Impact of Aquifer Heterogeneity on Geomicrobial Kinetics

dc.contributor.advisorJin, Qushengen_US
dc.contributor.authorRabjohns, Kelleyen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-10-03T23:33:32Z
dc.date.available2013-10-03T23:33:32Z
dc.date.issued2013-10-03
dc.description.abstractRates of microbial reactions are important in understanding groundwater chemistry and bioremediation. In aquifers, microbial rates depend on physicochemical and biological factors and also on how groundwater transport impacts microbial reactions at pore-scale. I numerically simulate microbial acetate consumption in a porous medium, focusing on how physical heterogeneity of the medium impacts the rates. My model is a 3-D cube, which represents a portion of a sandy aquifer. Acetate is supplied by groundwater flow through the cube, and microbes live on randomly distributed grain surfaces by oxidizing acetate. I simulated microbial acetate oxidation under a range of groundwater velocity, acetate concentrations, spatial heterogeneity, and other physicochemical conditions. The results demonstrate a significant gap in microbial kinetics between the pore-scale and continuum model. Specifically, microbial rates are larger in porous media of greater heterogeneity. For this reason, I propose that microbial parameters should not be applied directly to field-scale biogeochemical modeling.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/13270
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregonen_US
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.en_US
dc.subjectGroundwater Flowen_US
dc.subjectMicrobial Kineticsen_US
dc.subjectSpatial Heterogeneityen_US
dc.titleImpact of Aquifer Heterogeneity on Geomicrobial Kineticsen_US
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Geological Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregonen_US
thesis.degree.levelmastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameM.S.en_US

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