Advection around ventilated U- shaped burrows: A model study

Advection can define a distinct microenvironment in the sediment. Advective transport in the porous matrix of sediments surrounding burrows formed by fauna such as Chironomus plumosus has been generally neglected. A positron emission tomography study recently revealed that the pumping activity of the midge larvae can indeed induce fluid flow in the sediment. We present a numerical model study which explores the conditions at which advective transport in the sediment becomes relevant. A 0.15 m deep U-shaped burrow with a diameter of 0.002 m within the sediment was represented in a 3-D domain. Fluid flow in the burrow was calculated using the Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible laminar flow in the burrow, and flow in the sediment was described by Darcy's law. Nonreactive and reactive transport scenarios were simulated considering diffusion and advection. The pumping activity of the model larva results in considerable advective flow in the sediment at reasonable high permeabilities with flow velocities of up to 7.0 × 10-6 m s-1 close to the larva for a permeability of 3 × 10-12 m2. At permeabilities below 7 × 10-13 m2 advection is negligible compared to diffusion. Reactive transport simulations using first-order kinetics for oxygen revealed that advective flux into the sediment downstream of the pumping larva enhances sedimentary uptake, while the advective flux into the burrow upstream of the larvae inhibits diffusive sedimentary uptake. Despite the fact that both effects cancel each other with respect to total solute uptake, the advection-induced asymmetry in concentration distribution can lead to a heterogeneous solute and redox distribution in the sediment relevant to complex reaction networks. ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.