Experimental study and modelling of zinc and lead migration in sandy soils due to stormwater infiltration.

Heavy metals emitted by road traffic are contaminants of roadside soils and can potentially migrate through the soils down to groundwater during runoff water infiltration. Stormwater management requires a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the transport and particularly chemical interactions between heavy metals and the solid matrix. Experiments with open dynamic systems and modelling with a mixing-cells-in-series model have been performed to identify the main reactions which govern the migration of zinc and lead in sandy soils. Binary and ternary exchange experiments have been performed and a numerical modelling was proposed to describe zinc and lead mobility in column experiments.