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Topic · Environmental Engineering

Groundwater flow and contamination studies

Groundwater flow and contamination studies is a research topic within Environmental Engineering. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the modeling and analysis of groundwater flow and transport, with an emphasis on fractured geological media, surface water interactions, non-Fickian transport behavior, and the use of innovative techniques such as hydraulic tomography and distributed temperature sensing. The papers also cover topics related to reactive transport, geological heterogeneity, and inverse modeling for characterizing groundwater systems.

  • Groundwater Flow
  • Transport Modeling
  • Fractured Geological Media
  • Hydraulic Tomography
  • Surface Water Interactions
  • Non-Fickian Transport
  • Geological Heterogeneity
  • Reactive Transport
  • Streambed Temperatures
  • Inverse Modeling
Research works
39k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
41% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Groundwater flow and contamination studies

Which countries lead Groundwater flow and contamination studies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.8k and 974 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.8k works
  2. 2 United States 974 works
  3. 3 India 303 works
  4. 4 Germany 273 works
  5. 5 France 235 works
  6. 6 Canada 202 works
  7. 7 Italy 161 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 158 works
  9. 9 Australia 131 works
  10. 10 Iran 126 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 40.7%United States: 22.5%India: 7.0%Germany: 6.3%6 others listed: 23.5%41%largest
China1,757 · 40.7%United States974 · 22.5%India303 · 7.0%Germany273 · 6.3%6 others listed1,014 · 23.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Groundwater flow and contamination studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Groundwater flow and contamination studies research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hohai University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 88 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 86 works
  3. 3 Hohai UniversityChina 78 works
  4. 4 China University of GeosciencesChina 56 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 54 works
  6. 6 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 52 works
  7. 7 Jilin UniversityChina 45 works
  8. 8 Tongji UniversityChina 43 works
  9. 9 China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 41 works
  10. 10 China University of Geosciences (Beijing)China 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Groundwater flow and contamination studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Groundwater flow and contamination studies include Rob Knight, Kai You Wang and Guangming Zeng.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  4. 4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Groundwater flow and contamination studies?

The most cited paper in Groundwater flow and contamination studies is "A Closed‐form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils" (Martinus Th. van Genuchten, 1980), with 27,905 citations. Next come "Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations" (13,590) and "The future of distributed models: Model calibration and uncertainty prediction" (4,690).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Closed‐form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils Martinus Th. van Genuchten · Soil Science Society of America Journal Sep 1980 27,905
2 Model Evaluation Guidelines for Systematic Quantification of Accuracy in Watershed Simulations Daniel N. Moriasi, Jeffery G. Arnold, Mike W. Van Liew et al. · Transactions of the ASABE 2007 13,590
3 The future of distributed models: Model calibration and uncertainty prediction Keith Beven, Andrew M. Binley · Hydrological Processes Jul 1992 4,690
4 Water Stability and Adsorption in Metal–Organic Frameworks Nicholas C. Burtch, Himanshu Jasuja, Krista S. Walton · Chemical Reviews Review 29 Sep 2014 2,734
5 A manifesto for the equifinality thesis Keith John Beven · Journal of Hydrology Open access 3 Sep 2005 2,721
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Groundwater flow and contamination studies research done?

The largest centres of Groundwater flow and contamination studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Wuhan (China) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Reston.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 448 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 139 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 132 works
  4. 4 ChengduChina 77 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 75 works
  6. 6 Xi'anChina 74 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 68 works
  8. 8 QingdaoChina 66 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 57 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. RestonUS · 40.5 works30×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Groundwater flow and contamination studies than the world average.

See Groundwater flow and contamination studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Groundwater flow and contamination studies?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Tongji University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 17.44%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →King Fahd University…China University of …China University of …Tongji University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1China University of GeosciencesChina 75.818.4%23.9×56 +26.5%
2King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 69.421.0%12.1×22 +72.9%
3Tongji UniversityChina 65.314.4%5.5×43 +39.5%
4China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 64.516.3%12.1×29 +32.5%
5China University of Geosciences (Beijing)China 64.314.4%25.5×38 +25.0%
6Chang'an UniversityChina 64.024.0%11.0×21 -10.0%
7Central South UniversityChina 63.525.6%1.9×19 +78.5%
8China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 63.113.0%20.1×41 +12.3%
9Wuhan UniversityChina 61.417.9%3.9×29 +18.1%
10Hohai UniversityChina 61.39.4%25.7×78 +2.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Groundwater flow and contamination studies, country by country

Is Groundwater flow and contamination studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Groundwater flow and contamination studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.024% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Groundwater flow and contamination studies0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Groundwater flow and contamination studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Groundwater flow and contamination studies9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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