Forced and natural gradient tracer tests in a highly heterogeneous porous aquifer: instrumentation and measurements

Abstract

At the Horkheimer Insel experimental field site, several short to intermediate distance forced and natural gradient tracer tests with depth-integrated and multilevel sampling were conducted to characterize the aquifer transport properties. Compared with other test sites, the aquifer at the Horkheimer Insel is highly heterogeneous and highly conductive. Hence, new tracer measurement techniques had to be developed. This paper presents some of the instrumentation developed together with measurements and their initial interpretation. The results demonstrate that for contaminant transport predictions in highly heterogeneous and highly conductive aquifers, investigation techniques with a high resolution in time and space are needed. The aquifer heterogeneity is evident from the spatial variability of peak concentration, transport velocity and longitudinal macrodispersivity values obtained from the tracer tests. Furthermore, the tracer test results indicate that at the observation scale investigated, a complex numerical flow and transport model is needed to describe adequately mass transport within the heterogeneous aquifer.