CSIRO Land and Water, Perth

27th February 2006
Celtic Club – 45 Ord St, West Perth
5:30 for 6:00 Seminar

Much urban and industrial infrastructure in Australia is located in coastal environments. Spills and leaks of chemicals impact groundwater, which can threaten to discharge to estuarine and marine environments. Whilst there have been a number of studies investigating the flow of groundwater to surface water systems, not as much has been done on the fate of contaminants entrained in groundwater which threaten to discharge to such systems. For estuarine and marine environments density contrasts with fresh groundwater, tidal, seasonal and storm surge fluid transients, and mixing of chemically distinct waters add to the complexity of such systems making quantification difficult especially close to the point of discharge. In this presentation, Greg reports on two studies carried out in Perth – both involving the mapping and quantification of the fluxes of hydrocarbon contaminants in an estuarine and marine environment. The dynamic nature of the flows and chemical fluxes will be discussed, along with an assessment of the natural attenuation potential for the petroleum hydrocarbons resident in the plume. Finally, some recent modelling efforts to couple the important fluid and biogeochemical processes occurring near to the groundwater-surface water interface will be presented.