RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to to characterize and analyze in-situ flow and transport within the vadose zone during a mid-scale hydrologic infiltration experiment. This project has employed numerical and experimental tools developed under a previously funded EMSP proposal (project number 55332) to provide 3-D unsaturated hydrologic property distributions. In the present pr...

Chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) are one of the pollutant groups most commonly found in hazardous waste sites. Understanding the transport and fate of these compounds in the vadose zone is crucial to identifying pollution sources, assessing the threat to groundwater, and evaluating the need and adequacy of cleanup. CHCs exist in various physical phases in the subsurface, linked by interphasal pr...

The unsaturated zone (UZ) extends across the Earth’s terrestrial surface and is central to many problems related land water resource management. Flow of through UZ typically thought be slow diffusive, such that it could attenuate fluxes dampen variability between atmospheric inputs underlying aquifer systems. This would reduce vulnerability contaminants water-related hazards. Reducing or negati...

Computer models to simulate pesticide transport in the unsaturated zone will be an important management tool in coming years. However, not many efforts were directed to validate the usefulness of such models. In this study, the simulation models GLEAMS, PRZM, and LEACHM were validated. The three models use different mathematical concepts to compute one-dimensional flow and transport in a homoge...

Capillary fringes are highly dynamic and periodically changing zones at the interface between the water-saturated aquifer and the unsaturated zone. As a consequence, we observe steep gradients in terms of hydraulic state variables, biogeochemical conditions, and thus, biological activity (Berkowitz et al., 2004). With fluctuations of the groundwater table, this reactive zone moves dynamically a...