Abstract
Depth‐averaged reactive transport models are commonly used to represent field‐scale contamination in groundwater aquifers. These models rely on simplifying the governing equations through defining a depth‐averaged variable and vertically integrating the full reactive transport equation. This approach is exact provided that the governing equation is linear; however, vertically averaging a nonlinear conservation equation can introduce an error into the simplified model. We present a framework for analyzing this error so that the suitability of a depth‐averaged reactive transport model can be assessed quantitatively before the model is implemented. This framework shows how the error introduced by depth‐averaging reactive transport equations is governed by the parameters in the kinetic model and the geometry of the reactive transport problem.
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