The study is focused on character of flow, permeability, mean residence of water, chemical composition of water and chemical fluxes in unsaturated zone of castellated sandstone at Klokočské Skály area. Soil water as well as the water seeping from up to 15 m thick sandstone unsaturated zone consists of mixture of: A) Component with mean residence time 2-4 months (50-75% of mixture) and B) Component with mean residence time exceeding 4 years (25-50% of mixture). In winter the component A is missing in K3 drip place probably because of freezing conditions, which prevent infiltration of the fast component. Sulfates are the most abundant anion in studied waters with chemical flux in sandstone unsaturated zone (SUZ) 7-10 g/m2/year, which exceeds several times the influx from total (wet and dry) atmospheric deposition (1.2 g/m2/year). On the other hand nitrates flux is decreasing with depth (atmospheric deposition 1.7 g/m2/year; flux in SUZ 0.2-0.4 g/m2/year). Aluminum is the most abundant cation in SUZ (average concentration 6.3 mg/l, max. 35 mg/l). Flux of aluminum in SUZ is 2.5 g/m2/year, which is 80 times more that atmospheric deposition. Surprisingly the forest vegetation does not seem to suffer any directly visible damage. Silica is another substance which is intensively leached from SUZ. The most prominent...

In der vorliegenden Dissertation sollten die hydrogeochemischen Prozesse herausgearbeitet werden, die für die Wasserqualitätsänderung während eines ASR Experiments in Bolivar, Südaustralien und während der Versickerung in einem künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherungsbecken in Berlin von Bedeutung waren. Reaktive Stofftransportmodellierung des ASR Experiments in Bolivar, Südaustralien zeigte, dass die hydrochemischen Veränderungen in der direkten Umgebung des Injektionsbrunnens während der Speicherphase nur durch rapide Änderungen der Sauerstoff- und Nitrat reduzierenden Bakterienmasse erklärt werden können. Die hydrochemischen Veränderungen in größerer Distanz zum Injektionsbrunnen wurden überwiegend durch Ionenaustauschprozesse und Kalzitlösung verursacht. Geochemische und hydraulische Messungen unter einem Sickerbecken in Berlin zeigten, dass die beobachteten geochemischen Änderungen im Sickerwasser mit den periodisch auftretenden wassergesättigten/wasserungesättigen Bedingungen unter dem Becken einhergehen. Während der ungesättigten Periode wird Luft unter das Becken gezogen und führt zur plötzlichen Reoxidierung von bereits in der gesättigten Periode gebildeten Eisensulfiden und zur beschleunigten Mineralisation von sedimentärem organischem Kohlenstoff. Reaktive Stofftransportmodellierung auf größerer Skale zeigte, dass allein die saisonalen Temperaturunterschiede im Infiltrationswasser für die beobachtete zeitliche und räumliche Dynamik der Redoxzonen im weiteren Abstrom des Sickerbeckens verantwortlich sind. Das Abbauverhalten der Arzneimittelsubstanz Phenazon hängt ausschließlich von der Verfügbarkeit von gelöstem Sauerstoff und damit indirekt von der Wassertemperatur im Aquifer ab. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird deutlich, dass ein adäquates Verständnis der wasserqualitätsändernden Prozesse in künstlichen Anreicherungsystemen nur dann erreicht werden kann wenn Strömung, Transport und reaktive Prozesse, im Feld als auch in der Modellierung, simultan betrachtet werden. / In this thesis, three major studies were carried out in order to understand the key factors controlling the water quality changes that occurred during a reclaimed water Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) experiment at Bolivar, South Australia and during ponded infiltration in Berlin, Germany. Multi-component reactive transport modelling of the ASR experiment suggested that during the storage phase, dynamic changes in bacterial mass have a significant influence on the local geochemistry in the vicinity of the injection well. Water quality changes further away from the injection well were mainly driven by ion exchange and calcite dissolution. Geochemical and hydraulic measurements below an artificial recharge pond in Berlin, Germany, showed that the observed dynamic changes of the hydrochemistry within the seepage water are strongly linked to the periodic saturated/unsaturated hydraulic conditions below the pond. During unsaturated conditions, atmospheric oxygen penetrates from the pond margins to the centre below the pond, leading to (i) a sudden re-oxidation of sulphide minerals that have formed previously during saturated conditions and (ii) an enhanced mineralisation of sedimentary particulate organic carbon. Reactive transport modelling showed that at larger scale, seasonal temperature changes of the infiltration water are the key control for the observed temporal and spatial redox dynamics further downstream the recharge pond. Moreover, the degradation behaviour of the pharmaceutically residue phenazone solely depends on the availability of dissolved oxygen, and thus indirectly on the water temperature within the aquifer. Overall this thesis shows that a sound understanding and analysis of the key processes affecting the water quality changes during artificial recharge of groundwater could only be achieved when flow, transport and reactive processes are considered simultaneously, both in the field and during modelling.

Devido aos riscos de contaminação dos recursos naturais solo e água, ao alto custo, ao tempo e ao esforço humano nas investigações de campo, os modelos matemáticos, aliados às técnicas numéricas e aos avanços computacionais, constituem uma ferramenta importante na previsão do deslocamento de solutos, contribuindo assim, para o controle de alterações ambientais. No Brasil, a modelação de fluxo e transporte de solutos na zona não-saturada é voltada, quase que exclusivamente, aos problemas relacionados às atividades agrícolas. Entretanto, tão importante quanto a problemática dos produtos químicos nas atividades agrícolas é a questão de poluição e contaminação do solo e da água por chorume, gerado pelos resíduos sólidos domiciliares. Neste trabalho, é desenvolvido e validado um modelo computacional unidimensional para simulação de fluxo e transporte de solutos na zona não-saturada do solo. O modelo matemático é dado pela equação diferencial parcial não-linear de Richards, que rege o movimento de água no solo, e a equação diferencial parcial linear de advecção-dispersão, do transporte de solutos, acompanhadas das condições iniciais e de contorno. A equação de Richards é dada em função do potencial matricial da água e a equação de transporte de solutos estima a evolução temporal da concentração de solutos no perfil do solo. Devido à dificuldade de se obter soluções analíticas destas equações, são resolvidas numericamente pelo método de elementos finitos. As referidas equações são resolvidas utilizando-se malhas uniformes inicialmente. Com a finalidade de obter simulações mais eficientes, a um custo computacional reduzido, é empregada a adaptatividade com refinamento h na malha de elementos finitos. A função interpolação polinomial utilizada é de grau 2 ou maior que garante a conservação de massa. Na equação de Richards, a derivada temporal é aproximada por um quociente de diferença finita e é aplicado o esquema de Euler explícito e na equação de advecção-dispersão, é aproximada por um quociente de diferença finita, aplicando-se o esquema de Euler implícito, devido à linearidade da equação. O sistema operacional é o Linux Ubuntu 32 bits, o ambiente de programação é o PZ, escrito em linguagem de programação C++. Na validação do modelo, utilizam-se dados disponíveis na literatura. Os resultados são comparados, utilizando-se malhas uniformes e malhas adaptativas com refinamento h. Usando-se as malhas uniformes para o problema de Richards e de transporte de potássio, o tempo de execução é de 22 minutos e a memória utilizada de 6164 Kb. Com as malhas adaptadas, o tempo de execução é de 3 minutos e 27 segundos, consumindo 5876 Kb de memória. Houve, portanto, uma redução de 84,32% no tempo de execução, usando-se malhas adaptativas. A utilização da função interpolação polinomial de grau 2 ou maior e o refinamento h, permitem uma boa concordância do modelo na comparação com soluções disponíveis na literatura. / Due to the risks of contamination of soil and water resources, the high cost, time and human effort in the field investigations, the mathematical models, combined with numerical techniques and computational advances, are important tools in forecasting the movement of solutes thereby contributing to the control of environmental alteration. In Brazil, modeling of flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone is focused, almost exclusively, on problems related to agricultural activities. However, as important as the problematical of chemicals products in agricultural activities is the issue of pollution and contamination of soil and water by leachate, generated by municipal solid wastes. In this work, an one-dimensional computational model for simulation of flow and solute transport in the unsaturated soil has been developed and validated. The mathematical model is given by the Richards\'s non-linear partial differential equation, which determines the movement of water in the soil, and the advection-dispersion linear partial differential equation, of the solute transport, together with initial and boundary conditions. The Richards equation is a function of the water pressure head and the solute transport equation estimate the temporal evolution of the solutes concentration in the soil profile. Due to the difficulty of obtaining analytical solutions of these equations, they are solved numerically using the finite element method. The governing equations are solved using initially a uniform mesh. In order to obtain more efficient simulations with low computational cost, adaptativity with h refinement on the finite element mesh is implemented. The interpolation function is of degree two or higher, assuring mass conservation. In Richards\' equation, the temporal derivative is approximated by Euler explicit finite difference. For the advection-dispersion equation, due to the linearity of the equation, an implicit finite difference scheme is used. The code is written in the programming language C++ based on the programming environment PZ using operating system Linux Ubuntu 32 bit. Model results are validated in comparison with data available in the literature. The results are evaluated using uniform meshes and with h refinement adaptive mesh. Using the uniform meshes for the problem of Richards and transport of potassium, the running time is 22 minutes and 6164 Kb of memory is used. With the adapted meshes, the execution time is 3 minutes and 27 seconds, consuming 5,876 Kb of memory. Therefore there was a reduction of 84.32% in execution time, using adaptive meshes. The interpolation function with degree two or higher and the h refinement, with reduction of the computation time, showed a good agreement in comparison with the literature.

This study is focused on the flow through the uppermost part of the unsaturated zone in karstified areas. The information about distribution of transit times and chemical reactions taking place in the unsaturated zone is based on isotopic and chemical composition of cave dripwaters, precipitations and water caught by gravitation lysimeters. The water balance was calculated using measurements of intensity of dripwaters and amounts of water caught by lysimeters and rain gauges. The velocity of a hydraulic shockwave between monitored objects was also estimated according to the delay between significant precipitation event and dripwater intensity increase. The field study took place in the Němcova 1 cave in the northern part of Moravian Karst, near the village Suchdol. It was carried out during the hydrological year 2010/2011. The cave is about 13 m under the surface. The information about composition of overlaying rock above the cave was obtained using geoelectrical and electromagnetic measurements. Studied geological environment is built of 0.5 - 1.5 m of soil, 0.5 - 3.5 m of epikarst and a layer of massive limestone as thick as 10 m. About 70 to 90 % of dripwaters have residence time over 4 years. The distribution of transit time of younger water can be described using the exponencial model (well...

Devido aos riscos de contaminação dos recursos naturais solo e água, ao alto custo, ao tempo e ao esforço humano nas investigações de campo, os modelos matemáticos, aliados às técnicas numéricas e aos avanços computacionais, constituem uma ferramenta importante na previsão do deslocamento de solutos, contribuindo assim, para o controle de alterações ambientais. No Brasil, a modelação de fluxo e transporte de solutos na zona não-saturada é voltada, quase que exclusivamente, aos problemas relacionados às atividades agrícolas. Entretanto, tão importante quanto a problemática dos produtos químicos nas atividades agrícolas é a questão de poluição e contaminação do solo e da água por chorume, gerado pelos resíduos sólidos domiciliares. Neste trabalho, é desenvolvido e validado um modelo computacional unidimensional para simulação de fluxo e transporte de solutos na zona não-saturada do solo. O modelo matemático é dado pela equação diferencial parcial não-linear de Richards, que rege o movimento de água no solo, e a equação diferencial parcial linear de advecção-dispersão, do transporte de solutos, acompanhadas das condições iniciais e de contorno. A equação de Richards é dada em função do potencial matricial da água e a equação de transporte de solutos estima a evolução temporal da concentração de solutos no perfil do solo. Devido à dificuldade de se obter soluções analíticas destas equações, são resolvidas numericamente pelo método de elementos finitos. As referidas equações são resolvidas utilizando-se malhas uniformes inicialmente. Com a finalidade de obter simulações mais eficientes, a um custo computacional reduzido, é empregada a adaptatividade com refinamento h na malha de elementos finitos. A função interpolação polinomial utilizada é de grau 2 ou maior que garante a conservação de massa. Na equação de Richards, a derivada temporal é aproximada por um quociente de diferença finita e é aplicado o esquema de Euler explícito e na equação de advecção-dispersão, é aproximada por um quociente de diferença finita, aplicando-se o esquema de Euler implícito, devido à linearidade da equação. O sistema operacional é o Linux Ubuntu 32 bits, o ambiente de programação é o PZ, escrito em linguagem de programação C++. Na validação do modelo, utilizam-se dados disponíveis na literatura. Os resultados são comparados, utilizando-se malhas uniformes e malhas adaptativas com refinamento h. Usando-se as malhas uniformes para o problema de Richards e de transporte de potássio, o tempo de execução é de 22 minutos e a memória utilizada de 6164 Kb. Com as malhas adaptadas, o tempo de execução é de 3 minutos e 27 segundos, consumindo 5876 Kb de memória. Houve, portanto, uma redução de 84,32% no tempo de execução, usando-se malhas adaptativas. A utilização da função interpolação polinomial de grau 2 ou maior e o refinamento h, permitem uma boa concordância do modelo na comparação com soluções disponíveis na literatura. / Due to the risks of contamination of soil and water resources, the high cost, time and human effort in the field investigations, the mathematical models, combined with numerical techniques and computational advances, are important tools in forecasting the movement of solutes thereby contributing to the control of environmental alteration. In Brazil, modeling of flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone is focused, almost exclusively, on problems related to agricultural activities. However, as important as the problematical of chemicals products in agricultural activities is the issue of pollution and contamination of soil and water by leachate, generated by municipal solid wastes. In this work, an one-dimensional computational model for simulation of flow and solute transport in the unsaturated soil has been developed and validated. The mathematical model is given by the Richards\'s non-linear partial differential equation, which determines the movement of water in the soil, and the advection-dispersion linear partial differential equation, of the solute transport, together with initial and boundary conditions. The Richards equation is a function of the water pressure head and the solute transport equation estimate the temporal evolution of the solutes concentration in the soil profile. Due to the difficulty of obtaining analytical solutions of these equations, they are solved numerically using the finite element method. The governing equations are solved using initially a uniform mesh. In order to obtain more efficient simulations with low computational cost, adaptativity with h refinement on the finite element mesh is implemented. The interpolation function is of degree two or higher, assuring mass conservation. In Richards\' equation, the temporal derivative is approximated by Euler explicit finite difference. For the advection-dispersion equation, due to the linearity of the equation, an implicit finite difference scheme is used. The code is written in the programming language C++ based on the programming environment PZ using operating system Linux Ubuntu 32 bit. Model results are validated in comparison with data available in the literature. The results are evaluated using uniform meshes and with h refinement adaptive mesh. Using the uniform meshes for the problem of Richards and transport of potassium, the running time is 22 minutes and 6164 Kb of memory is used. With the adapted meshes, the execution time is 3 minutes and 27 seconds, consuming 5,876 Kb of memory. Therefore there was a reduction of 84.32% in execution time, using adaptive meshes. The interpolation function with degree two or higher and the h refinement, with reduction of the computation time, showed a good agreement in comparison with the literature.

Water flow and geochemical processes within the unsaturated zone (UZ) in two distinct types of karst environment were investigated using natural tracers (chemistry, stable isotopes 13 C, 18 O, 2 H, and 3 H, 14 C, 87 Sr/86 Sr). The extent of horizontal flow component and the response of drip water chemistry to recharge events were examined in the Moravian Karst (Czech Republic), while the character of water flow and its chemistry were studied in salt diapirs in southeastern part of the Zagros mountains (Iran). Under the conditions of well-developed epikarst, the horizontal flow component, defined as Hmax/T (Hmax = horizontal migration component, T - thickness of VZ) typically reaches values of 0.1 - 0.6 (Moravian and Slovenian Karst). However, in areas where epikarst was stripped off by glacial or human activity, the proportion of horizontal flow component is far greater (Hmax/T 1.6 - 24). This parameter is vital for the design of water source protection zones above caves. Nitrate mean residence time in 120 m thick VZ of the Moravian karst exceeded 16 years. The VZ above the Ochoz Cave (Moravian Karst) represents a semi-open to open system with respect to soil CO2. Under a high drip rate (high flow), the event water only made 5% of the total. During the year, water degassing and so called prior...

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la signature sismique du rôle des fluides dans les mécanismes de déformation des roches fracturées de la croûte supérieure, et plus précisément les failles et les glissements de terrain. S’il est admis que les fluides sont un facteur déclenchant de la rupture dans le cas d’épisodes de forçages climatiques importants ou de glissements très superficiels, leur rôle dans la déstabilisation des grands volumes associée à des forçages faibles est beaucoup moins bien compris. Ainsi, il apparaît nécessaire d’acquérir de nouvelles données synchrones des pressions/débits de fluides, de la déformation et de la sismicité sur le terrain dans des conditions de chargement hydraulique contrôlées pour progresser dans la compréhension des liens entre processus hydromécaniques et sismiques participant à la nucléation de la rupture des roches en partie associée à la réactivation de fractures existantes. Motivé par ce besoin de nouvelles observations, ce travail de thèse concerne l’interprétation de la sismicité produite lors d’expériences originales de stimulation hydraulique (0.3 à 3.5 MPa et 10 à 3000 secondes) de petites zones de faille ou de fractures de taille décamétrique, situées en zones non saturées profonde de versants rocheux. Ces expériences consistaient à produire des déformations menant à l’activation du glissement le long des fractures préexistantes. Le protocole expérimental combine des mesures de déformations/pressions distribuées dans les structures géologiques à des capteurs sismologiques proches (échelle métrique à décamétrique) des zones sources. / This PhD dissertation focuses on the seismic signatures of the role of fluids in the deformation mechanisms of fractured rocks in the upper crust, mainly faults and landslides. While it is generally admitted that fluids are a triggering mechanism for rupture in the cases of episodic and major climate forcing events on shallow landslides, their role in the destabilization of large volumes of rocks, associated to weak forcing, is less understood. Thus, it is primordial to acquire new synchronous data of fluid pressure/flow, deformation and induced seismicity in the field, under controlled conditions of the hydraulic loading, in order to better understand the relationship between seismic and hydromechanical processes involved in the nucleation of rock ruptures, in part associated to the reactivation of existing fractures. Motivated by the need for new observations, this PhD thesis concerns the interpretation of the induced seismicity within unsaturated zones of deep rocky slopes, during original and controlled hydraulic stimulation experiments (0.3 to 3.5 MPa and from 10 to 3000 seconds) of small areas of decameter size. These experiments consisted in triggering rock deformations which lead to the activation of rock sliding along pre-existing fractures where deformation/pressure measurements and seismic sensors were distributed. These experiments were carried out in the Low Noise Underground Laboratory (France), which allows the access to fault zones within a rocky slope (at 250 m depth) and enables accurate geophysical measurements in conditions of very low environmental noise.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is the purposeful recharge of an aquifer for later recovery or environmental benefits and represents a valuable method for sustainable water resources management. Models can be helpful tools for the assessment of MAR systems. This review encompasses a survey and an analysis of case studies which apply flow and transport models to evaluate MAR. The observed modeling objectives include the planning or optimization of MAR schemes as well as the identification and quantification of geochemical processes during injection, storage and recovery. The water recovery efficiency and the impact of the injected water on the ambient groundwater are further objectives investigated in the reviewed studies. These objectives are mainly solved by using groundwater flow models. Unsaturated flow models, solute transport models, reactive geochemical models as well as water balance models are also frequently applied and often coupled. As each planning step to setup a new MAR facility requires cost and time investment, modeling is used to minimize hazard risks and assess possible constraints of the system such as low recovery efficiency, clogging and geochemical processes.

MESCH / Department of Hydrology and Water Resources

The increasing commercial and industrial use of ethanol, i.e., in biofuel and gasoline, has generated increased incidents of vadose zone contamination by way of ethanol spills and releases. This has increased the interest in better understanding infiltration behaviours of ethanol in unsaturated porous media and the multiphase interactions in the vadose zone. Solute-dependent capillarity-induced focused flow (SCIFF) is a vertical, highly focused flow infiltration behaviour first reported by Smith et al. (2011) in butanol-contaminated sands. Through the use of highly controlled laboratory experiments, this thesis research investigates focused flow (SCIFF) and related behaviours through water infiltration into ethanol-contaminated unsaturated sand. Focused flow behaviours (SCIFF) were demonstrated through the infiltration of water into an ethanol-contaminated unsaturated sand using both constant flux and constant head methodologies. The observation of focused flow behaviours in ethanol-contaminated sand supported the primary hypothesis of this work. The secondary hypothesis was also supported, as focused flow behaviours were not observed, rather stable semicircular infiltration patterns were observed during ethanol infiltration into water-wet sand. Comparisons between constant flux and constant head application methods under similar flow rates and fluid volumes produced similar results. The zone of lower saturation, or the “halo effect” reported in previous literature, was strongly expressed during water infiltration in ethanol-contaminated sand. This halo effect is affected by the maximum (at 40% to 50%) of aqueous concentration of ethanol. This maximum enhances the zone of lower saturation and stabilizes the solute front. The SCIFF focused flow also overcame the effects of minor heterogeneities in the sand. However, additional laboratory and modelling work is required to further understand the extent of SCIFF behaviour. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Understanding the behaviour and interaction of water and contaminants in soils is important as environmental contamination and spills can have devastating environmental impacts. In recent decades, ethanol spills and accidental releases onto ground surface have increased as the commercial and industrial use of ethanol has increased. The goals of this work were to qualitatively visualize and quantify the unique nature of water infiltration into the ethanol-contaminated soil and understand the complex mechanisms behind water-ethanol interactions. This research showed that water infiltration creates an uncommon vertical, focused pattern when flowing into sand contaminated by ethanol. However, when ethanol is applied to standard water-wet sand, that behaviour is not observed. This work provided greater insight into the nature of ethanol-contaminated soils. These findings furthered the understanding needed to evaluate impacts that ethanol contamination can have on remedial efforts and the rate of migration of contaminants to groundwater.