Geochemical and palaeohydrological controls on the composition of shallow groundwater in the Netherlands

With the exception of the south of the country, the Netherlands has a strong bipartite hydrogeology: the Holocene part with a coastal dune belt and confining top layer of clay and peat further inland, and the Pleistocene, where thick phreatic aquifers dominate. This research aimed to ascertain the geochemical and palaeohydrological controls on...

Modelling two-phase transport of 3H/3He

Degassing of groundwater by excess denitrification of agricultural pollution complicates the interpretation of 3H/3He data and hinders the estimation of travel times in nitrate pollution studies. In this study we used a two-phase flow and transport model (STOMP) to evaluate the method presented by Visser (2007a) to interpret degassed 3H/ 3He...

Comparison of selection methods to deduce natural background levels for groundwater units

Establishment of natural background levels (NBL) for groundwater is commonly performed to serve as reference when assessing the contamination status of groundwater units. We compare various selection methods to establish NBLs using groundwater quality data forfour hydrogeologically different areas in the highly populated and developed...

Stochastic uncertainties and sensitivities of a regional-scale transport model of nitrate in groundwater

Groundwater quality management relies more and more on models in recent years. These models are used to predict the risk of groundwater contamination for various land uses. This paper presents an assessment of uncertainties and sensitivities to input parameters for a regional model. The model had been set up to improve and facilitate the...

Modelling assessment of regional groundwater contamination due to historic smelter emissions of heavy metals

Historic emissions from ore smelters typically cause regional soil contamination. We developed a modelling approach to assess the impact of such contamination on groundwater and surface water load, coupling unsaturated zone leaching modelling with 3D groundwater transport modelling. Both historic and predictive modelling were performed, using a...

Dating degassed groundwater with 3H/3He

The production of gases in groundwater under contaminated locations by geochemical and biological processes is not uncommon. Degassing of these gases from groundwater and repartitioning of noble gases between water and gas phase distorts groundwater dating by 3H/3He. We observed noble gas concentrations below atmospheric equilibrium in 20 out of...

Demonstrating trend reversal of groundwater quality in relation to time of recharge determined by 3H/3He

Recent EU legislation is directed to reverse the upward trends in the concentrations of agricultural pollutants in groundwater. However, uncertainty of the groundwater travel time towards the screens of the groundwater quality monitoring networks complicates the demonstration of trend reversal. We investigated whether trend reversal can be...

Characterization of the reactivity of riverine heterogeneous sediments using a facies-based approach; the Rhine-Meuse delta (The Netherlands)

Large groundwater resources are found in densely populated lowland areas, which consist often of young unconsolidated and reduced sediments. When anthropogenic activities lead to oxygenation of the aquifer, breakdown of the main reduced fractions, i.e. sedimentary organic matter (SOM) and pyrite, could lead to severe groundwater deterioration...

The spatial distribution of groundwater age for different geohydrological situations in the Netherlands: Implications for groundwater quality monitoring at the regional scale

The spatial distribution of groundwater age is a key factor determining the distribution of dissolved contaminants in the subsurface when contamination loadings have increased in time. The effects of surficial drainage and aquifer heterogeneity on the spatial distribution of groundwater age in unconsolidated aquifers in flat areas were...

Regional monitoring of temporal changes in groundwater quality

Changes in agricultural practices are expected to affect groundwater quality by changing the loads of nutrients and salts in recharging groundwater, but regional monitoring networks installed to register the changes often fail to detect them and interpretation of trend analysis results is difficult. This study aims to improve the detection and...

Potassium adsorption ratios as an indicator for the fate of agricultural potassium in groundwater

Fertilization of agricultural land in groundwater infiltration areas often causes deterioration of groundwater quality. In addition to nitrogen and phosphorous, potassium deserves attention. The fate of potassium in the subsurface is controlled mainly by cation-exchange. Use of the Potassium Adsorption Ratio (PAR), analogous to the Sodium...

About the order in aerobic heterotrophic microbial communities from hydrocarbon-contaminated sites

The organizational structure of communities of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria was studied by means of physiological and molecular typing of the members of arbitrary samples of isolates, ASsI. The isolate sample assay (ISA) was applied to three different hydrocarbon-polluted sites: a dry windrow pile for bioremediation of waste oil-contaminated...

Assessment of the exposure and loads of acidifying and eutrophying pollutants and ozone, as well as their harmful influence on the vitality of the trees and the Speulder forest ecosystem as a whole

Within the framework of the Dutch Priority Program on Acidification, 10 yr of research was conducted in a Douglas fir stand at Speulder forest. Research was conducted to establish the loads and levels of acidifying and eutrophying pollutants and ozone, to determine forest vitality characteristics and follow growth parameters and nutrient status...

Report on the geo-environmental inquiry project, central and eastern Europe

The Commission on Geological Sciences for Environmental Planning (COGEOENVIRONMENT) of IUGS and UNESCO have initiated a joint project to develop a worldwide data base on earthscience-related environmental problems and to assess which geoscientific information is available locally for prevention, prediction or mitigation of such problems. As a...