Field-scale experiments of unsaturated flow and solute transport in a heterogeneous porous medium

A multiyear flow and conservative tracer test has been carried out in unsaturated mine waste rock to examine the physical mechanisms by which water moves through this coarse, heterogeneous, granular material. The experimental system has a footprint of 8 m x 8 m, is 5 m high, and is built on a contiguous grid of 16 zero-tension lysimeters. A chloride tracer was applied during a single rainfall event. Subsequently, the system has been subject to both natural and applied rainfall events in which no further tracer was added. Water flow and tracer transport is monitored using in situ measurements of moisture content, matric suction, and soil water solution samplers. Results demonstrate for transient infiltration conditions the influence and interaction of matrix flow in a heterogeneous granular matrix, preferential flow in macropores, and noncapillary pathways. Tracer migration through preferential flow paths dominates the initial and peak breakthrough concentrations. Point measurements of tracer concentration from in situ solution samplers yield a relatively poor indication of the flux-averaged transport of mass that is recorded at the base of the experiment, in addition to overestimating the stored mass and underestimating residence time.