Process / pipelineContaminant hydrogeology

Groundwater Contamination Modeling

Groundwater contamination modeling is a quantitative approach to predict the migration of dissolved and suspended contaminants (chemical spills, landfill leachate, petroleum, radionuclides) through subsurface aquifers and toward receptors (drinking water wells, surface water bodies, ecosystems). Developed systematically in the 1980s–1990s by the USGS and hydrogeologists, these models couple flow equations (Darcy's law) with advection-dispersion transport and geochemical reactions to forecast contaminant arrival times and plume extent.

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Sources

  1. Fetter, C. W., Boving, T. B., & Kreamer, D. K. (2018). Contaminant Hydrogeology (3rd ed.). Waveland Press. ISBN: 978-1478625315
  2. US Geological Survey. (2003). MODFLOW-2000, the U.S. Geological Survey Modular Finite-Difference Ground-Water Flow Model. USGS Open-File Report 03-123. link
  3. Domenico, P. A., & Schwartz, F. W. (1998). Physical and Chemical Hydrogeology (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-0471594734

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Referenced by

ScholarGateGroundwater Contamination Modeling (Simulation of Contaminant Transport in Groundwater). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/environmental-engineering/groundwater-contamination-model