Forced-gradient Tracer Tests Research Articles

Field Scale Mobility and Transport Manipulation of Carbon-Supported Nanoscale Zerovalent Iron in Fractured Media.

In field applications, mostly in porous media, transport of stabilized nano zerovalent iron particles (nZVI) has never exceeded a few meters in range. In the present study, the transport of Carbo-Iron Colloids (CIC), a composite material of activated carbon as a carrier for nZVI stabilized by carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), was tested under field conditions. The field site lies within a fractured chalk aquitard characterized by moderately saline (∼13 mS) groundwater. A forced gradient tracer test was conducted where one borehole was pumped at a rate of 8 L/min and CMC-stabilized CIC was introduced at an injection borehole 47 m up-gradient. Two CIC-CMC field applications were conducted: one used high 100% wt CMC (40 g/L) and a second used lower 9% wt loading (∼2.7 g/L). Iodide was injected as a conservative tracer with the CIC-CMC in both cases. The ratio between the CIC-CMC and iodide recovery was 76% and 45% in the high and low CMC loading experiments, respectively. During the low CMC loading experiment, the pumping rate was increased, leading to an additional CIC recovery of 2.5%. The results demonstrate the potentially high mobility of nZVI in fractured environments and the possibility for transport manipulation through the adjustment of stabilizer concentration and transport velocity.

Numerical modelling of a forced gradient tracer test undertaken under non-ideal conditions

Pumping and tracer tests are common methods for the characterization of the aquifers used for supplying desalination plants. A case study is presented from Almería in SE Spain in which the unexpected movement of fine sediment caused by continuous pumping and incomplete removal of the drilling mud in the boreholes makes it impossible to conduct and interpret a standard tracer test. A modified tracer test was therefore performed in the unconsolidated clastic aquifer at this site and then interpreted numerically using two conceptual models: (1) a homogeneous model representing an unaltered medium; (2) a heterogeneous model incorporating an alteration zone around the borehole. The heterogeneous model produced a better calibration with more realistic parameter values for the aquifer and silty material (permeability, specific storage, effective porosity, dispersivity). The aquifer was characterized as a poorly sorted detrital sedimentary deposit with a large quantity of silt in the matrix. The conclusion is that advective transport dominates almost all the tracer movement. However, dispersive and/or diffuse transport determine the tail length of the breakthrough curve.

Combining 3D Hydraulic Tomography with Tracer Tests for Improved Transport Characterization.

Hydraulic tomography (HT) is a method for resolving the spatial distribution of hydraulic parameters to some extent, but many details important for solute transport usually remain unresolved. We present a methodology to improve solute transport predictions by combining data from HT with the breakthrough curve (BTC) of a single forced-gradient tracer test. We estimated the three dimensional (3D) hydraulic-conductivity field in an alluvial aquifer by inverting tomographic pumping tests performed at the Hydrogeological Research Site Lauswiesen close to Tübingen, Germany, using a regularized pilot-point method. We compared the estimated parameter field to available profiles of hydraulic-conductivity variations from direct-push injection logging (DPIL), and validated the hydraulic-conductivity field with hydraulic-head measurements of tests not used in the inversion. After validation, spatially uniform parameters for dual-domain transport were estimated by fitting tracer data collected during a forced-gradient tracer test. The dual-domain assumption was used to parameterize effects of the unresolved heterogeneity of the aquifer and deemed necessary to fit the shape of the BTC using reasonable parameter values. The estimated hydraulic-conductivity field and transport parameters were subsequently used to successfully predict a second independent tracer test. Our work provides an efficient and practical approach to predict solute transport in heterogeneous aquifers without performing elaborate field tracer tests with a tomographic layout.

Identification of small-scale low and high permeability layers using single well forced-gradient tracer tests: Fluorescent dye imaging and modelling at the laboratory-scale

Heterogeneity in aquifer permeability, which creates paths of varying mass flux and spatially complex contaminant plumes, can complicate the interpretation of contaminant fate and transport in groundwater. Identifying the location of high mass flux paths is critical for the reliable estimation of solute transport parameters and design of groundwater remediation schemes. Dipole flow tracer tests (DFTTs) and push-pull tests (PPTs) are single well forced-gradient tests which have been used at field-scale to estimate aquifer hydraulic and transport properties. In this study, the potential for PPTs and DFTTs to resolve the location of layered high- and low-permeability layers in granular porous media was investigated with a pseudo 2-D bench-scale aquifer model. Finite element fate and transport modelling was also undertaken to identify appropriate set-ups for in situ tests to determine the type, magnitude, location and extent of such layered permeability contrasts at the field-scale. The characteristics of flow patterns created during experiments were evaluated using fluorescent dye imaging and compared with the breakthrough behaviour of an inorganic conservative tracer. The experimental results show that tracer breakthrough during PPTs is not sensitive to minor permeability contrasts for conditions where there is no hydraulic gradient. In contrast, DFTTs are sensitive to the type and location of permeability contrasts in the host media and could potentially be used to establish the presence and location of high or low mass flux paths. Numerical modelling shows that the tracer peak breakthrough time and concentration in a DFTT is sensitive to the magnitude of the permeability contrast (defined as the permeability of the layer over the permeability of the bulk media) between values of 0.01–20. DFTTs are shown to be more sensitive to deducing variations in the contrast, location and size of aquifer layered permeability contrasts when a shorter central packer is used. However, larger packer sizes are more likely to be practical for field-scale applications, with fewer tests required to characterise a given aquifer section. The sensitivity of DFTTs to identify layered permeability contrasts was not affected by test flow rate.

A Method for Conducting Simultaneous Convergent Tracer Tests in Multilayered Aquifers

Forced gradient tracer tests between two boreholes can be used to study contaminant transport processes at the small field scale or investigate the transport properties of an aquifer. Full depth tests, in which tracer samples are collected just from the discharge of the abstraction borehole, often give rise to breakthrough curves with multiple peaks that are usually attributed to different flow paths through the aquifer that can rarely be identified from the test results alone. Tests in selected levels of the aquifer, such as those between packer-isolated sections of the boreholes, are time consuming, expensive; and the identification of major transport pathways is not guaranteed. We present a method for simultaneously conducting multiple tracer tests covering the full depth of the boreholes, in which tracer sampling and monitoring is carried out by a novel multilevel sampling system allowing high frequency and cumulative sampling options. The method is applied to a tracer test using fluorescein conducted in the multilayered sandstone aquifer beneath the city of Birmingham, UK, producing six well-defined tracer breakthrough curves.

Effective porosity of a carbonate aquifer with bacterial contamination: Walkerton, Ontario, Canada

Summary Preferential flow through solutionally enlarged fractures can be a significant influence on travel times and source area definition in carbonate aquifers. However, it has proven challenging to step beyond a conceptual model to implementing, parameterizing and testing an appropriate numerical model of preferential flow. Here both porous medium and preferential flow models are developed with respect to a deadly contamination of the municipal groundwater supply at Walkerton, Ontario, Canada. The preferential flow model is based on simple orthogonal fracture aperture and spacing. The models are parameterized from borehole, gamma, flow and video logs resulting in a two order of magnitude lower effective porosity for the preferential flow model. The observed hydraulic conductivity and effective porosity are used to predict groundwater travel times using a porous medium model. These model predictions are compared to a number of independent estimates of effective porosity, including three forced gradient tracer tests. The results show that the effective porosity and hydraulic conductivity values closely match the preferential flow predictions for an equivalent fracture network of ∼10 m spacing of 1 mm fractures. Three tracer tests resulted in groundwater velocities of hundreds of meters per day, as predicted when an effective porosity of 0.05% was used in the groundwater model. These velocities are consistent with a compilation of 185 tracer test velocities from regional Paleozoic carbonate aquifers. The implication is that carbonate aquifers in southern Ontario are characterized by relatively low-volume dissolutionally-enlarged fracture networks that dominate flow and transport. The porous matrix has large storage capacity, but contributes little to transport. Numerical models based on much higher porosities risk significantly underestimating capture zones in such aquifers. The hydraulic conductivity – effective porosity prediction framework provides a general analytical framework for a preferential flow carbonate aquifer. Not only is the framework readily parameterized from borehole observations, but also it can be implemented in a conventional porous medium model, and critically tested using simple tracer tests.

Fluorescent dye imaging of the volume sampled by single well forced-gradient tracer tests evaluated in a laboratory-scale aquifer physical model

This study presents a new method to visualise forced-gradient tracer tests in 2-D using a laboratory-scale aquifer physical model. Experiments were designed to investigate the volume of aquifer sampled in vertical dipole flow tracer tests (DFTT) and push–pull tests (PPT), using a miniature monitoring well and straddle packer arrangement equipped with solute injection and recovery chambers. These tests have previously been used to estimate bulk aquifer hydraulic and transport properties for the evaluation of natural attenuation and other remediation approaches. Experiments were performed in a silica glass bead-filled box, using a fluorescent tracer (fluorescein) to deduce conservative solute transport paths. Digital images of fluorescein transport were captured under ultraviolet light and processed to analyse tracer plume geometry and obtain point-concentration breakthrough histories. Inorganic anion mixtures were also used to obtain conventional tracer breakthrough histories. Concentration data from the conservative tracer breakthrough curves was compared with the digital images and a well characterised numerical model. The results show that the peak tracer breakthrough response in dipole flow tracer tests samples a zone of aquifer close to the well screen, while the sampling volume of push–pull tests is limited by the length of the straddle packers used. The effective sampling volume of these single well forced-gradient tests in isotropic conditions can be estimated with simple equations. The experimental approach offers the opportunity to evaluate under controlled conditions the theoretical basis, design and performance of DFTTs and PPTs in porous media in relation to measured flow and transport properties. 2 2 DFTT = Dipole Flow Tracer Test, PPT = Push Pull Tracer Test.

Convergent tracer tests in multilayered aquifers: The importance of vertical flow in the injection borehole

A mathematical model describing the steady state flows in a forced gradient tracer test between an injection and pumping borehole in a multilayered sandstone aquifer has been developed that includes the effect of vertically variable background heads. A second model describing the recovery of tracer from a layer in which there are discharges due to vertical flow in the injection borehole is also presented. Application of the models to field tracer test data indicates that the observed recoveries, which are not proportional to the abstraction rate in each layer, are consistent with the hydraulic behavior of the aquifer when natural vertical head gradients are taken into account. Investigation with the models illustrates that the vertical distribution of tracer recovery depends strongly upon the background heads and that tracer tests conducted in the same aquifer, but at different times, may interrogate different aquifer layers. It is also shown generally that for a given abstraction rate the vertical distribution of tracer recovery in small‐scale tracer tests is controlled largely by the transmissivity distribution but that as the spatial scale of the test increases, the distribution of recovery becomes proportional to the discharges from the injection borehole because of vertical flows within it, which may be natural or induced by pumping in the monitoring borehole. Uncertainties inherent in the design of forced gradient tracer tests in multilayered aquifers and the problems of applying the results of such tests to natural gradient contaminant migration are discussed.

Line‐Source Multi‐Tracer Test for Assessing High Groundwater Velocity

Segmented line-source multi-tracer injection is suggested as an effective method for assessing groundwater velocities and flow directions in subsurfaces characterized by high water flux. Modifying the common techniques of injecting a tracer into a well became necessary after point-source natural and forced gradient tracer tests ended with no reliable information on the local groundwater flow. The tracer's line-source increases the likelihood of success of the test and could provide additional information regarding the lateral heterogeneity of the aquifer. In a field experiment conducted in the northwestern part on the Dead Sea coast, tracers were injected into an 8-m-long line injection system perpendicular to the assumed flow direction. The injection system was divided into four separate segments with four different tracers. An array of five boreholes located within a 10 × 10 m area downstream was used for monitoring the tracers' transport. Two dye tracers (uranine and Na naphthionate) were injected in a long pulse of several hours into two of the injection pipe segments. Two other tracers (Rhenium oxide and Gd-DTPA) were instantaneously injected into the other two segments. The tracers were detected 0.7 to 2.3 h after injection in four of the five observation wells, located 2.3 to 10 m away from the injection system. The groundwater velocity was determined to be ∼80 to 170 m/d, based on the recoveries of the tracers. The groundwater flow direction was derived based on the arrival of the tracers and was found to be quite consistent with the apparent direction of the hydraulic gradient.

Investigation of Small-Scale Preferential Flow with a Forced-Gradient Tracer Test

A new tracer experiment (referred to as MADE-5) was conducted at the well-known Macrodispersion Experiment (MADE) site to investigate the influence of small-scale mass-transfer and dispersion processes on well-to-well transport. The test was performed under dipole forced-gradient flow conditions and concentrations were monitored in an extraction well and in two multilevel sampler (MLS) wells located at 6, 1.5, and 3.75 m from the source, respectively. The shape of the breakthrough curve (BTC) measured at the extraction well is strongly asymmetric showing a rapidly arriving peak and an extensive late-time tail. The BTCs measured at seven different depths in the two MLSs are radically different from one another in terms of shape, arrival times, and magnitude of the concentration peaks. All of these characteristics indicate the presence of a complex network of preferential flow pathways controlling solute transport at the test site. Field-experimental data were also used to evaluate two transport models: a stochastic advection-dispersion model (ADM) based on conditional multivariate Gaussian realizations of the hydraulic conductivity field and a dual-domain single-rate (DDSR) mass-transfer model based on a deterministic reconstruction of the aquifer heterogeneity. Unlike the stochastic ADM realizations, the DDSR accurately predicted the magnitude of the concentration peak and its arrival time (within a 1.5% error). For the multilevel BTCs between the injection and extraction wells, neither model reproduced the observed values, indicating that a high-resolution characterization of the aquifer heterogeneity at the subdecimeter scale would be needed to fully capture 3D transport details.

Effects of uncertainty of lithofacies, conductivity and porosity distributions on stochastic interpretations of a field scale tracer test

We investigate the importance of selecting two different methodologies for the determination of hydraulic conductivity from available grain-size distributions on the stochastic modeling of the depth-averaged breakthrough curve observed during a forced-gradient tracer test experiment. The latter was performed in the Lauswiesen alluvial aquifer, located near the city of Tubingen, Germany, by injecting NaBr into a well at a distance of about 50 m from a pumping well. We also examine the joint effect of the choice of the transport model adopted to describe solute transport at the site and the way the spatial distribution of porosity is assessed. In the absence of direct measurements of porosity, we consider: (a) the model used by Riva et al. (J Contam Hydrol 88:92–118, 2006; J Contam Hydrol 101:1–13, 2008), which relates the natural logarithms of effective porosity and conductivity through an empirical, experimentally-based, linear relationship derived for a nearby experimental site; and (b) a model based on a commonly used relationship linking the total porosity to the coefficient of uniformity of grain size distributions. Transport is described in terms of a purely advective process and/or by including mass exchange processes between mobile and immobile regions. Modeling of flow and transport is performed within a Monte Carlo framework, upon conceptualizing the aquifer as a random composite medium. Our results indicate that the model adopted to describe the correlation between conductivity and porosity and the way grain-sieve information are incorporated to depict the heterogeneous distribution of hydraulic conductivity can have relevant effects in the interpretation of the data at the site. All the conceptual models employed to describe the structural heterogeneity of the system and transport features can reasonably reproduce the global characteristics of the experimental depth-averaged breakthrough curve. Specific details, such as the peak concentration and the time of first arrival, can be better reproduced by a double porosity transport model when a correlation between conductivity and porosity based on grain size information at the site is considered. The best prediction of the late-time behavior of the measured breakthrough curves, in terms of the observed heavy tailing, is offered by directly linking porosity distribution to the spatial variability of particle size information.

Field comparison of the point velocity probe with other groundwater velocity measurement methods

Field testing of a new tool for measuring groundwater velocities at the centimeter scale, the point velocity probe (PVP), was undertaken at Canadian Forces Base, Borden, Ontario, Canada. The measurements were performed in a sheet pile‐bounded alleyway in which bulk flow rate and direction could be controlled. PVP velocities were compared with those estimated from bulk flow, a Geoflo® instrument, borehole dilution, colloidal borescope measurements, and a forced gradient tracer test. In addition, the velocity profiles were compared with vertical variations in hydraulic conductivity (K) measured by permeameter testing of core samples and in situ high‐resolution slug tests. There was qualitative agreement between the trends in velocity and K among all the various methods. The PVP and Geoflo® meter tests returned average velocity magnitudes of 30.2 ± 7.7 to 34.7 ± 13.1 cm/d (depending on prior knowledge of flow direction in PVP tests) and 36.5 ± 10.6, respectively, which were near the estimated bulk velocity (20 cm/d). The other direct velocity measurement techniques yielded velocity estimates 5 to 12 times the bulk velocity. Best results with the PVP instrument were obtained by jetting the instrument into place, though this method may have introduced a slight positive bias to the measured velocities. The individual estimates of point velocity direction varied, but the average of the point velocity directions agreed quite well with the expected bulk flow direction. It was concluded that the PVP method is a viable technique for use in the field, where high‐resolution velocity data are required.

Pathogen and chemical transport in the karst limestone of the Biscayne aquifer: 1. Revised conceptualization of groundwater flow

The Biscayne aquifer is a highly transmissive karst limestone that serves as the sole source of drinking water to over two million residents in south Florida. The aquifer is characterized by eogenetic karst, where the most transmissive void space can be an interconnected, touching‐vug, biogenically influenced porosity of biogenic origin. Public supply wells in the aquifer are in close proximity to lakes established by surface mining. The mining of the limestone has occurred to the same depths as the production wells, which has raised concerns about pathogen and chemical transport from these surface water bodies. Hydraulic and forced gradient tracer tests were conducted to augment geologic and geophysical studies and to develop a hydrogeologic conceptual model of groundwater flow and chemical transport in the Biscayne aquifer. Geologic and geophysical data indicate multiple, areally extensive subhorizontal preferential flow zones of vuggy limestone separated by rock with a matrix pore system. The hydraulic response from an aquifer test suggests that the Biscayne aquifer behaves as a dual‐porosity medium; however, the results of the tracer test showed rapid transport similar to other types of karst. The tracer test and concurrent temperature logging revealed that only one of the touching‐vug flow zones dominates transport near the production wells. On the basis of the rising limb of the breakthrough curve, the dispersivity is estimated to be less than 3% of the tracer travel distance, which suggests that the fastest flow paths in the formation are likely to yield limited dilution of chemical constituents.

Relative importance of geostatistical and transport models in describing heavily tailed breakthrough curves at the Lauswiesen site

We analyze the relative importance of the selection of (1) the geostatistical model depicting the structural heterogeneity of an aquifer, and (2) the basic processes to be included in the conceptual model, to describe the main aspects of solute transport at an experimental site. We focus on the results of a forced-gradient tracer test performed at the “Lauswiesen” experimental site, near Tübingen, Germany. In the experiment, NaBr is injected into a well located 52 m from a pumping well. Multilevel breakthrough curves (BTCs) are measured in the latter. We conceptualize the aquifer as a three-dimensional, doubly stochastic composite medium, where distributions of geomaterials and attributes, e.g., hydraulic conductivity ( K) and porosity ( ϕ), can be uncertain. Several alternative transport processes are considered: advection, advection–dispersion and/or mass-transfer between mobile and immobile regions. Flow and transport are tackled within a stochastic Monte Carlo framework to describe key features of the experimental BTCs, such as temporal moments, peak time, and pronounced tailing. We find that, regardless the complexity of the conceptual transport model adopted, an adequate description of heterogeneity is crucial for generating alternative equally likely realizations of the system that are consistent with (a) the statistical description of the heterogeneous system, as inferred from the data, and (b) salient features of the depth-averaged breakthrough curve, including preferential paths, slow release of mass particles, and anomalous spreading. While the available geostatistical characterization of heterogeneity can explain most of the integrated behavior of transport (depth-averaged breakthrough curve), not all multilevel BTCs are described with equal success. This suggests that transport models simply based on integrated measurements may not ensure an accurate representation of many of the important features required in three-dimensional transport models.

Tracer Mass Recovery in Fractured Aquifers Estimated from Multiple Well Tests

Forced-gradient tracer tests in fractured aquifers often report low mass recoveries. In fractured aquifers, fractures intersected by one borehole may not be intersected by another. As a result (1) injected tracer can follow pathways away from the withdrawal well causing low mass recovery and (2) recovered water can follow pathways not connected to the injection well causing significant tracer dilution. These two effects occur along with other forms of apparent mass loss. If the strength of the connection between wells and the amount of dilution can be predicted ahead of time, tracer tests can be designed to optimize mass recovery and dilution. A technique is developed to use hydraulic tests in fractured aquifers to calculate the conductance (strength of connection) between well pairs and to predict mass recovery and amount of dilution during forced gradient tracer tests. Flow is considered to take place through conduits, which connect the wells to each other and to distant sources or sinks. Mass recovery is related to the proportion of flow leaving the injection well and arriving at the withdrawal well, and dilution is related to the proportion of the flow from the withdrawal well that is derived from the injection well. The technique can be used to choose well pairs for tracer tests, what injection and withdrawal rates to use, and which direction to establish the hydraulic gradient to maximize mass recovery and/or minimize dilution. The method is applied to several tracer tests in fractured aquifers in the Clare Valley, South Australia.

Mass-Transfer Limitations for Nitrate Removal in a Uranium-Contaminated Aquifer

A field test on in situ subsurface bioremediation of uranium(VI) is underway at the Y-12 National Security Complex in the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, TN. Nitrate has a high concentration at the site, which prevents U(VI) reduction, and thus must be removed. An acidic-flush strategy for nitrate removal was proposed to create a treatment zone with low levels of accessible nitrate. The subsurface at the site contains highly interconnected fractures surrounded by matrix blocks of low permeability and high porosity and is therefore subject to preferential flow and matrix diffusion. To identify the heterogeneous mass transfer properties, we performed a novel forced-gradient tracer test, which involved the addition of bromide, the displacement of nitrate, and the rebound of nitrate after completion of pumping. The simplest conceptualization consistent with the data is that the pore-space consists of a single mobile domain, as well as a fast and a slowly reacting immobile domain. The slowly reacting immobile domain (shale matrix) constitutes over 80% of the pore volume and acts as a long-term reservoir of nitrate. According to simulations, the nitrate stored in the slowly interacting immobile domain in the fast flow layer, at depths of about 12.2-13.7 m, will be reduced by an order of magnitude over a period of about a year. By contrast, the mobile domain rapidly responds to flushing, and a low average nitrate concentration can be maintained if the nitrate is removed as soon as it enters the mobile domain. A field-scale experiment in which the aquifer was flushed with acidic solution confirmed our understanding of the system. For the ongoing experiments on microbial U(VI) reduction, nitrate concentrations must be low in the mobile domain to ensure U(VI) reducing conditions. We therefore conclude that the nitrate leaching out of the immobile pore space must continuously be removed by in situ denitrification to maintain favorable conditions.

Double forced gradient tracer test: Performance and interpretation of a field test using a new solute transport model

A double forced gradient tracer test was performed in heterogeneous quaternary deposits of the Scheldt river in Belgium. The objectives of the test were to derive reliable hydraulic and solute transport parameters, to study the heterogeneity of the groundwater reservoir and to illustrate the practical utility of forced gradient tracer tests. Salt water was used as a conservative tracer. The tracer was injected with two injection wells and both plumes were pumped towards one intermediately placed pumping well. Before the forced gradient tracer test a short lasting pumping test was performed. Drawdown and concentration measurements were made in different observation wells during the pumping and forced gradient tracer test. The movement of the salt water was followed by measuring the electrical conductivity of the sediments around observation wells using a focussed electromagnetic induction method. The drawdown and concentration observations were then interpreted together. By combining these two sets of data, hydraulic and solute transport parameters were derived simultaneously and more accurately than in the case only one type of data is used. For this, a new 3D solute transport model TRACER3D, specifically designed to simulate accurately flow and solute transport towards a well, was developed. The behaviour of the two tracer plumes was totally different due to varying hydraulic and dispersive properties in the aquifer. Horizontal and vertical conductivity, specific elastic storage, effective porosity and longitudinal dispersivity were derived and brought into relation with the site's heterogeneity, visualised by natural gamma logs in the different wells.

The conceptualization of a channel network through macroscopic analysis of pumping and tracer tests in fractured chalk

A better conceptual understanding of flow and transport in fractured rocks can be gained through macroscopic interpretation of multi-borehole interference and tracer tests. A homogeneous dilution factor, expected in the pumping borehole in a forced-gradient tracer test, was developed based on flow-dimension analysis of an interference test. This expected dilution factor (HEDF) can be compared to the actual dilution factor (DF) inferred from an advection-based interpretation of the tracer test. These analyses were applied to tests performed in inclined boreholes intersecting fractured chalk in the Negev desert, Israel. The flow dimension observed in the interference test, the large differences between the HEDF and the DF calculated from the interference and tracer tests, respectively, combined with independent results of fracture surveys in nearby outcrops, imply that the dominant feature controlling flow at the site is a network of channels. This finding implies that parallel-plate-fracture transport models probably overestimate the role of matrix diffusion where channel flow predominates. A horizontal, homogeneous, isotropic channel dilution factor (HHICDF) was developed as a DF estimator, using interference-test analysis, and provided reasonable estimates of the dilution in the pumping borehole, for two independent tracer tests. This estimator can be used to predict the dilution of a solute injected near a pumping borehole. Finally, a simple method to estimate the contributions of fluxes from different injection boreholes to the pumping borehole in a multi-borehole tracer test is described. Such estimates can improve our understanding of aquifer anisotropy and heterogeneity at investigated sites.

Conservative and sorptive forced‐gradient and uniform flow tracer tests in a three‐dimensional laboratory test aquifer

Forced‐gradient tracer tests (FGTTs) and uniform flow tracer tests (UFTTs) were conducted in a unique physically and chemically highly heterogeneous three‐dimensional test aquifer to study the differences in the scale dependence and spatial variability of dispersivity and retardation factors estimated from temporal moments of breakthrough curves due to changes in the flow configuration and source sizes. It is experimentally shown that the distance scales at which dispersivities from FGTTs approach a constant value are larger than those from UFTTs. These discrepancies are largely emphasized when dispersivities from small‐source FGTTs are compared with those from large‐source UFTTs. Remarkably, point source FGTTs showed a late but substantial scale dependence of dispersivity. In practice, at usual field test scales (few spatial correlation scales), dispersivities estimated from small source FGTTs will significantly underestimate those needed to make predictions on the fate and transport of tracer plumes under natural gradients. Nonetheless, at large distances, asymptotic dispersivities from large source FGTTs were similar to those from large source UFTTs. A negative correlation between R and lnK developed an increase in dispersivities for reactive tracers in both uniform and forced‐gradient flow systems. Whereas in uniform flows retardation factors showed a decreasing scale dependence with distance approaching the arithmetic average of the retardation factor field at large distances, retardation factors from FGTTs exhibited a strong increasing scale dependence. Spatial variability of dispersivities and retardation factors estimated from FGTTs were larger than those from UFTTs.

Tracer tests for the investigation of heterogeneous porous media and stochastic modelling of flow and transport—a review of some recent developments

In heterogeneous porous aquifers, simulations and predictions of groundwater flow and solute (contaminant) transport require detailed knowledge of aquifer parameters and their spatial distribution. In most cases this information cannot easily be obtained at acceptable expenses. In general, subsurface investigation techniques are applied only at borehole locations, and the parameter values measured have to be regionalized in order to obtain continuous parameter fields. Geophysical measurements very often yield unsatisfactory results due to resolution, detection range and parameterisation problems. In such situations tracer tests offer the possibility to efficiently investigate the aquifer between the wells and to characterize the relevant aquifer properties based on effective parameter values. Tracer tests can be performed at laboratory and field-scales with depth integrated (two-dimensional) or multilevel (three-dimensional) set-ups, and under natural or forced hydraulic gradient conditions. Both non-reactive and reactive tracer compounds can be used. This contribution covers and gives examples on the following topics: depth integrated and three-dimensional natural and forced gradient tracer test methods together with their fields of application at different transport scales, novel tracer compounds and applications, high resolution multilevel–multitracer methods and high resolution multilevel–multitracer equipment, as well as approaches to evaluate tracer experiments and to quantify tracer transport. In this way the paper shows some recent trends in tracer based subsurface investigation and emphasizes the advantages and importance of modern tracer testing.