Steven F. Thornton, Michael J. Spence, S. Bottrell, K. H. Spence
{"title":"Natural attenuation of dissolved petroleum fuel constituents in a fractured Chalk aquifer: Contaminant mass balance with probabilistic analysis","authors":"Steven F. Thornton, Michael J. Spence, S. Bottrell, K. H. Spence","doi":"10.1144/qjegh2023-116","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n A plume-scale mass balance is developed to assess the natural attenuation (NA) of dissolved organic contaminants in fractured, dual porosity aquifers. This methodology can be used to evaluate contaminant distribution within the aquifer, plume source term, contaminant biodegradation and plume status. The approach is illustrated for a site on the UK Upper Chalk aquifer impacted by petroleum fuel containing MTBE and TAME. Variability in site investigation data and uncertainty in the mass balance was assessed using probabilistic analysis. The analysis shows that BTEX compounds are biodegraded primarily by denitrification and sulphate reduction in the aquifer, with an equivalent plume-scale first-order biodegradation rate of 0.49 year\n -1\n . Other biodegradation processes are less important. Sorption contributes to hydrocarbon attenuation in the aquifer but is less important for MTBE and TAME. Uncertainty in the plume source term and site hydrogeological parameters had the greatest effect on the mass balance. The probabilistic analysis enabled the most likely long-term composition of the plume source term to be deduced and provided a site-specific estimate of contaminant mass flux for the prediction of plume development. The mass balance methodology provides a novel approach to improve NA assessments for petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants in these aquifer settings.\n \n \n Thematic collection:\n This article is part of the Monitoring the aquifers collection available at:\n https://www.lyellcollection.org/topic/collections/monitoring-the-aquifers\n \n \n Supplementary material:\n https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7016429\n","PeriodicalId":20937,"journal":{"name":"Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2023-116","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, GEOLOGICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A plume-scale mass balance is developed to assess the natural attenuation (NA) of dissolved organic contaminants in fractured, dual porosity aquifers. This methodology can be used to evaluate contaminant distribution within the aquifer, plume source term, contaminant biodegradation and plume status. The approach is illustrated for a site on the UK Upper Chalk aquifer impacted by petroleum fuel containing MTBE and TAME. Variability in site investigation data and uncertainty in the mass balance was assessed using probabilistic analysis. The analysis shows that BTEX compounds are biodegraded primarily by denitrification and sulphate reduction in the aquifer, with an equivalent plume-scale first-order biodegradation rate of 0.49 year
-1
. Other biodegradation processes are less important. Sorption contributes to hydrocarbon attenuation in the aquifer but is less important for MTBE and TAME. Uncertainty in the plume source term and site hydrogeological parameters had the greatest effect on the mass balance. The probabilistic analysis enabled the most likely long-term composition of the plume source term to be deduced and provided a site-specific estimate of contaminant mass flux for the prediction of plume development. The mass balance methodology provides a novel approach to improve NA assessments for petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants in these aquifer settings.
Thematic collection:
This article is part of the Monitoring the aquifers collection available at:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/topic/collections/monitoring-the-aquifers
Supplementary material:
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7016429
期刊介绍:
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology is owned by the Geological Society of London and published by the Geological Society Publishing House.
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology (QJEGH) is an established peer reviewed international journal featuring papers on geology as applied to civil engineering mining practice and water resources. Papers are invited from, and about, all areas of the world on engineering geology and hydrogeology topics. This includes but is not limited to: applied geophysics, engineering geomorphology, environmental geology, hydrogeology, groundwater quality, ground source heat, contaminated land, waste management, land use planning, geotechnics, rock mechanics, geomaterials and geological hazards.
The journal publishes the prestigious Glossop and Ineson lectures, research papers, case studies, review articles, technical notes, photographic features, thematic sets, discussion papers, editorial opinion and book reviews.