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Environmental and Engineering Geoscience

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Conceptual Model for Landfill Hydrologic Transport Developed Using Chloride Tracer Data and Dual-Domain Modeling

¹ P.O. Box 5218, Department of Physics and Earth Science, University of North Alabama, Florence, AL 35631
² Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401-1887
³ Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401-1887

Waste-derived chloride present in a landfill cell was used as a hydrologic tracer in conjunction with a mathematical model to better elucidate landfill hydrologic dynamics for a municipal solid-waste landfill in which the cover material is significantly more permeable than the waste material. Long-term temporal chloride data from a lined landfill cell in Florida were used to calibrate a variably saturated dual-domain model (originally developed for soil-science research) to landfill hydrology and solute transport. The model successfully simulated the chloride temporal trend. The dual-domain processes were needed to simulate the long-term decline in conservative chloride concentrations. However, the temporal variations about the general trend could only be simulated accurately by considering the variations in landfill recharge. The fitted value of Darcy flux (0.274 cm/day) was less than literature values, and the dispersion coefficient (900 cm²/day) was higher than simple estimates based on heterogeneous aquifers. The other fitted parameters, first-order mass transfer coefficient (0.0018/day) and fraction of mobile water (0.22), were within the range of values reported in the literature. Model sensitivity studies were conducted to assess the relative importance of each parameter. The most sensitive parameter was recharge rate to the landfill, a factor that can be measured with the proper instrumentation. Although the model performance was not as sensitive to the values of the dual-domain parameters, inclusion of these parameters was required to accurately simulate the long-term temporal trend.

Key Words: Environmental Geology • Pollution Modeling • Hydrogeology • Geochemistry • Infiltration