Spatially variable organic-matter-driven clogging in a stormwater infiltration pond: Isotopic, microbiological and hydrogeological evidence.

Stormwater infiltration ponds (SIPs) are nature-based solutions which tend to decrease their infiltration capacity over time due to pore clogging. Organic matter (OM) is a well-known clogging driver, but how OM affects the physical and biochemical processes in a SIP remains largely unknown. An analysis encompassing soil organic carbon (SOC) stable isotopes, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of biofilms, DNA-based identification of microbiological communities and hydrogeological tests was carried out to elucidate the main clogging mechanisms in a large SIP in Italy.

Evaluating dual-domain models for upscaling multicomponent reactive transport in mine waste rock.

Reactive transport models have proven abilities to simulate the quantity and quality of drainage from mine waste rock. Tracer experiments indicate the presence of fast and slow flow regimes in many heterogeneous waste-rock piles. Although multidomain models have been developed specifically for systems with such distinctive hydrodynamics, there have been limited applications of multidomain reactive transport models to simulate composite drainage chemistries from waste-rock piles to date.

Evaluation of single- and dual-porosity models for reproducing the release of external and internal tracers from heterogeneous waste-rock piles.

Accurate predictions of solute release from waste-rock piles (WRPs) are paramount for decision making in mining-related environmental processes. Tracers provide information that can be used to estimate effective transport parameters and understand mechanisms controlling the hydraulic and geochemical behavior of WRPs. It is shown that internal tracers (i.

Stochastic multicomponent reactive transport analysis of low quality drainage release from waste rock piles: Controls of the spatial distribution of acid generating and neutralizing minerals.

In mining environmental applications, it is important to assess water quality from waste rock piles (WRPs) and estimate the likelihood of acid rock drainage (ARD) over time. The mineralogical heterogeneity of WRPs is a source of uncertainty in this assessment, undermining the reliability of traditional bulk indicators used in the industry. We focused in this work on the bulk neutralizing potential ratio (NPR), which is defined as the ratio of the content of non-acid-generating minerals (typically reactive carbonates such as calcite) to the content of potentially acid-generating minerals (typically sulfides such as pyrite).

Implications of the change in confinement status of a heterogeneous aquifer for scale-dependent dispersion and mass-transfer processes.

A series of experimental tracer tests were performed to explore the implications of the change in the pressure status of a heterogeneous bimodal aquifer for scale-dependent dispersion and mass-transfer processes. The sandbox was filled with sands and gravel channels and patches to form an alluvial-like bimodal aquifer. We performed multiple injections of a conservative tracer from 26 different locations of the sandbox and interpreted the resulting depth-integrated breakthrough curves (BTCs) at the central pumping well to obtain a scale-dependent distribution of local and field-integrated apparent longitudinal dispersivity (respectively, α and α).