Articles | Volume 25, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5337-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5337-2021
Research article
 | 
05 Oct 2021
Research article |  | 05 Oct 2021

Preferential pathways for fluid and solutes in heterogeneous groundwater systems: self-organization, entropy, work

Erwin Zehe, Ralf Loritz, Yaniv Edery, and Brian Berkowitz

Related authors

Energy efficiency in transient surface runoff and sediment fluxes on hillslopes – a concept to quantify the effectiveness of extreme events
Samuel Schroers, Ulrike Scherer, and Erwin Zehe
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1301,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1301, 2023
Short summary
Atmospheric conditions favouring extreme precipitation and flash floods in temperate regions of Europe
Judith Meyer, Malte Neuper, Luca Mathias, Erwin Zehe, and Laurent Pfister
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6163–6183, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6163-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6163-2022, 2022
Short summary
Leveraging sap flow data in a catchment-scale hybrid model to improve soil moisture and transpiration estimates
Ralf Loritz, Maoya Bassiouni, Anke Hildebrandt, Sibylle K. Hassler, and Erwin Zehe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4757–4771, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4757-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4757-2022, 2022
Short summary
Morphological controls on surface runoff: an interpretation of steady-state energy patterns, maximum power states and dissipation regimes within a thermodynamic framework
Samuel Schroers, Olivier Eiff, Axel Kleidon, Ulrike Scherer, Jan Wienhöfer, and Erwin Zehe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3125–3150, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3125-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Stepping beyond perfectly mixed conditions in soil hydrological modelling using a Lagrangian approach
Alexander Sternagel, Ralf Loritz, Brian Berkowitz, and Erwin Zehe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1615–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1615-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1615-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Groundwater hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Theory development
Towards a hydrogeomorphological understanding of proglacial catchments: an assessment of groundwater storage and release in an Alpine catchment
Tom Müller, Stuart N. Lane, and Bettina Schaefli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6029–6054, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6029-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6029-2022, 2022
Short summary
Effect of topographic slope on the export of nitrate in humid catchments: a 3D model study
Jie Yang, Qiaoyu Wang, Ingo Heidbüchel, Chunhui Lu, Yueqing Xie, Andreas Musolff, and Jan H. Fleckenstein
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5051–5068, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5051-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5051-2022, 2022
Short summary
Transit Time index (TTi) as an adaptation of the humification index to illustrate transit time differences in karst hydrosystems: application to the karst springs of the Fontaine de Vaucluse system (southeastern France)
Leïla Serène, Christelle Batiot-Guilhe, Naomi Mazzilli, Christophe Emblanch, Milanka Babic, Julien Dupont, Roland Simler, Matthieu Blanc, and Gérard Massonnat
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5035–5049, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5035-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5035-2022, 2022
Short summary
In situ estimation of subsurface hydro-geomechanical properties using the groundwater response to semi-diurnal Earth and atmospheric tides
Gabriel C. Rau, Timothy C. McMillan, Martin S. Andersen, and Wendy A. Timms
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4301–4321, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4301-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4301-2022, 2022
Short summary
The Thiem team – Adolf and Günther Thiem, two forefathers of hydrogeology
Georg J. Houben and Okke Batelaan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4055–4091, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4055-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4055-2022, 2022
Short summary

Cited articles

Ababou, R., McLaughlin, D., Gelhar, L. W., and Tompson, A. F. B.: Numerical simulation of three-dimensional saturated flow in randomly heterogeneous porous media, Transport Porous Med., 4, 549–565, 1989. 
Applebaum, D.: Probability and Information, 1st edn., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996. 
Becker, M. W. and Shapiro, A. M.: Tracer transport in fractured crystalline rock: Evidence of nondiffusive breakthrough tailing, Water Resour. Res., 36, 1677–1686, 2000. 
Ben-Naim, A.: A Farewell to Entropy, World Scientific, chap. 1, https://doi.org/10.1142/6469, 2008. 
Berkowitz, B.: Characterizing flow and transport in fractured geological media: A review, Adv. Water Resour., 25, 861–884, 2002. 
Download
Short summary
This study uses the concepts of entropy and work to quantify and explain the emergence of preferential flow and transport in heterogeneous saturated porous media. We found that the downstream concentration of solutes in preferential pathways implies a downstream declining entropy in the transverse distribution of solute transport pathways. Preferential flow patterns with lower entropies emerged within media of higher heterogeneity – a stronger self-organization despite a higher randomness.