Instability in sloping layered warm-water aquifers

Abstract

In a recent paper [1] some questions were posed about fluid and heat flows in a geologically-stratified groundwater aquifer with a small slope, subject to a perpendicular temperature gradient. The strength of shear flows in the direction of the maximum slope and the associated convected heat flux were quantified. This paper continues the discussion, in particular about the stability of such flows and the shape of convective rolls that may form when the critical Rayleigh number is exceeded. The models formulated are for buoyancy-driven fluid flow in long, sloping warmwater aquifers with either smoothly-or discretely-layered structures.