MODELING FATE AND TRANSPORT OF ATRAZINE IN THE SATURATED-UNSATURATED ZONE OF SOIL

P.K. Allepalli1 and R.S. Govindaraju2, Department of Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, FAX: 913-532-7717, 1Phone: 913-532-2040, Email: prasun@unix.ksu.edu, and 2Phone: 913-532-1585

ABSTRACT Atrazine is a widely-used herbicide for selective control of broadleaf and grassy weeds, and it has been detected in ground water. Experimental work in this area shows that the degradation of atrazine is dependent on the soil water content. Of specific interest to this study is the influence of fluctuating water tables on atrazine degradation. A 1-D finite-difference model has been developed to study saturated-unsaturated water movement and transport of atrazine with kinetic-nonlinear adsorption and water content-dependent degradation. The water movement and chemical transport have been decoupled so that the water fluxes are treated independent of the chemical concentrations. Model results of the fate and transport of atrazine for various physical scenarios are included in the form of graphs.

KEYWORDS: atrazine, solute transport, saturated-unsaturated model

This paper is from the Proceedings of the HSRC/WERC Joint Conference on the Environment, May 1996, published in hard copy and on the Web by the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center.

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