An Advection‐Diffusion Concept for Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Unconsolidated Geological Deposits

Abstract

In layered permeable deposits with flow predominately parallel to the bedding, advection causes rapid solute transport in the more permeable layers. As the solute advances more rapidly in these layers, solute mass is continually transferred to the less permeable layers as a result of molecular diffusion due to the concentration gradient between the layers. The interlayer solute transfer causes the concentration to decline along the permeable layers at the expense of increasing the concentration in the less permeable layers, which produces strongly dispersed concentration profiles in the direction of flow. The key parameters affecting the dispersive capability of the layered system are the diffusion coefficients for the less permeable layers, the thicknesses of the layers, and the hydraulic conductivity contrasts between the layers. Because interlayer solute transfer by transverse molecular diffusion is a time‐dependent process, the advection‐diffusion concept predicts a rate of longitudinal spreading during the development of the dispersion process that is inconsistent with the classical Fickian dispersion model. A second consequence of the solute‐storage effect offered by transverse diffusion into low‐permeability layers is a rate of migration of the frontal portion of a contaminant in the permeable layers that is less than the groundwater velocity. Although various lines of evidence are presented in support of the advection‐diffusion concept, more work is required to determine the range of geological materials for which it is applicable and to develop mathematical expressions that will make it useful as a predictive tool for application to field cases of contaminant migration.