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.