Variability of Surface Recharge and Its Effects on Groundwater in Suffolk County, Long Island

摘要

The overall objective was to gain more insight in the variability of downward movement of water, which is the main carrier agent of pollutant in the soil. The study focused on Eastern Long Island where conditions of groundwater pollution are especially severe. For this purpose the infiltration properties of a Haven loam were determined in the laboratory by means of a newly-designed vertical capillary rise apparatus on 180 disturbed field samples of topsoil and subsoil. The experimental data were first processed by means of several concise formulations for sorption; measured and determined for each sample were rate of wetting front advance, three forms of sorptivity and four diffusivities. Subsequently a geostatistical analysis was performed and applied to the subsoil sorptivity data. The understanding gained in this project will be incorporated in predictive modeling techniques for the transport of toxic chemicals to the groundwater.