Effect of diffusive/dispersive processes on stable isotope ratios of organic contaminants in aquifer systems
| Responsable du projet |
Daniel Hunkeler
Massimo Rolle |
| Collaborateur | Philipp Wanner |
| Résumé |
Organic chemicals are among the most common groundwater
contaminants. Often the same type of contaminants can orignate from
different sources for example old industrial sites or landfills. By
measuring only the concentration of these contaminants it can be
difficult to find out which source contributes how much to
groundwater contamination. An alternative approach is the
measurement of the isotopic composition of the chemicals.
Identifical chemical compounds can contain a different amount of
heavy and light isotopes of an element, for example carbon with a
mass of 12 and carbon with a mass of 13. Hence the measurement of
the isotopic composition of the contaminant in addition to its
concentration can help to determine from which source a contaminant
originates. However, in order to apply the method, it is important
to know if the isotopic composition changes as the contaminants
migrate through the subsurface. In this project, we investigate how
isotope ratios evolve during their transport in groundwater. The
project includes laboratory experiments which simulate the
migration of contaminants in sand columns and field measurements.
The project will make the isotope method to distinguish different
sources of contaminants more reliable. |
| Mots-clés |
Groundwater contamination, Isotopes |
| Type de projet | Recherche fondamentale |
| Domaine de recherche | Hydrologie, limnologie, glaciologie |
| Source de financement | FNS - Encouragement de projets (Div. I-III) |
| Etat | Terminé |
| Début de projet | 1-11-2012 |
| Fin du projet | 31-10-2016 |
| Budget alloué | 280'049.00 |
| Autre information |
http://p3.snf.ch/projects-139877# |
| Contact | Daniel Hunkeler |