Articles | Volume 25, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1483-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1483-2021
Research article
 | 
25 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 25 Mar 2021

Simulation of reactive solute transport in the critical zone: a Lagrangian model for transient flow and preferential transport

Alexander Sternagel, Ralf Loritz, Julian Klaus, Brian Berkowitz, and Erwin Zehe

Model code and software

Code of the LAST-Model, Version 0.1.1 M. Mälicke and A. Sternagel https://github.com/KIT-HYD/last-model

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Short summary
The key innovation of the study is a method to simulate reactive solute transport in the vadose zone within a Lagrangian framework. We extend the LAST-Model with a method to account for non-linear sorption and first-order degradation processes during unsaturated transport of reactive substances in the matrix and macropores. Model evaluations using bromide and pesticide data from irrigation experiments under different flow conditions on various timescales show the feasibility of the method.