Prediction of the temperature dependence of electrical conductance for river waters

A new method of calculating electrical conductivity with applications to natural waters

“…In addition, several methods have been reported for calculating the conductivity of a natural water sample from its chemical composition (McNeal et al, 1970;Tanji and Biggar, 1972;Rossum, 1975;Marion and Babcock, 1976;Laxen, 1977;Miller et al, 1988;Talbot et al, 1990;Pawlowicz, 2008;Appelo, 2010;Visconti et al, 2010). There are also theoretical methods intended primarily for industrial applications (Anderko and Lencka, 1997;Wang et al, 2004).…”

“…Furthermore, many of the existing methods are subject to large uncertainties because either ion-pairing is not accounted for (McNeal et al, 1970;Tanji and Biggar, 1972;Laxen, 1977) or it is accounted for by using reduction factors based on conductivity (Miller et al, 1988) or by treating the system as a particular sum of salts, each of which has a unique dependence on the ionic strength (Pawlowicz, 2008). The method of Talbot et al (1990) takes advantage of a geochemical speciation code, but the method is limited by the number of ions included and their estimation of ionic conductivities. Furthermore, several methods are only valid for solutions at 25°C (Rossum, 1949;McNeal et al, 1970;Tanji and Biggar, 1972;Rossum, 1975;Marion and Babcock, 1976;Laxen, 1977;Miller et al, 1988).…”

Comparison of electrical conductivity calculation methods for natural waters

“…Several methods were not included in the comparison because the calculated conductivity was not based on the (Miller et al 1988) or the method was incorporated into a computer program, which we were unable to obtain (Talbot et al 1990). As far as we know, the Talbot et al (1990) method was the first conductivity method to use the speciated ions calculated using a geochemical model.…”

“…It has been used to assess the salinity (Lewis 1980;Wilson 1981;Visconti et al 2010), ionic strength (Ponnamperuma et al 1966;Lind 1970;Polemio et al 1980;Pintro and Inoue 1999), major solute concentrations (Pollak 1954;McNeil and Cox 2000), and total dissolved solids (Gustafson and Behrman 1939;Singh and Kalra 1975;Lystrom et al 1978;Day and Nightingale 1984) of natural waters and soil solutions. Several methods have been published that can be used to calculate the conductivity of natural waters and soil extracts from their chemical composition (Rossum 1949;McNeal et al 1970;Tanji and Biggar 1972;Rossum 1975;Marion and Babcock 1976;Laxen 1977;Talbot et al 1990;Wüest et al 1996;Pawlowicz 2008;Appelo 2010;Visconti et al 2010;McCleskey et al 2012). In addition to providing a better understanding of the chemical behavior of dissolved solutes, the calculated conductivity can be used to check the accuracy of chemical analyses (Rossum 1975;Laxen 1977;Miller et al 1988;McCleskey et al 2012) and to estimate the transference (or transport) number of ions that substantially contribute to the conductivity.…”

“…As far as we know, the Talbot et al (1990) method was the first conductivity method to use the speciated ions calculated using a geochemical model. There are also theoretical methods intended primarily for industrial applications (Anderko and Lencka 1997;Wang et al 2004) that are not included in this comparison.…”