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Ateneo

Test on new artificial tracers to study groundwater circulation, surface water properties and pollution phenomena

 
Working Group
Alberto Tazioli, Stefano Palpacelli, Torquato Nanni, Lucia Aquilanti , Davide Fronzi
 
Partnerships
D3A Department, UNIVPM
 
Activity
A laboratory specifically dedicated to new tracers’ trial has been implemented with hydrogeological column, batch and large tank. These equipment are filled with porous rocks (collected in the studied sites) and added with several devices useful to measure the electrical conductivity, the tracer concentration, the temperature, the water level and groundwater flow. A tracer is injected in the columns and tank in order to investigate its behavior in different aquifers and to achieve the hydrogeological parameters of flow:
  • the transmissivity
  • the dispersivity
  • the Darcy velocity
  • the effective velocity
  • the effective porosity
  • the sorption coefficient

In addition, comparative tests have been made with different tracers (biological, chemical and fluorescent), with the aim of studying the reactive behavior of porous media in view of potential application of such a tracer in the site.

Tracers:

  • NaCl, KBr, KCl
  • Fluorescein
  • Rhodamine WT
  • Tinopal CBS-X
  • DNA
  • Spora

The research goes on in areas characterized by complex hydrogeological setting like flysch in northern Apennines and carbonatic ridges.