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AGU: Water Resources Research

 

Index Terms

  • Hydrology: Runoff and streamflow
  • Hydrology: Groundwater transport
  • Hydrology: Groundwater quality
  • Hydrology: Instruments and techniques

Abstract

WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 38, 1088, 9 PP., 2002
doi:10.1029/2001WR000302

Bioturbation, advection, and diffusion of a conserved tracer in a laboratory flume

P. A. Work

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program, Savannah, Georgia, USA

P. R. Moore

Andrews Engineering, Beaufort, South Carolina, USA

D. D. Reible

Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Laboratory experiments indicating the relative influences of advection, diffusion, and bioturbation on transport of NaCl tracer between a stream and streambed are described. Data were collected in a recirculating flume housing a box filled with test sediments. Peclet numbers ranged from 0 to 1.5. Sediment components included a medium sand (d50 = 0.31 mm), kaolinite, and topsoil. Lumbriculus variegatus were introduced as bioturbators. Conductivity probes were employed to document the flux of the tracer solution out of the bed. Measurements are compared to one-dimensional effective diffusion models assuming one or two horizontal sediment layers. These simple models provide a good indication of tracer half-life in the bed if a suitable effective diffusion coefficient is chosen but underpredict initial flux and overpredict flux at long times. Organism activity was limited to the upper reaches of the sediment test box but eventually exerts a secondary influence on flux from deeper regions.

Published 26 June 2002.

Citation: Work, P. A., P. R. Moore, and D. D. Reible (2002), Bioturbation, advection, and diffusion of a conserved tracer in a laboratory flume, Water Resour. Res., 38(6), 1088, doi:10.1029/2001WR000302.

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