CONTAMINANT MIGRATION IN IMPERFECTLY KNOWN HETEROGENEOUS GROUNDWATER SYSTEMS

Recent studies dealing with methodologies for describing contaminant migration in complex groundwater flow systems are summarized. Emphasis is placed on the role played by heterogeneity in the flow and transport properties of geologic media because it is one of the largest sources of uncertainty for making reliable predictions of contaminant plume evolution and remediation. Advancements made in stochastic subsurface transport theories are highlighted with a complementary discussion of findings based on recent detailed field experiments and progress in numerical modelling techniques.