Use of Dyes as Vadose Zone Tracers
Collaborators: J. German-Heins and N. N. Wai (Washington State University)
Dyes are useful tracers to stain the flow pathways of water and solutes in the vadose zone. The application of dyes to the soil surface and the subsequent excavation and examination of the trench face reveals a detailed picture of the often highly irregular flow patterns encountered in porous media, in a spatial resolution that currently no other sampling technique can achieve.
The aim of this project is to systematically evaluate and examine dyes suitable as tracers for staining purposes in the vadose zone.
Numerous dyes, in addition to the dyes already reported as staining tracers, will be selected by searching the dyeimages literature based on the following criteria: mobility (high, intermediate, and low), visibility, and toxicity. Selected compounds will be tested in a laboratory screening test for their suitability as tracers. Promising candidates from the screening test will then be subject to an elaborate laboratory investigation of tracer characteristics, such as batch and column sorption measurements, and influence of solution chemistry on emission spectra, as well as on sorption and transport through soil.
We anticipate that as a result of this project we can recommend several dyes suitable as tracers in the three mobility categories. The systematic review and comparison of these compounds will provide a useful reference for the application of dye tracers in the vadose zone.
Publications
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Mon, J., and M. Flury, Dyes as hydrological tracers, in Encyclopedia of Water, edited by J. H. Lehr, J. Keeley, and J. Lehr,
pp. (in press), John Wiley, New York, 2005.
- Mon, J., M. Flury, and J. B. Harsh, Sorption of four triarylmethane dyes in a
sandy soil determined by batch and column experiments, Geoderma, (in press), 2005.
- Mon, J., M. Flury, and J. B. Harsh, Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) for screening of hydrological dye tracers, J. Hydrol. (Amsterdam), (in press), 2005.
- Flury, M., and N. N. Wai, Dyes as Tracers for Vadose Zone Hydrology,
Rev. Geophys., 41, doi:10.1029/2001RG000109, 2003.
- German-Heins, J., and M. Flury, Sorption of Brilliant Blue FCF in soils
as affected by pH and ionic strength, Geoderma, 97, 87-101, 2000.
- Forrer, I., R. Kasteel, M. Flury, and H. Fluehler, Longitudinal and lateral
dispersion in an unsaturated field soil, Water Resour. Res., 35, 3049-3060, 1999.
- German-Heins, J., Suitability of Brilliant Blue FCF as Dye Tracer for Vadose Zone Hydrology, Masters Thesis, Washington State University, 1999.
- Flury, M., and H. Flühler, Tracer characteristics of Brilliant Blue
FCF, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 59, 22-27, 1995.
- Flury, M., and H. Flühler, Brilliant Blue FCF as a dye tracer for
solute transport studies-A toxicological overview, J. Environ.
Qual., 23, 1108-1112, 1994.
- Flury, M., H. Flühler, W. A. Jury, and J. Leuenberger, Susceptibility of
soils to preferential flow of water: A field study, Water Resour.
Res., 30, 1945-1954, 1994.
- Flury, M., and A. Papritz, Bromide in the natural environment: Occurrence
and toxicity, J. Environ. Qual., 22, 747-758, 1993.
Markus Flury 
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