Psuedokinetics arising from the upscaling of equilibrium

Multicomponent contaminant transport models in groundwater are typically based on assumptions of local geochemical equilibrium on the grid scale. In heterogenous systems there may be significant coupling between transport processes and geochemical equilibrium at smaller than grid block scale. When these processes are upscaled to grid scale, geochemical evolution may take on a kinetic character.

We have termed this upscaled kinetic behaviour as "pseudo-kinetics" and illustrate it through some examples at the pore and aquifer scales.