Analyses of locally measured bromide breakthrough curves from a natural gradient tracer experiment at Krauthausen

Solute travel time distributions were derived from breakthrough curves (BTCs) of bromide concentrations, which were measured during a large-scale tracer experiment in a quaternary fluviatile aquifer at Krauthausen. Travel time distributions to a specific point in the aquifer were derived from locally measured BTCs, using averaged absolute concentrations abs(x1,t), normalized concentrations norm(x1,t), and velocity-weighted normalized concentrations vw(x1,t). The travel time distributions were characterized in terms of equivalent convective–dispersive transport parameters: the equivalent solute velocity and equivalent dispersivity. Parameters were derived from BTCs using moment analyses and least-squares fits of the 1-D convection–dispersion equation (CDE). Both local and averaged BTCs showed pronounced tailing which was not well described by the 1-D CDE and which indicates the presence of macroscopic regions with low velocities in the aquifer. Therefore, dispersivities derived from CDE fits were significantly smaller than those derived from time moments. The BTCs of abs(x1,t) were dominated by only a few local BTCs with high concentrations and were less representative for the travel time distribution than BTCs of averaged normalized concentrations. Dispersivities derived from norm(x1,t) and vw(x1,t) were very similar. Finally, estimates of dispersivities and vertical correlation length of lnK, γ3, from BTCs were in agreement with a first-order estimate of the dispersivity and γ3 based on grain size data and flow meter measurements