Title | Soil gas transport above a jet fuel/solvent spill at Plattsburgh Air Force Base |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2000 |
Authors | Hinlein ES, Ostendorf DW, Lutenegger AJ, Kelley SP |
Journal | Water Resources Research |
Volume | 36 |
Issue | 9 |
Start Page | 2531 |
Pagination | 2531–2547 |
Date Published | 09/2000 |
Abstract | 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 1.2×10−2 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 |
DOI | 10.1029/2000WR900128 |