Evaluating vertical transverse dispersion at sand/clay interfaces in groundwater systems

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Groundwater contamination is a serious threat to human and ecosystem health. Remediation of contaminated sites is often challenging because most sites are heterogeneous and contaminants are sequestered in low permeability zones such as clay lenses at these sites. Contaminants slowly diffuse out of these zones in a process referred to as back-diffusion. Back-diffusion at contaminated sites may increase remediation timeframe by decades to centuries. Back-diffusion rates from clay and silt lenses can be greatly impacted by transverse vertical dispersion at the the clay and silt interfaces with more permeable materials. The process of transverse vertical dispersion at interfaces is not well understood. The objective of this project is to develop improved understanding of transverse vertical dispersion through two-dimensional bench scale studies of contaminant transport in systems containing clay lenses. The results of the bench scale studies will be used to develop improved models for predicting contaminant transport in groundwater systems containing clay lenses.