HR: 15:55h
AN: B43B-04 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: A new paradigm in DNAPL source zone characterization: 3D imaging of contaminant distributions through hydraulic and tracer tomography
AU: * Illman, W A
EM: walter-illman@uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa, 423C IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering , Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Craig, A J
EM: ajcraig@engineering.uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa, 423C IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering , Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Liu, X
EM: xiaoyi-liu@uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa, 423C IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering , Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Massi, A
EM: amassi@engineering.uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa, 423C IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering , Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Yeh, T J
EM: yeh@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: The University of Arizona, Department of Hydrology and Water Resources John Harshbarger Building 1133 E. North Campus Drive , Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AU: Yin, D
EM: danting-yin@uiowa.edu
AF: The University of Iowa, 423C IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering , Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Zhu, J
EM: jfzhu@hwr.arizona.edu
AF: ARCADIS U.S., Inc. , 3777 E. Broadway Blvd. Suite 100 , Tucson, AZ 85716, United States
AB: Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLs) are prevalent at a large number of sites throughout the world. The variable release history and geologic heterogeneity make the spatial distribution of DNAPLs in the source zone complex. This causes difficulties in cleanup and can contribute to long-term groundwater contamination for decades to centuries. Therefore, information on the spatial distribution, mass, and composition of DNAPLs present in the source zone need to be obtained so that efficient remediation schemes can be designed. Existing approaches of site characterization, however, are considered to be invasive and costly. We present here an alternative to traditional characterization approaches based on hydraulic and tracer tomography which require far fewer boreholes than the traditional coring techniques to image the DNAPL source zone. Specifically, it first analyzes the information derived from hydraulic tomography, a new type of aquifer test, to identify the three- dimensional hydraulic heterogeneity of the aquifer. The newly derived knowledge of heterogeneity is then used to design partitioning tracer tomography tests to accurately depict the spatial distribution of DNAPL saturation in the source zone. The proposed techniques have been tested numerically and currently are being validated in laboratory sandbox experiments.
UR: http:www.iihr.uiowa.edu/~illman
DE: 0430 Computational methods and data processing
DE: 0452 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1869 Stochastic hydrology
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly