Impacts of physical and chemical heterogeneity on co-contaminant transport in a sandy porous medium
Tompson, A.F.B.; Schafer, A.L.; Smith, R.W.
Water Resources Research 32(4): 801-818
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0043-1397 DOI: 10.1029/95wr03733
Accession: 002865877
A simplified numerical study of the transport of a uranyl-citric acid mixture through a non-uniform and reactive sandy porous medium is presented. The study seeks to identify the more important impacts of medium heterogeneity, as embodied in spatially variable physical and chemical properties, on the migration and dilution rates of a model co-contaminant mixture, as well as on the overall partitioning among the aqueous and solid species formed from complexation and sorption reactions. Solid phase reactions are considered to occur on hydrous-ferric oxide (goethite) coatings on the sand and are controlled by the abundance of the oxide as a function of the specific sand surface area and large-scale patterns of oxide deposition.