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Title: CHARACTERIZATION OF SUBSURFACE FLOW REGIME WITH HYDRUS-2D SIMULATIONS

Author
item Starr, James
item Sadeghi, Ali
item Pachepsky, Yakov

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/2/2003
Publication Date: 11/2/2003
Citation: Starr, J.L., Sadeghi, A.M., Pachepsky, Y.A. 2003. Characterization of subsurface flow regime with HYDRUS 2-D simulations. American Society of Agronomy. CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Riparian areas often function as buffers for controlling nutrient and sediment transport from upland agricultural activities to adjacent water bodies. Field monitoring studies have shown that riparian buffers can remove nutrients and sediments moving to and through riparian zones, but the mechanisms involved in retarding and altering subsurface nutrients are not clearly understood. The objectives of this study were to characterize two-dimensional subsurface lateral flow of water and solutes in a riparian area and to use HYDRUS2D model simulations with the field data to obtain the transport and reaction parameters. A specially designed open-ended stainless steel chamber (0.9 by 0.9 by 1.2 m), with inlet and outlet ports placed on a 0.1 by 0.1 m grid, was installed around an undisturbed block of riparian soil. Water and tracer flow studies were conducted at constant pressures at the inlet and outlet plates. The instrumentation enabled quantitative examinations of both water and solute fluxes through this isolated section of soil profile within the actual domain of a riparian area. The resultant breakthrough curves were used as inputs for HYDRUS2D simulations to obtain the hydraulic and reactive parameters.