HR: 1330h
AN: B32A-0370    [PDF]
TI: Hydrocarbon Intrusion From Contaminated Seawater Into Coastal Freshwater Aquifers
AU: Amitay, T
EM: tal.amitay@weizmann.ac.il
AF: Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
AU: * Dror, I
EM: idror@weizmann.ac.il
AF: Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
AU: Berkowitz, B
EM: brian.berkowitz@weizmann.ac.il
AF: Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
AB: We focus on a recently recognized mechanism which suggests the potential for significant intrusion of organic contaminants from polluted seawater to freshwater aquifers. The solubility of organic compounds in water is inversely related to the concentration of dissolved electrolytes and directly related to the activity coefficients. The solubility of organic molecules is therefore assumed to be very low in marine environments, and the possible contamination of coastal aquifers via transfer from sea water has been ignored so far. This is despite the fact that coastal marine environments may be highly contaminated by toxic organic chemicals. In fact, concentrations of organic pollutants may be much higher than expected only from theoretical considerations of solubility. This is because the total concentration of organic contaminants contained in seawater is given not only by the dissolved contaminant concentration, but also by the presence of mechanically-dispersed organic droplets. Our initial work suggests the existence of a "salt pump" mechanism: while migration of organic compounds is due to chemical gradients, it is significantly enhanced by the presence of salt. Results from laboratory experiments demonstrating the intrusion of hydrocarbon mixtures from contaminated saline water into fresh water are presented.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
DE: 4251 Marine pollution
DE: 4857 Pollution
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting