Randy St. Germain, Dakota Technologies, Inc.

Heterogeneity, we’re all at least loosely familiar with the term. Most of us don’t bat an eye when we hear it, even though it should get our blood pressure up a bit when we do. In this three part series we’ll explore NAPL heterogeneity, have an honest look at the surprising degree to which it affects our work, and some of the things we can do to manage its inescapable influence.

Anyone involved in non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) characterization eventually runs headlong into bewilderment caused by spatial heterogeneity of NAPL in soil. NAPL’s spatial and chemical complexity is particularly troublesome when we’re attempting to characterize NAPL and just the NAPL alone, i.e. the source term.

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