title: Reaction front formation in contaminant plumes.
abstract: The formation of successive fronts in contaminated groundwater plumes by subsoil bacterial action is a commonly accepted feature of their propagation, but it is not obviously clear from a mathematical standpoint quite how such fronts are formed or propagate. In this paper we show that these can be explained by combining classical reaction-diffusion theory involving just two reactants (oxidant and reductant), and a secondary reaction in which a reactant on one side of such a front is (re-)formed on the other side of the front via diffusion of its product across the front. We give approximate asymptotic solutions for the reactant profiles, and the propagation rate of the front.
authors.affiliation: MACSI, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Cribbin
authors.affiliation: MACSI, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Electronic address: henry.winstanley@ul.ie.
authors.forename: Henry F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Winstanley
authors.affiliation: MACSI, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: MACSI, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; OCIAM, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.affiliation: OCIAM, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; School of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
authors.forename: Graham C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Sander
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D060587:Groundwater / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Bioremediation; Mathematical model; Reaction front; Reactive transport; Redox zonation; Terminal electron acceptors