We calibrate a stoichiometrically coupled soil gas diffusion model with spatially resolved observations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, total hydrocarbon, and trichloroethylene vapor concentrations in the unsaturated zone above a weathered jet fuel/solvent spill at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate New York. The calibration suggests that aerobic microorganisms in the capillary fringe degrade jet fuel vapor at a steady rate of 9.5 μg hydrocarbons (m-2 s-1). The solvent does not degrade in the fringe, however, and the model and data estimate a steady evaporation rate of 1.2 x 10-2 μg TCE (m-2)s -1). Barometric pumping slightly alters the steady concentration profile at Plattsburgh, although the transient advective flux is the same order of magnitude as the steady diffusive flux. We derive a simple perturbation theory for the second-order transient concentration corrections and include it in the calibration. The perturbation theory is valid at Plattsburgh because the soil is uniform and permeable with a relatively deep capillary fringe.
CITATION STYLE
Ostendorf, D. W. W., Hinlein, E. S., Lutenegger, A. J., & Kelley, S. P. (2000). Soil gas transport above a jet fuel/solvent spill at Plattsburgh Air Force Base. Water Resources Research, 36(9), 2531–2547. https://doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900128
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