GEGN 681 Vadose Zone Hydrology
Course Syllabus Fall 1999
Office: BH 305 D
Contact
Info: 303-384-2181, jmccray@mines.edu
Office
Hours (preliminary): Monday 4 pm-5pm,
Wednesday, 9:15-10:15
Course
web site:
http://www.mines.edu/Academic/courses/geology/gegn681/
Text: Tindall, J.A., Kunkel, J.R., 1999. Unsaturated zone hydrology, Prentice
Hall Inc.
Topics
to be covered in the course:
This
is the first time this course material has been offered. Thus, it is difficult to say how fast we
will cover the material. I prefer for
everyone to have ample opportunity to discuss and thoroughly understand the
topics we cover, as opposed to simply pushing through a particular agenda. Please consider the below syllabus to be a
flexible document. The predicted
number of class periods currently prepared for each topic is given in
parenthesis.
Introduction/Administration/Motivation
(1 lecture)
Basic
Soil Physics (2)
Soil-Water
Energy (1)
Capillary
Pressure and hysteresis (2)
Vadose-zone
parameter measurement labs (1-2)
Theory
of Soil Water Movement, Unsaturated K, Diffusivity (2)
Richards’
equation and applications (2)
Capillary-pressure
and unsaturated hydraulic-K: estimation (RETC) & scaling (1)
Richard’s
Equation: Hydrus 2D numerical modeling
of water flow (3-4)
Selected
soil chemistry (1.5-2)
Contaminant
transport in the vadose zone (3-4)
Contaminant
transport modeling using Hydrus 2-D (2)
Impact
of soil layers on unsaturated flow and transport (1)
Preferential
flow in the vadose zone (1)
Vapor
transport in the vadose zone (1-1.5)
Three-phase
flow in the vadose zone (2)
GSA
conference – no class (1), but an out-of-class lab will make up for it.
Homework 20%*
Participation 5%* * these percentages may change somewhat.
Lecture 1. Administration,
introduction to the vadose zone, computer model simulations. (1.1)
Lecture 2. Description of a
multiphase system, basics structure of soils (2.1-2.6).
Lecture 3. Density-Volume
relationships, nterfacial energy, wettability, and capillary pressure (2.7,
4.2., 4.3).
Lecture 4. Energy status of
soil water, functional relationships associated with capillary pressure (4.4 -
4.6).
Lecture 5. Hysteresis of
capillary pressure, question and answer session (4.7).
Lecture 6. Measurement in the
vadose zone, sample variability and
sampling philosophy.
Lecture 7. Review of saturated
water flow, derivation of Pouiselle’s Equation. Assumptions associated with Darciy’s Law, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity 7.1-7.7,
7.10, 8.1, 8.2).
Lecture 8. Unsaturated Flow of
immiscible fluids, soil-water diffusivity and specific water capacity,
capillary tube model, Mualem’s relationship and others (8.2- 8.4)
Lecture 9. Use of RETC
computer program.
Lecture 10. Soil physics
laboratory exercise: moisture content,
bulk density.
Lecture 11. Richards’ Equation:
derivation, various forms, source terms, boundary terms (8.3).
Lecture 12. One-dimensional
capillary-driven flow (absorption): linearized Richards’ equation, Boltzman transformation of nonlinear
Richards’ equation (8.5).
Lecture 13. Advantageous uses
of the similarity transform, experimental measurement of soil-water
diffusivity. One-dimensional
infiltration (capillarity and gravity), general principles. (11.1)
Lecture 14. Infiltration
Theories: Green-Ampt equation, Solution
to linearized Richards’ equation, and Philip’s quasi-analytical solution (11.1,
11.2).
Lecture 15. Review basic
principles (rainfall rates vs. infiltration, soil surface effects). Numerical solutions to 1-D Richards’ equation. Steady flow near a water table, plant-root
uptake, basic evaporation from a water table, various other one-dimensional
models for infiltration, infiltration vs. runoff, (11.1, 11.2).
End Material for Midterm #1
Lecture 16. Dual-porosity model
of unsaturated flow, preferential flow, unsaturated flow in layered soils,
unsaturated flow in crusted soils, runoff (11.3 -11.6)
Lecture 17. Evaporation,
transfer of heat at the soil surface, energy budget, impact of
evapotranspiration and vegetation on soil moisture (9.1-9.6).
Lecture 18. Multidimensional
flow in soils Field-scale applications to vadose zone hydrology, water and
energy budgets (11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 12.1-12.3,13.2).
Lecture 19. Contaminant
transport: Inter-phase equilibrium partitioning (air-water, water-NAPL,
sorption), non-equilibrium mass transfer, and advection-dispersion equation for
saturated & unsaturated water flow (10.1-10.3).
Lecture 20. Contaminant
transport: retardation due to sorption, chemical reactions, decay, general
transport and retardation due to contaminant distribution and partitioning in
multiphase media (10.3-10.11).
Lecture 21. Contaminant
transport: Dual-domain models for mobile-immobile regions, two site mass
transfer, and transport in fractured media.
Transport in layered media, preferential flow of solutes. (10.12, 10-13).
Lecture 22. Special vadose-zone
contaminant-transport topics important in Colorado: pesticides and nitrates.
Lecture 23. Gas flow and
transport in the vadose zone, Klinkenberg and Knudsen phenomena, flow of
contaminant vapors in the vadose zone, density-driven vapor flow, gas-phase
pump tests, vadose-zone partitioning tracer tests. (9.7- 9.9)
Lecture 24. HYDRUS 2-D
(unsaturated water flow – basic infiltration)
Lecture 25. HYDRUS 2-D
(unsaturated water flow –crusted and/or layered soils)
Lecture 26. HYDRUS 2-D (unsaturated water flow – special topics)
Lecture 27. HYDRUS 2-D (contaminant transport in unsaturated
systems - basic)
Lecture 28. HYDRUS 2-D (contaminant transport in unsaturated
systems - pesticides)
Lecture 29. HYDRUS 2-D (contaminant transport in unsaturated
systems – special topics)