Abstract
The mathematical analogy between ground water flow and electrical flow has been recognized for decades. This analogy is used to illustrate how input data for the ground water flow model MODFLOW can be scaled and used to simulate the two-dimensional flow of electricity through conductive contaminant plumes in porous media. MODFLOW is used to simulate electrical potential fields generated at the land surface by mise-a-la-masse surveys for several simplified contaminant plumes. These simulations illustrate the degree of “visual” distortion in the electrical potential fields that can be expected for various plume conditions. In addition, the simulations show that a conductive contaminant plume will depress the electrical potential field below preplume baseline conditions near the plume. Depression of the electrical potential field near conductive, ground water contaminants is significant from the standpoint of early detection of leaks from waste disposal facilities.
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Osiensky, J.L., Williams, R.E. Finite-difference simulation of the application of electrical flow through conductive contaminant plumes. Mine Water and the Environment 14, 39–56 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02914852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02914852