A slightly tongue-in-cheek AI animation of a conceptual model showing leakage of highly mineralized mine waters into a carbonate aquifer:
https://youtu.be/WDIze8QNMYs

Yes - it’s simplified. Yes - real systems are messier.
But sometimes a "clean" visual helps to communicate density-driven flow and reactive processes more intuitively than 20 pages of equations.

The animation idea emerged while working on my monograph. Draft versions are available here:
https://zenodo.org/records/16741148

Engineering humor is allowed - even in hydrogeochemistry 😁

#Hydrogeochemistry #Groundwater #MineWater #ReactiveTransport #CarbonateAquifer #PHREEQC #AIinScience #Geoscience #SvystunovaGully

How reliable are dilution estimates in contaminated aquifers?

In my current monograph, I validated the dilution coefficient using two fully independent approaches:
- chloride concentrations as a conservative tracer
- solution density calculated in PHREEQC (Laliberté–Cooper model)

I then performed a robust statistical comparison of both dilution estimates (n ≈ 2000).
The result: no statistically significant difference between the two methods (Mann–Whitney test), with very close median values and negligible effect size.

❗What does this mean in practice?
It confirms that density-based calculations — often ignored in groundwater contamination studies — provide robust, independent validation of classical tracer-based approaches.
This is especially important for highly mineralized mine waters, where density-driven processes (e.g. buoyancy effects, Rayleigh–Taylor instability) can critically affect plume behavior.

#Groundwater #Geochemistry #PHREEQC #MineWater #Hydrogeology #RStats #SvystunovaGully

Thousands of studies describe Rayleigh–Taylor instability, and most hydrogeological models acknowledge its importance in contaminant transport.

However, in studies of the Svystunova gully mine-water storage pond, I have not seen density explicitly accounted for — despite highly mineralized waters where this factor can fundamentally change plume behaviour.
By calculating solution density within the contamination halo, I demonstrated a real risk of gravity-driven sinking of the contamination plume to the base of the aquifer. This finding adds a critical dimension to impact assessment and is now documented as a standalone section in my ongoing report.

If you work with mine water, aquifers contamination, or long-term contamination modelling, this is a parameter worth revisiting.

#Hydrogeochemistry #Groundwater #MineWater #PHREEQC #RStats #QGIS #EnvironmentalRisk #Contamination #RiskAnalysis #SvystunovaGully

#SvystunovaGully
888 downloads!
Looks like I’ve created something that people actually find interesting.

But here’s the real question: with a daily rate of 30–40 downloads... what are the odds of catching such a perfectly round number by accident? 🤣

(Maybe the Universe has a soft spot for hydrogeochemistry!) 😁

#OpenScience #Zenodo #Geochemistry #Hydrogeology #MineWater #DataScience #ResearchLife #ScienceHumor #Groundwater #EnvironmentalScience #Contamination #PHREEQC #RStats #LaTeX #QGIS #FOSS #WaterPollution

In my study of the highly mineralized mine-water storage impoundment in #SvystunovaGully , I used PHREEQC to quantify the equilibrium dissolution potential of calcite for every of >1000 groundwater sample collected over more than 10 years.

For each sample, I modeled how much calcite the water could dissolve if it encountered carbonate rocks along its flow path (SI = 0 at equilibrium). Each sample was treated as an independent thermodynamic system, and the resulting dissolution values were aggregated spatially using Voronoi polygons.

The map below shows the median Δmass of calcite (g/L) for each polygon.
Areas with more negative values represent water that remains capable of dissolving additional carbonate minerals — a long-term indicator of the water’s aggressiveness.

This approach highlights the zones where the aquifer is most vulnerable to carbonate dissolution around the mine-water pond.

#Hydrogeology #Geochemistry #PHREEQC #Groundwater #MineWater #GIS #RStats #Hydrochemistry #OpenScience #Ukraine

In my research on the impoundment for highly mineralized mine water, I identified two distinct zones of carbonate mineral dissolution within the underlying carbonate aquifer.

The inner zone is caused by the primary aggressiveness of the mine water toward carbonates.

The outer zone appears after the leaking water has almost reached equilibrium with carbonate minerals — and its behaviour closely resembles freshwater–seawater mixing dissolution.

On the figure, outer zone (III) is marked by the sharp drop in the calcite saturation index.

The crucial point is this:
👉 The outer dissolution zone (III) creates enhanced pathways for further migration of mine water through the aquifer.
❗ It behaves like a positive-feedback system, progressively increasing its own permeability.

All details, and modelling results are documented in the latest draft of my monograph (v0.75):
🔗 https://zenodo.org/records/16741148

#Geochemistry #Rstats #MixingCorrosion #PHREEQC #SvystunovaGully #Contamimation #Groundwater #Thermodynamics #MineWater

📘 A small milestone for my independent research project

I’m honestly a bit shocked.
When I published the first version of my hydrogeochemical monograph on May 27 (v0.72), and then the updated version on August 4 (v0.75), I expected almost no reactions at all.

Today, the combined statistics on Zenodo show:
- 1,400 downloads
- almost 3,000 views

For a niche, highly technical, openly accessible monograph created by one person — this is far beyond anything I imagined.

Thank you to everyone who found the work useful enough to download, save, or read it.
Your interest is the only reason this project keeps growing.

#Geochemistry #Hydrogeology #MineWater #PHREEQC #EnvironmentalGeochemistry #Groundwater #Metasomatism #RStats #QGIS #OpenScience #IndependentResearch #SvystunovaGully #KryvyiRih #WaterPollution #Contamination #Mining #Zenodo

(Full Zenodo record — in the ALT of the second image, for anyone interested.)

🌊 Modeling a potential dam breach — and how panic spread beyond the real watershed

This project assessed the potential consequences of a dam failure at a mine-water impoundment in the Svystunova Gully.

🔹 Reconstructed the original pre-impoundment terrain from archival topographic maps.
🔹 Used Sentinel-based land-cover classification to assign variable Manning’s roughness coefficients.
🔹 Built a modern DEM including the dam structure and current flooded zone.
🔹 Simulated dam-break flood dynamics in GRASS GIS — frame by frame.
🔹 Produced a video visualization to help local communities understand real risks (and ignore fake ones).
🔹 The results were later featured in regional media and used in discussions about mine-water safety.

🎥 Watch the short video visualization:
🔗 https://youtu.be/JTcCLXqvWlE?si=NS7ly7UAZu1XttWy

#Hydrology #DamSafety #GIS #GRASSGIS #MineWater #HydrodynamicModeling #GeospatialAnalysis #EnvironmentalRisk #OpenScience #IndependentResearch #SvystunovaGully

🧪 Mine water + fresh water ≠ simple average

When high mineralized mine waters mix with fresh groundwater, mineral reactions don’t behave linearly.

The graphs below show how saturation indices for selected minerals respond to dilution:
🔹 Copper sulfates (Antlerite, Brochantite, Langite) display clear peaks and drops.
🔹 Gypsum remains undersaturated — yet falls sharply at high dilution.

Each “dip” or “window” reflects a short-lived equilibrium where new mineral phases may form or dissolve — revealing the hidden dynamics of technogenic metasomatism in aquifer systems.

📖 Draft monograph (v0.75) available on Zenodo:
🔗 https://zenodo.org/records/16741148

#Geochemistry #Hydrogeology #MineWater #PHREEQC #EnvironmentalGeochemistry #Groundwater #Metasomatism #RStats #QGIS #OpenScience #IndependentResearch #SvystunovaGully #KryvyiRih #WaterPollution #Contamination #Mining

💧 Aggressive groundwater and the long memory of contamination

Even after more than a decade of monitoring, the groundwater in this carbonate aquifer remains undersaturated with respect to calcite — consistently showing negative SI values across nearly all observation wells.

This means that the system is still chemically aggressive toward limestone, slowly dissolving the host rock.
The impoundment, operating since 1976, continues to influence the aquifer — with the geometry of possible subsurface voids still uncertain to this day.

📘 All supporting data and modeling results are included in the draft monograph:
🔗 https://zenodo.org/records/16741148

🧪 Data & visualization: PHREEQC + R + QGIS

#Hydrogeochemistry #Geochemistry #MineWater #Groundwater #PHREEQC #EnvironmentalGeoscience #IndependentResearch #OpenScience #QGIS #RStats #Aquifer #Zenodo #SvystunovaGully #GroundwaterContamination #FOSS