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AGU: Water Resources Research

 

Keywords

  • hydrogeophysics
  • electrical resistivity
  • solute transport
  • mass transfer
  • hyporheic zone

Index Terms

  • Hydrology: Hydrogeophysics
  • Hydrology: Groundwater/surface water interaction
  • Hydrology: Instruments and techniques: modeling
  • Physical Properties of Rocks: Magnetic and electrical properties
Abstract
Cited By (0)
 

Abstract

Electrical characterization of non-Fickian transport in groundwater and hyporheic systems

Kamini Singha

Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Adam Pidlisecky

Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Frederick D. Day-Lewis

U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Ground Water, Branch of Geophysics, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

Michael N. Gooseff

Department of Civil Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Recent work indicates that processes controlling solute mass transfer between mobile and less mobile domains in porous media may be quantified by combining electrical geophysical methods and electrically conductive tracers. Whereas direct geochemical measurements of solute preferentially sample the mobile domain, electrical geophysical methods are sensitive to changes in bulk electrical conductivity (bulk EC) and therefore sample EC in both the mobile and immobile domains. Consequently, the conductivity difference between direct geochemical samples and remotely sensed electrical geophysical measurements may provide an indication of mass transfer rates and mobile and immobile porosities in situ. Here we present (1) an overview of a theoretical framework for determining parameters controlling mass transfer with electrical resistivity in situ; (2) a review of a case study estimating mass transfer processes in a pilot-scale aquifer storage recovery test; and (3) an example application of this method for estimating mass transfer in watershed settings between streams and the hyporheic corridor. We demonstrate that numerical simulations of electrical resistivity studies of the stream/hyporheic boundary can help constrain volumes and rates of mobile-immobile mass transfer. We conclude with directions for future research applying electrical geophysics to understand field-scale transport in aquifer and fluvial systems subject to rate-limited mass transfer.

Received 31 March 2008; accepted 10 July 2008; published 5 November 2008.

Citation: Singha, K., A. Pidlisecky, F. D. Day-Lewis, and M. N. Gooseff (2008), Electrical characterization of non-Fickian transport in groundwater and hyporheic systems, Water Resour. Res., 44, W00D07, doi:10.1029/2008WR007048.

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