The validity of the cubic law for laminar flow of fluids through open fractures consisting of parallel planar plates has been established by others over a wide range of conditions with apertures ranging down to a minimum of 0.2 µm. The law may be given in simplified form by Q/Δh = C(2b)3, where Q is the flow rate, Δh is the difference in hydraulic head, C is a constant that depends on the flow geometry and fluid properties, and 2b is the fracture aperture. The validity of this law for flow in a closed fracture where the surfaces are in contact and the aperture is being decreased under stress has been investigated at room temperature by using homogeneous samples of granite, basalt, and marble. Tension fractures were artificially induced, and the laboratory setup used radial as well as straight flow geometries. Apertures ranged from 250 down to 4µm, which was the minimum size that could be attained under a normal stress of 20 MPa. The cubic law was found to be valid whether the fracture surfaces were held open or were being closed under stress, and the results are not dependent on rock type. Permeability was uniquely defined by fracture aperture and was independent of the stress history used in these investigations. The effects of deviations from the ideal parallel plate concept only cause an apparent reduction in flow and may be incorporated into the cubic law by replacing C by C/ƒ. The factor ƒ varied from 1.04 to 1.65 in these investigations. The model of a fracture that is being closed under normal stress is visualized as being controlled by the strength of the asperities that are in contact. These contact areas are able to withstand significant stresses while maintaining space for fluids to continue to flow as the fracture aperture decreases. The controlling factor is the magnitude of the aperture, and since flow depends on (2b)3, a slight change in aperture evidently can easily dominate any other change in the geometry of the flow field. Thus one does not see any noticeable shift in the correlations of our experimental results in passing from a condition where the fracture surfaces were held open to one where the surfaces were being closed under stress.

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VALIDITY OF CUBIC LAW FOR FLUID FLOW IN A DEFORMABLE ROCK FRACTURE - eScholarship

Nitrate attenuation in groundwater: a review of biogeochemical controlling processes.

This review discusses the causes and consequences of 'non-equilibrium' water flow and solute transport in large structural pores or macropores (root and earthworm channels, fissures and interaggregate voids). The experimental evidence suggests that pores larger than c. 0.3 mm in equivalent cylindrical diameter allow rapid non-equilibrium flow. Apart from their large size and continuity, this is also due to the presence of impermeable linings and coatings that restrict lateral mass exchange. Macropores also represent microsites in soil that are more biologically active, and often more chemically reactive than the bulk soil. However, sorption retardation during transport through such pores is weaker than in the bulk soil, due to their small surface areas and significant kinetic effects, especially in larger macropores. The potential for non-equilibrium water flow and solute transport at any site depends on the nature of the macropore network, which is determined by the factors of structure formation and degradation, including the abundance and activity of soil biota such as earthworms, soil properties (e.g. clay content), site factors (e.g. slope position, drying intensity, vegetation) and management (e.g. cropping, tillage, traffic). A conceptual model is proposed that summarizes these effects of site factors on the inherent potential for non-equilibrium water flow and solute transport in macropores. Initial and boundary conditions determine the extent to which this potential is realized. High rain intensities clearly increase the strength of non-equilibrium flow in macropores, but the effects of initial water content seem complex, due to the confounding effects of soil shrinkage and water repellency. The impacts of macropore flow on water quality are most significant for relatively immobile solutes that are foreign to the soil and whose effects on ecosystem and human health are pronounced even at small leached fractions (e.g. pesticides). The review concludes with a discussion of topics where process understanding is still lacking, and also suggests some potential applications of the considerable knowledge that has accumulated in recent decades.

A review of non-equilibrium water flow and solute transport in soil macropores: principles, controlling factors and consequences for water quality

Antibiotics are used in animal livestock production for therapeutic treatment of disease and at subtherapeutic levels for growth promotion and improvement of feed efficiency. It is estimated that approximately 75% of antibiotics are not absorbed by animals and are excreted in waste. Antibiotic resistance selection occurs among gastrointestinal bacteria, which are also excreted in manure and stored in waste holding systems. Land application of animal waste is a common disposal method used in the United States and is a means for environmental entry of both antibiotics and genetic resistance determinants. Concerns for bacterial resistance gene selection and dissemination of resistance genes have prompted interest about the concentrations and biological activity of drug residues and break-down metabolites, and their fate and transport. Fecal bacteria can survive for weeks to months in the environment, depending on species and temperature, however, genetic elements can persist regardless of cell viability. Phylogenetic analyses indicate antibiotic resistance genes have evolved, although some genes have been maintained in bacteria before the modern antibiotic era. Quantitative measurements of drug residues and levels of resistance genes are needed, in addition to understanding the environmental mechanisms of genetic selection, gene acquisition, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of these resistance genes and their bacterial hosts. This review article discusses an accumulation of findings that address aspects of the fate, transport, and persistence of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in natural environments, with emphasis on mechanisms pertaining to soil environments following land application of animal waste effluent.

https://crashrecovery.org/zika/02-14MAR2008-Antibiotic-Resistance-Genes-J.Environ.Qual.May-June2009.pdf

Fate and transport of antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genes following land application of manure waste.

In this article, the modeling of subsurface virus transport under saturated conditions and the factors that affect adsorption and inactivation are evaluated. Both equilibrium and kinetic adsorption are considered. Equilibrium adsorption is found to be of little significance. Adsorption appears to be mainly kinetically limited. At pH 7 and higher, conditions are generally unfavorable for attachment, but viruses may preferentially attach to a minor surface fraction of soil grains that is positively charged. The relation of pH with surface charge and their effects on sticking efficiencies are evaluated. Dissolved organic matter decreases virus attachment by competition for the same binding sites and thus reduces attachment. Bonded organic matter may provide hydrophobic binding sites for viruses and thus enhance attachment. Dissolved organic matter may disrupt hydrophobic bonds. The enhancing and attenuating effects of organic matter are very difficult to quantify and may be responsible for considerable uncer...

Removal of Viruses by Soil Passage: Overview of Modeling, Processes, and Parameters

A series of ground-water flow and tracer experiments were performed on an undisturbed column of fractured clay-rich till, 0.5 m diameter by 0.5 m long, in a pressure-controlled cell. The measured hydraulic conductivity of the sample was 1.0 to 1.2 × 10–6 m/sec and the average hydraulic gradient during the tracer experiments ranged from 0.45 to 0.49. The experiments clearly show that ground-water flow and contaminant migration through the sample is primarily controlled by fractures and root holes. Tracer experiments using a solute (chloride), colloid-sized bacteriophage (PRD-1 and MS-2) and uncharged latex microspheres, indicated very fast transport rates of 4 to 360 m/day. These rates are similar to fracture flow velocities calculated on the basis of the measured bulk hydraulic conductivity of the column, and measured fracture spacing, using the cubic law for flow through parallel-walled fractures. Fracture aperture values calculated from the ground-water flow data (35 to 56 μxm) are of the same magnitude as values calculated from the breakthrough of tracers (13 to 120 μm). Aperture values calculated for fractures (1 to 94 μm) and root holes (2 to 188 μm), on the basis of measured immiscible creosote entry pressures, are also comparable with these values. The injected creosote, a DNAPL, penetrated most of the visible and a few invisible fractures and root holes, indicating that, for this till, fractures and root holes are important conduits for the transport of DNAPL's.

Fracture Aperture Measurements and Migration of Solutes, Viruses, and Immiscible Creosote in a Column of Clay‐Rich Till

Saturated groundwater flow and tracer experiments using fluorescent dye, chloride, and the herbicides mecoprop and simazine were carried out in the laboratory using three large-diameter (0.5 m) undisturbed columns of fractured clayey till. Hydraulic conductivity of the columns ranged from 10−5 m/s in the shallowest column (1 m dept)) to 10−7 m/s in the deepest column (4 m depth) and were similar to field-measured values for these deposits. Results of the tracer experiments are consistent with a conceptual model of advective transport along the fractures combined with diffusion into the fine-grained matrix between the fractures. Arrival of the chloride tracer in the effluent was highly retarded relative to fracture flow velocities calculated on the basis of the cubic law and measured values of fracture spacing and hydraulic conductivity. The herbicides were more strongly retarded than the chloride at low flow rates, but at higher flow rates the herbicides arrived with the chloride, indicating the influence of nonequilibrium sorption of the herbicides to fracture walls and the matrix solids. The columns were dismantled following the tracer experiments and mapping under UV light showed that nearly all of the visible, weathered fractures (and the few root holes in the case of the shallowest sample) were active transport pathways, with the dye appearing mainly on the fracture surfaces and as a “rim” in the adjacent matrix. Concentration profiles measured perpendicular to the fracture surfaces showed that the herbicides had also moved into the matrix, apparently by diffusion. Simulations of solute transport with a discrete fracture flow/matrix diffusion model showed that the simulations could be “fit” to the data if all of the visible fractures were hydraulically active, but could not be fit if all or most of the flow was channelled through just the primary fractures (defined by prominent oxidation stains). Simulations with an equivalent porous media (EPM) model could not fit the data using the measured total porosity as the effective porosity. The simulations could likely be fit with a smaller value of effective porosity, but this would limit applicability to field situations because fitted effective porosity is expected to change with physical scale and residence time of the solute in the soil.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97WR02942

Evaluation of chloride and pesticide transport in a fractured clayey till using large undisturbed columns and numerical modeling

[i] This study investigates vertical flow and pesticide transport along fractures in water saturated unoxidized clayey till From two experimental fields, each 40 m 2 , 96% and 98%, respectively, of total vertical flow wasconducted along fractures in the till, while the remaining 2-4% of flow occurred in the clay matrix at very slow flow rate An applied dye tracer was observed only along 10-26% of the total fracture length measured on the horizontal surface of the experimental fields In vertical sections the dyed fracture portions constituted root channels, which penetrated the till vertically along the fractures into the local aquifer at 5 m depth No dye tracer was observed in the fractures without root channels or in the unfractured clay matrix, suggesting that root growth along the fracture surfaces was the principal agent of fracture aperture enhancement Using hydraulic fracture aperture values determined from large undisturbed column (LUC) collected from one of the experimental fields, it was estimated that 94% of flow in the fractures was conducted along the fracture root channels, while only 6% of flow was conducted along the fracture sections without root channels For natural vertical hydraulic gradients (08-23 at the site), flow rates of 08-2 km/d were determined for a fracture root channel, while fracture sections without root channels revealed flow rates of 9-22 m/ d Corresponding flow rates in the unfractured matrix were 7-19 mm/yr For infiltrated bromide (nonreactive tracer) and mobile pesticides mecoprop (MCPP) and metsulfuron, very rapid migration (028-05 m/d) and high relative breakthrough concentrations (30-60%) into the aquifer were observed to occur along the fracture root channels using a constant hydraulic gradient of 1 Only traces were measured from infiltration of the strongly sorbed pesticide prochloraz The concentrations of the bromide and pesticides in the monitoring wells were modeled with a discrete fracture matrix diffusion (DFDM) model coupled with a single porosity model (SP) for the till and aquifer, respectively Using effective fracture spacings and mean fracture apertures for the fracture channel sections as modeling input parameters for the till, the concentrations observed in the wells of the aquifer could be reasonably approximated

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2001WR000494

Preferential flow and pesticide transport in a clay-rich till: Field, laboratory, and modeling analysis

Transport and reduction of nitrate in clayey till underneath forest and arable land.

This study of fractured clayey till shows that the hydraulic activity of groundwater flow and the migration of pollutants from an orchard and from arable land are by far the most intensive in the upper 10 m of the till. In this zone dual porosity is developed as a result of desiccation and glacial jointing. Rapid leaching in the macropore structure is indicated by the distribution of tritium and chloride and by the vertical migration of the pesticides atrazine and simazine through 5-6 m of clayey till over ten years. Additional colloidal transport of DDT, DDE and DDD is indicated by preferential migration of clay minerals and DDE in fractures. In the upper 3-4 m of the weathered zone the distribution of authigenic Fe(III) minerals and root fragments in the macropore structure indicates a potential for denitrification under water-saturated conditions during autumn and winter. Mercury, copper and arsenic seem to be immobile in spite of the high levels of these metals detected in the topsoil of the orchard. ...

Peter R. Jørgensen

Papers

Fracture Aperture Measurements and Migration of Solutes, Viruses, and Immiscible Creosote in a Column of Clay‐Rich Till

Evaluation of chloride and pesticide transport in a fractured clayey till using large undisturbed columns and numerical modeling

Preferential flow and pesticide transport in a clay-rich till: Field, laboratory, and modeling analysis

Transport and reduction of nitrate in clayey till underneath forest and arable land.

Migration of nutrients, pesticides and heavy metals in fractured