Groundwater Fluxes Across Interfaces

Estimates of groundwater recharge and discharge rates are needed at many different scales for many different purposes. These include such tasks as evaluating landslide risks, managing groundwater resources, locating nuclear waste repositories, and estimating global budgets of water and greenhouse gasses. The report focuses on scientific challenges in (1) spatial and temporal variability of recharge and discharge, (2) how information at one scale can be used at another, and (3) the effects of groundwater on climate and vice versa.

Estimates of groundwater recharge and discharge rates are needed at many different scales for many different purposes. These include such tasks as evaluating landslide risks, managing groundwater resources, locating nuclear waste repositories, and estimating global budgets of water and greenhouse gasses. Groundwater Fluxes Across Interfaces focuses on scientific challenges in (1) the spatial and temporal variability of recharge and discharge, (2) how information at one scale can be used at another, and (3) the effects of groundwater on climate and vice versa.

Estimates of groundwater recharge and discharge rates are needed at many different scales for many different purposes. These include such tasks as evaluating landslide risks, managing groundwater resources, locating nuclear waste repositories, and estimating global budgets of water and greenhouse gasses. Groundwater Fluxes Across Interfaces focuses on scientific challenges in (1) the spatial and temporal variability of recharge and discharge, (2) how information at one scale can be used at another, and (3) the effects of groundwater on climate and vice versa.

Ecohydrological Interfaces Comprehensive overview of the process dynamics and interactions governing ecohydrological interfaces Summarizing the interdisciplinary investigation of ecohydrological interface functioning, Ecohydrological Interfaces advances the understanding of their dynamics across traditional subject boundaries. It offers a detailed explanation of the underlying mechanisms and process interactions governing ecohydrological interface functioning from the micro scale to the ecosystem and regional scale. The multidisciplinary team of authors integrates and synthesises the current understanding of process dynamics at different ecohydrological interfaces to develop a unifying concept of their ecosystem functions. The work introduces novel experimental and model-based methods for characterizing and quantifying ecohydrological interface processes, taking account of innovative sensing and tracing technologies as well as microbial and molecular biology approaches. Key questions addressed in the book include: Which conditions stimulate the transformative nature of ecohydrological interfaces? How are ecohydrological interfaces organized in space and time? How does interface activity propagate from small to large scales? How do ecohydrological interfaces react to environmental change and what is their role in processes of significant societal value? As a research level text on the functionality and performance of ecohydrological interfaces, Ecohydrological Interfaces is primarily aimed at academics and postgraduate researchers. It is also appropriate for university libraries as further reading on a range of geographical, environmental, biological, and engineering topics.

Recent years have seen a paradigm shift in our understanding of groundwater–surface water interactions: surface water and aquifers were long considered discrete, separate entities; they are now understood as integral components of a surface–subsurface continuum. This book provides an overview of current research advances and innovative approaches in groundwater–surface water interactions. The 20 research articles and 1 communication cover a wide range of thematic scopes, scales, and experimental and modelling methods across different disciplines (hydrology, aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry, and environmental pollution). The book identifies current knowledge gaps and reveals the challenges in establishing standardized measurement, observation, and assessment approaches. It includes current hot topcis with environmental and societal relevance such as eutrophication, retention of legacy, and emerging pollutants (e.g., pharmaceuticals and microplastics), urban water interfaces, and climate change impacts. The book demonstrates the relevance of processes at groundwater–surface water interfaces for (1) regional water balances and (2) quality and quantity of drinking water resources. As such, this book represents the long-awaited transfer of the above-mentioned paradigm shift in understanding of groundwater–surface water interactions from science to practice.

A comprehensive account of the state of the science of environmental mass transport Edited by Louis J. Thibodeaux and Donald Mackay, renowned experts in this field, the Handbook of Chemical Mass Transport in the Environment covers those processes which are critically important for assessing chemical fate, exposure, and risk. In a comprehensive and authoritative format, this unique handbook provides environmental chemists, geoscientists, engineers, and modelers with the essential capabilities to understand and quantify transport. In addition, it offers a one-stop resource on environmental mass transfer and mass transport coefficient estimation methods for all genres. The book begins by discussing mass transport fundamentals from an environmental perspective. It introduces the concept of mobility — key to environmental fate, since transport must occur prior to any reaction or partitioning within the natural multimedia compartments. The fugacity approach to environmental mass transfer and the conventional approach are examined. This is followed by a description of the individual mass transport processes and the appropriate flux equations required for a quantitative expression. The editors have identified 41 individual processes believed to be the most environmentally significant, which form the basis for the remainder of the book Using a consistent format for easy reference, each chapter: Introduces the specific processes Provides a detailed qualitative description Presents key theoretical mathematical formulations Describes field or laboratory measurements of transport parameters Gives data tables and algorithms for numerical estimates Offers a guide for users familiar with the process who are seeking a direct pathway to obtain the numerical coefficients Presents computed example problems, case studies and/or exercises with worked-through solutions and answers The final chapter presents the editors’ insight into future needs and emerging priorities. Accessible and relevant to a broad range of science and engineering users, this volume captures the state of the transport science and practice in this critical area.

This new edition adds several new chapters and is thoroughly updated to include data on new topics such as hydraulic fracturing, CO2 sequestration, sustainable groundwater management, and more. Providing a complete treatment of the theory and practice of groundwater engineering, this new handbook also presents a current and detailed review of how to model the flow of water and the transport of contaminants both in the unsaturated and saturated zones, covers the protection of groundwater, and the remediation of contaminated groundwater.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) disaster that occurred in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, was one of the most devastating in human history. Using this as a case study, the AGU monograph Groundwater Vulnerability: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster is devoted to the problem of groundwater vulnerability, where the results of long-term field and modeling investigations of radionuclide transport in soil and groundwater, within the Ukrainian part of the Dnieper River basin (Kyiv region of Ukraine), are discussed. The authors provide a comprehensive review of existing literature on the assessment of groundwater vulnerability and then describe an improved methodology, which is developed based on integration of the methods of hydrogeological zonation and modeling of anomalously fast migration of radioactive contaminants from the land surface toward groundwater. This volume also includes the evaluation of the effect of preferential and episodic flow on transport of radionuclides toward the aquifers and risk assessment of groundwater vulnerability, which can further assist future researchers in developing remediation technologies for improving drinking water quality. Further, this volume sheds light on the consequences of groundwater contamination from nuclear disasters and assists with assessing the risks associated with contamination and developing effective remediation technologies. Volume highlights include discussions of the following: Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster Novel analytical results of the 25-year investigations of groundwater contamination caused by Chernobyl-born radionuclides The wealth of data on different modes of radioactive transport in the atmosphere, water, and soils, and along the food chains The hydrogeological and physico-chemical processes and factors in groundwater contaminated zones The applicability of commonly used methods of the evaluation of groundwater vulnerability A unique method of fluid dynamics that involves an anomalously fast migration of contaminants through zones of preferential flow from the land surface toward groundwater Building confidence in the assessment of migration pathways of radionuclides in the biosphere Assessment and prediction of the consequences of the nuclear accident, which can shed light on protection from global nuclear accidents Analogue information for different nuclear waste disposal and environmental projects around the world