Geoelectrical inference of mass transfer parameters using temporal moments

Abstract

We present an approach to infer mass transfer parameters based on (1) an analytical model that relates the temporal moments of mobile and bulk concentration and (2) a bicontinuum modification to Archie's law. Whereas conventional geochemical measurements preferentially sample from the mobile domain, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is sensitive to bulk electrical conductivity and, thus, electrolytic solute in both the mobile and immobile domains. We demonstrate the new approach, in which temporal moments of collocated mobile domain conductivity (i.e., conventional sampling) and ERT-estimated bulk conductivity are used to calculate heterogeneous mass transfer rate and immobile porosity fractions in a series of numerical column experiments. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.