An analytical model for carrier-facilitated solute transport in weakly heterogeneous porous media

Carrier-facilitated solute transport in heterogeneous aquifers is studied within a Lagrangian framework. Dissolved solutes and carriers are advected by steady random groundwater flow, which is modeled by Darcy’s law with uncertain hydraulic conductivity that is treated as a stationary random space function. We derive general expressions for the spatial mo- ments of the dissolved concentration and the concentration associated with the carrier phase. In order to reduce the computational effort, we use previously derived solutions for the flow field. This enables us to obtain closed-form solutions for the spatial moments of the two concentration fields. The mass and center of gravity of the two propagat- ing plumes depend only on the mean velocity field and chemical/degradation processes. The higher (second and third) moments are affected by the coupling between reactions (sorption/desorption and degradation) among the three phases (i.e., dissolved, carrier and sorbed concentrations) and the aquifer’s heterogeneity. We investigate the potentially en- hancing effect of carriers by comparing spatial moments of the two propagating plumes. The forward/backward mass transfer rates between the liquid and carrier phases, and the degradation coefficients are identified as critical parameters. The carrier’s role is most prominent when detachment from carrier sites is slow, provided that degradation on the carriers is smaller than that in the liquid phase.