Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions

Abstract The fate of nutrients and contaminants in fluvial ecosystems is strongly affected by the mixing dynamics between surface water and groundwater within the hyporheic zone, depending on the combination of the sediment's hydraulic heterogeneity and dune morphology. This study examines the...

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Main Authors: Alessandra Marzadri, Valentina Ciriello, Felipe P. J. de Barros
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Water Resources Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035625
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author Alessandra Marzadri
Valentina Ciriello
Felipe P. J. de Barros
author_facet Alessandra Marzadri
Valentina Ciriello
Felipe P. J. de Barros
author_sort Alessandra Marzadri
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The fate of nutrients and contaminants in fluvial ecosystems is strongly affected by the mixing dynamics between surface water and groundwater within the hyporheic zone, depending on the combination of the sediment's hydraulic heterogeneity and dune morphology. This study examines the effects of hydraulic conductivity stratification on steady‐state, two‐dimensional, hyporheic flows and solute residence time distribution. First, we derive an integral transform‐based semi‐analytical solution for the flow field, capable of accounting for the effects of any functional shape of the vertically varying hydraulic conductivity. The solution considers the uneven distribution of pressure at the water‐sediment interface (i.e., the pumping process) dictated by the presence of dune morphology. We then simulate solute transport using particle tracking. Our modeling framework is validated against numerical and tracer data from flume experiments and used to explore the implication of hydraulic conductivity stratification on the statistics and pdf of the residence time. Finally, reduced‐order models are used to enlighten the dependence of key residence time statistics on the parameters characterizing the hydraulic conductivity stratification.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0043-1397
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language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
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series Water Resources Research
spelling doaj-art-8151f6d7b5864eacb372d3d566b254262025-08-20T03:30:56ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732024-01-01601n/an/a10.1029/2023WR035625Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time DistributionsAlessandra Marzadri0Valentina Ciriello1Felipe P. J. de Barros2Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering University of Trento Trento ItalyDepartment of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering University of Bologna Bologna ItalySonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Southern California Los Angeles CA USAAbstract The fate of nutrients and contaminants in fluvial ecosystems is strongly affected by the mixing dynamics between surface water and groundwater within the hyporheic zone, depending on the combination of the sediment's hydraulic heterogeneity and dune morphology. This study examines the effects of hydraulic conductivity stratification on steady‐state, two‐dimensional, hyporheic flows and solute residence time distribution. First, we derive an integral transform‐based semi‐analytical solution for the flow field, capable of accounting for the effects of any functional shape of the vertically varying hydraulic conductivity. The solution considers the uneven distribution of pressure at the water‐sediment interface (i.e., the pumping process) dictated by the presence of dune morphology. We then simulate solute transport using particle tracking. Our modeling framework is validated against numerical and tracer data from flume experiments and used to explore the implication of hydraulic conductivity stratification on the statistics and pdf of the residence time. Finally, reduced‐order models are used to enlighten the dependence of key residence time statistics on the parameters characterizing the hydraulic conductivity stratification.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035625integral transformshyporheic zoneheterogeneityreduced order modelsresidence time distributionsensitivity analysis
spellingShingle Alessandra Marzadri
Valentina Ciriello
Felipe P. J. de Barros
Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
Water Resources Research
integral transforms
hyporheic zone
heterogeneity
reduced order models
residence time distribution
sensitivity analysis
title Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
title_full Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
title_fullStr Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
title_full_unstemmed Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
title_short Hyporheic Flows in Stratified Sediments: Implications on Residence Time Distributions
title_sort hyporheic flows in stratified sediments implications on residence time distributions
topic integral transforms
hyporheic zone
heterogeneity
reduced order models
residence time distribution
sensitivity analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035625
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AT valentinaciriello hyporheicflowsinstratifiedsedimentsimplicationsonresidencetimedistributions
AT felipepjdebarros hyporheicflowsinstratifiedsedimentsimplicationsonresidencetimedistributions