from 768 samples of mainly intermediate radon potential. Hong Kong has a mean soil radon concentrations of 58.9 kBqm -3, while the radon potential from the ten-point system achieves an average of 4.93 out of 10 over the territory. The vicinity of fault zone showed high soil radon concentrations and potentials, which were conducive to uranium enrichment and rapid soil-gas diffusion near faults. High uranium-238 content in soil was found to cause high soil radon concentration with a large R 2, 0.84. The Jurassic granite and volcanic crystal tuff cover more than 85 % of the whole Hong Kong area, and they show relatively high radon concentrations (Geometric mean 83 and 49 kBqm -3, respectively) which are associated with their high uranium contents (Geometric mean 234 and 197 Bqkg -1, respectively). While indoor radon concentration is an important factor for radon risk assessment, this study has not considered the correlation between indoor radon concentration and radon potential. The reason is that almost all buildings in Hong Kong are high-rise buildings where indoor radon concentrations are governed only by the radium content in the building materials and the ventilation conditions. © 2012 The Author(s).published_or_final_versio

Air and water flows in a vertical sand column

The unsteady state drainage of water from a vertical sand column with and without a finer layer on the top was studied theoretically and experimentally to investigate the airflow generated by the finer layer. The sand column, saturated at its lower portion and initially in the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium, is drained at its bottom at constant head. The results show that significant vacuum can be generated in the vadose zone of the column with a finer layer on the top. The vacuum increases quickly in the earlier stage of the drainage, reaches a maximum, and gradually becomes zero. Because of the effect of the vacuum in the vadose zone, water is held in and the cumulative outflow from the column with the finer layer is much smaller than without the layer during most of the drainage process. Ordinary differential equations (ODE), which require only saturated hydraulic properties of the porous media, are derived to predict the location of the surface of saturation and vacuum in the vadose zone in air-water two-phase flow. The solutions of ODE match very satisfactorily with the experimental data and give better results than TOUGH2. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.published_or_final_versio