Speaker
Description
Rivers and streams are important for transporting minerals, nutrients, and other chemicals
throughout the natural environment. Introducing potentially toxic species into local water
systems, e.g. agricultural-based pesticides, may have negative ecological consequences. Hence,
understanding how materials are transported in hydrologic systems is important for developing
more sustainable water management practices. The goal of this research is to validate a
mathematical model that faithfully captures the transport of a reactive solute plume in a turbulent
open channel with hyporheic exchange. To this end, field scale conservative (NaBr) and reactive
tracer (NaNO3) experiments were conducted in Dry Creek, a small tributary in the Boise River
watershed located in Idaho, USA. Reactive and conservative tracers were (pulse) injected into
Dry Creek, and breakthrough curves were measured at 5.27m and 70.64m from the injection site.
Here, we present analysis and results of the field study, linking creek characteristics to transport
behavior. Then we develop a upscaled linear-reactive transport model using a CTRW framework
to validate field study results. We compare the upscaled mathematical modeled breakthrough
curves with observational measurements and use model insights to characterize the underlying
governing process of reactive transport at the reach-scale. Specifically we explore the impact of
the underlying sediment bed on channel transport in both the reactive and conservative cases.
| Participation | In-Person |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Energy Transition Focused Abstracts | This abstract is related to Energy Transition |
| MDPI Energies Student Poster Award | No, do not submit my presenation for the student posters award. |
| Acceptance of the Terms & Conditions | Click here to agree |
