Dampening of Transverse Dispersion in the Halocline in Karst Limestone in the Northeastern Yucatan Peninsula

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Publication Date

5-1-1995

Publication Title

Groundwater

Volume Number

33

Issue Number

3

Abstract

A range of hydrodynamic dispersion coefficients was estimated for fracture‐fluid and combined fracture and pore‐fluid flow within the halocline of the limestone aquifer forming the surface of the northern Yucatan Peninsula. The coefficients are fit parameters in a model reproducing observed halocline profiles in a sinkhole and in a borehole near the northeastern coast. Fitted coefficients range from 10 −7 to 10 −4 cm 2 /sec, of which molecular diffusion, without transverse (vertical) dispersion, can account for 10 −7 to 10 −5 cm 2 /sec. The mechanical stability of the vertical density gradient in the halocline dampens transverse dispersion in pore fluids and in fracture fluids that are transitional between laminar and turbulent flow. The dampening is proportional to the ratio of the energy needed for the fluid to rise and displace a less dense fluid to the vertical component of the kinetic energy of the fluid. The ratio of these two energies is at a maximum during the initial stage of development of a halocline and decreases as the halocline widens.

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1995.tb00291.x

Language

English

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