Abstract
Previous investigations using time domain reflectometry (TDR) to detect ionic contaminants has mainly focused on saturated coarse-grained soils and conventional probes (e.g., coaxial, two- or three-rod probe). To explore the applicability of using the TDR penetrometer for the site investigation of ionically contaminated land, a theoretical framework was proposed to estimate the pore water electrical conductivity of both saturated and unsaturated silts based on measured soil dielectric permittivity and bulk electrical conductivity. The theoretical framework consists of three equations, the empirical equation relating soil dielectric permittivity and volumetric water content, the soil dielectric mixing model, and the modified Archie’s law considering the surface conductivity. To verify the theoretical framework, chamber tests using the TDR penetrometer were performed to detect CuSO4 contaminants in silt columns. Results show that the theoretical framework provides an increasingly better calculation of the pore water electrical conductivity of saturated and unsaturated silt with increasing the concentration of CuSO4 solution. This is because that the modified Archie’s law with a constant surface conductivity in the theoretical framework can well capture the relationship between soil bulk electrical conductivity and pore water electrical conductivity at high solution concentrations (i.e., 0.015 and 0.030 mol/L CuSO4 solutions), but not at low solution concentrations (i.e., tap water). The theoretical framework and chamber tests are expected to provide scientific guidance for extending the capacity of TDR penetrometer to the site investigation of ionically contaminated land.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Change history
21 May 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09694-4
Abbreviations
- E :
-
Apparent dielectric permittivity
- C :
-
Speed of electromagnetic wave in free space (3 × 108 m/s)
- Δt :
-
Propagation time of electromagnetic pulse along the probe (s)
- L :
-
Length of the probe (m)
- EC:
-
Electrical conductivity (S/m)
- V 0 :
-
Input voltage (V)
- V ∞ :
-
Stable voltage (V)
- C :
-
Constant parameter related to transmission geometry and physical properties (m/S)
- θ w :
-
Soil volumetric water content (%)
- ε soil :
-
Soil dielectric permittivity
- a, b :
-
Constant parameter of the linear relationship between soil volumetric water content and the square root of soil dielectric permittivity
- N :
-
Soil porosity
- ε s :
-
Soil particle dielectric permittivity
- ε w :
-
Pore water dielectric permittivity
- ε a :
-
Pore air dielectric permittivity
- K :
-
Constant parameter of soil dielectric mixing model
- h, m :
-
Constant parameter of Archie’s law
- ECsoil :
-
Soil bulk electrical conductivity (S/m)
- ECwater :
-
Pore water electrical conductivity (S/m)
- ECsurface :
-
Soil surface conductivity (S/m)
- S r :
-
Degree of saturation
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Funding
This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Project (2018YFC1802300); the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (51625805); the National Science Foundation of China (51909205); the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M631166 and 2019T120914).
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Conceptualization: LZ, QM, and YC; methodology: LZ, and QM; formal analysis and investigation: QG, and QM; writing—original draft preparation: QG; writing—review and editing: LZ, QM, and YC; resources: LZ, and YC.
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Zhan, L., Guo, Q., Mu, Q. et al. Detection of ionic contaminants in unsaturated soils using time domain reflectometry penetrometer. Environ Earth Sci 80, 330 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09618-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09618-2