Aaron I. Packman

Effect of flow-induced exchange in hyporheic zones on longitudinal transport of solutes in streams and rivers

[1] Temporary storage of solutes in streams is often controlled by flow-induced uptake in hyporheic zones. This phenomenon accounts for the tails that are generally observed following the passage o ...

Hyporheic flow and transport processes: Mechanisms, models, and biogeochemical implications

Fifty years of hyporheic zone research have shown the important role played by the hyporheic zone as an interface between groundwater and surface waters. However, it is only in the last two decades that what began as an empirical science has become a mechanistic science devoted to modeling studies of the complex fluid dynamical and biogeochemical mechanisms occurring in the hyporheic zone. These efforts have led to the picture of surface-subsurface water interactions as regulators of the form and function of fluvial ecosystems. Rather than being isolated systems, surface water bodies continuously interact with the subsurface. Exploration of hyporheic zone processes has led to a new appreciation of their wide reaching consequences for water quality and stream ecology. Modern research aims toward a unified approach, in which processes occurring in the hyporheic zone are key elements for the appreciation, management, and restoration of the whole river environment. In this unifying context, this review summarizes results from modeling studies and field observations about flow and transport processes in the hyporheic zone and describes the theories proposed in hydrology and fluid dynamics developed to quantitatively model and predict the hyporheic transport of water, heat, and dissolved and suspended compounds from sediment grain scale up to the watershed scale. The implications of these processes for stream biogeochemistry and ecology are also discussed.

Fractal topography and subsurface water flows from fluvial bedforms to the continental shield

Surface-subsurface flow interactions are critical to a wide range of geochemical and ecological processes and to the fate of contaminants in freshwater environments. Fractal scaling relationships ...

A physicochemical model for colloid exchange between a stream and a sand streambed with bed forms

Fine sediment exchange between a stream and the surrounding subsurface influences downstream contaminant transport and stream ecology. Fundamental models for this exchange were developed on the basis of (1) the hydraulics of bed form-driven advective pore water flow and (2) subsurface colloid transport processes. First, a model was developed to predict the advective flow induced in a sand bed by stream flow over bedforms. The resulting “pumping” exchange rate was calculated based on the streamflow conditions, bed form geometry, and bed depth. The pumping exchange of suspended sediment was then calculated by superimposing advective transport and particle settling in the bed and including the effect of physicochemical filtration by bed sediment. The filtration coefficient approach was used to predict the reduction in the concentration of transported particles. Both settling and filtration cause colloids to be trapped in stream beds, producing a higher net exchange rate relative to conservative solutes. When transported particles are completely trapped in a single pass through the bed, the exchange calculation is simplified because only the particle flux to the bed must be considered. In this case, the net exchange rate may be adequately represented by an effective piston velocity (flux/concentration) or loss rate to the bed in the advection-dispersion equation for the stream. Solute and colloid exchanges are predicted by the models without the use of fitting coefficients; only measurable hydraulic and particle parameters were used as model inputs. Simulations are presented which show the effect of stream parameters, settling, and filtration on net particle exchange. This fundamental approach to modeling stream-subsurface exchange potentially has great utility for understanding and predicting the transport and fate of reactive substances in streams.

Hyporheic exchange of solutes and colloids with moving bed forms

Stream-subsurface exchange provides the opportunity for stream-borne substances to interact with streambed sediments in the subsurface hyporheic mixing zone. The downstream transport of both solutes and colloids can be substantially affected by this exchange, with significant implications for contaminant transport and stream ecology. Several previous studies have demonstrated that bed form–induced advective flows (pumping) and scour/deposition of bed sediments (turnover) will often be the dominant processes controlling local exchange with the streambed. A new model is presented for combined turnover and pumping exchange due to relatively fast-moving bed forms, i.e., when turnover dominates the exchange in the upper part of the bed where active bed sediment transport occurs. While turnover rapidly mixes the upper layer of the bed, advective pumping produces exchange with the deeper, unsecured region of the subsurface. The net exchange due to these processes was analyzed using fundamental hydraulic principles: the initial exchange was calculated using an existing geometric model for turnover, and then the later exchange was determined by analyzing the advective flow induced under the moving bed form field. The exchange of colloidal particles due to moving bed forms was also modeled by considering the further effects of particle settling and filtration in the subsurface. Experiments were conducted in a recirculating flume to evaluate solute (conservative Li+) and colloid (kaolinite) exchange with a sand bed. The solute and colloid exchange models performed well for fast-moving bed forms, but underpredicted the colloid exchanges observed with lower rates of bed sediment transport. For very slowly moving bed forms it was found that turnover could be completely neglected, and observed colloid exchanges were represented well by a pure pumping model. In the intermediate case where turnover and pumping rates are similar, water carried into the bed by turnover is immediately released by pumping, and vice versa. Thus, while this work further elucidated the basic processes controlling solute and colloid exchange with a bed covered by bed forms and provided a fundamental model for exchange due to fast-moving bed forms, exchange in the intermediate case where turnover and pumping tend to compete can only be bounded by current models.

Kaolinite exchange between a stream and streambed: Laboratory experiments and validation of a colloid transport model

Experiments were conducted in a recirculating flume to elucidate the fundamental physical and chemical processes which control the stream-subsurface exchange of colloids. Results are presented on the rate of exchange of colloids (kaolinite clay) and a conservative solute (lithium) from a stream to a sand streambed covered by stationary bed forms (dunes, ripples). Kaolinite and lithium were added to the recirculating stream, and their exchange with the bed was observed over time. Kaolinite was observed to be much more extensively trapped in the streambed than lithium owing to nonconservative processes. By the end of most experiments, essentially all added kaolinite was taken up by the streambed. The observed exchange rates can be explained by analyzing the solute and particle fluxes through the stream-subsurface interface and the physicochemical interactions between transported kaolinite and the bed sediment. The colloid pumping model predicts particle exchange based on pumping hydraulics, particle settling in the bed, and filtration by the bed sediments. Observed colloid and solute exchanges were successfully predicted by the process-based models without the use of fitting coefficients. Hydraulic parameters measured in the flume and particle parameters measured in separate experiments were used as model inputs. The successful prediction of experimental results validates the modeling approach of combining a fundamental hydraulic exchange model with a physicochemical model for colloid transport and filtration in the streambed. Further, because colloid transport behavior was interpreted in terms of basic exchange and trapping processes, the results of this study are expected to be directly applicable to the analysis of fine sediment dynamics in natural streams.

The extracellular matrix protects Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms by limiting the penetration of tobramycin

Biofilm cells are less susceptible to antimicrobials than their planktonic counterparts. While this phenomenon is multifactorial, the ability of the matrix to reduce antibiotic penetration into the biofilm is thought to be of limited importance studies suggest that antibiotics move fairly rapidly through biofilms. In this study, we monitored the transport of two clinically relevant antibiotics, tobramycin and ciprofloxacin, into non-mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. To our surprise, we found that the positively charged antibiotic tobramycin is sequestered to the biofilm periphery, while the neutral antibiotic ciprofloxacin readily penetrated. We provide evidence that tobramycin in the biofilm periphery both stimulated a localized stress response and killed bacteria in these regions but not in the underlying biofilm. Although it is unclear which matrix component binds tobramycin, its penetration was increased by the addition of cations in a dose-dependent manner, which led to increased biofilm death. These data suggest that ionic interactions of tobramycin with the biofilm matrix limit its penetration. We propose that tobramycin sequestration at the biofilm periphery is an important mechanism in protecting metabolically active cells that lie just below the zone of sequestration.

Exact three‐dimensional spectral solution to surface‐groundwater interactions with arbitrary surface topography

It has been long known that land surface topography governs both groundwater flow patterns at the regional-to-continental scale and on smaller scales such as in the hyporheic zone of streams. Her ...

Relative roles of stream flow and sedimentary conditions in controlling hyporheic exchange

Hyporheic exchange is often controlled by subsurface advection driven by the interaction of the stream with sedimentary pore water. The nature and magnitude of the induced exchange flow is dependent on the characteristics of both the stream flow and the sediment bed. Fundamental hydrodynamic theory can be applied to determine general relationships between stream characteristics, sediment characteristics, and hyporheic exchange rates. When the stream bed is fine enough to allow application of Darcys Law, as with sand beds, the induced advective exchange can be calculated from fundamental hydrodynamic principles. Comparison with a wide range of experimental results demonstrates the predictive capability of this theory. Coarser sediments such as gravels are more complex because they admit turbulent interactions between the stream and subsurface flows, which can produce considerable exchange even when the bed surface is flat and no flows are induced by the bed topography. Even for this case, however, scaling arguments can still be used to determine how exchange rates vary with stream and sedimentary conditions. Evaluation of laboratory flume experiments for a wide range of stream conditions, bed sediment types including sand and gravel, and bed geometries demonstrates that exchange scales with the permeability of the bed sediments and the square of the stream velocity. These relationships occur due to fundamental hydrodynamic processes, and were observed to hold over almost five orders of magnitude of exchange flux. Such scaling relationships are very useful in practice because they can be used to extend observed hyporheic exchange rates to different flow conditions and to uniquely identify the role of sedimentary conditions in controlling exchange flux.

Transport and Fate of Microbial Pathogens in Agricultural Settings

An understanding of the transport and survival of microbial pathogens (pathogens hereafter) in agricultural settings is needed to assess the risk of pathogen contamination to water and food resources, and to develop control strategies and treatment options. However, many knowledge gaps still remain in predicting the fate and transport of pathogens in runoff water, and then through the shallow vadose zone and groundwater. A number of transport pathways, processes, factors, and mathematical models often are needed to describe pathogen fate in agricultural settings. The level of complexity is dramatically enhanced by soil heterogeneity, as well as by temporal variability in temperature, water inputs, and pathogen sources. There is substantial variability in pathogen migration pathways, leading to changes in the dominant processes that control pathogen transport over different spatial and temporal scales. For example, intense rainfall events can generate runoff and preferential flow that can rapidly transport pathogens. Pathogens that survive for extended periods of time have a greatly enhanced probability of remaining viable when subjected to such rapid-transport events. Conversely, in dry seasons, pathogen transport depends more strongly on retention at diverse environmental surfaces controlled by a multitude of coupled physical, chemical, and microbiological factors. These interactions are incompletely characterized, leading to a lack of consensus on the proper mathematical framework to model pathogen transport even at the column scale. In addition, little is known about how to quantify transport and survival parameters at the scale of agricultural fields or watersheds. This review summarizes current conceptual and quantitative models for pathogen transport and fate in agricultural settings over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The authors also discuss the benefits that can be realized by improved modeling, and potential treatments to mitigate the risk of waterborne disease transmission.