Relative roles of resuspended particles and pore water in release of contaminants from sediment

Abstract

Sediment layers containing contaminants play a significant role in environmental hydrodynamics. Experiments were conducted in order to characterize the relative roles of resuspended particles and pore water under different flow and sediment conditions. A conservative tracer (NaCl) and a reactive tracer (phosphate) were used as contaminants in the bottom sediment in a laboratory flume. The mixing between the overlying water and pore water occurred over a short time while the desorption of contaminants from fine-grained resuspended particles lasted a relatively long time. The effects of resuspended particles and pore water on the variations of release flux and concentration of contaminants in water with time under different hydrodynamic conditions were quantified. The results show that pore water dominated the initial release flux, which could be several orders of magnitude greater than the flux due to molecular diffusion. Flux contribution of desorption from sediment particles in the latter release could be equal to what was seen from pore water in the initial stage.

Keywords

• sediment resuspension
• resuspended particle
• pore water
• release of contaminants
• release flux