Forensic modelling of fate and transport of contaminants of a megasite of chemical industry in a mining area based on numerical groundwater models

The PhD project is settled in cooperation between the Helmhotz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research (HIGRADE) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

The former chemical industrial site Bitterfeld is characterized by a widely spread groundwater water contamination. Furthermore the intensive open pit lignite mining activities during the period 1839 to 1993 had extremely affected the regional groundwater flow system.

A numerical groundwater flow model for the past 150 years does already exist. It includes time-dependent changes in groundwater flow caused by dewatering actions from different open pit mining areas. In connection with recent monitoring results of the contamination it is aspired to develop a multi-species-reactive transport model for the region. The results could be used to give explanations of existing distribution of contaminants, to estimate areas of influences and finding enhanced monitoring strategies.

"Forensic modelling of fate and transport of contaminants of a megasite of chemical industry in a mining area based on numerical groundwater models"

"The PhD project is settled in cooperation between the Helmhotz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research (HIGRADE) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

The former chemical industrial site Bitterfeld is characterized by a widely spread groundwater water contamination. Furthermore the intensive open pit lignite mining activities during the period 1839 to 1993 had extremely affected the regional groundwater flow system.

A numerical groundwater flow model for the past 150 years does already exist. It includes time-dependent changes in groundwater flow caused by dewatering actions from different open pit mining areas. In connection with recent monitoring results of the contamination it is aspired to develop a multi-species-reactive transport model for the region. The results could be used to give explanations of existing distribution of contaminants, to estimate areas of influences and finding enhanced monitoring strategies."