About OTEQ OTEQ is a mathematical simulation model used to characterize the fate and transport of water-borne solutes in streams and rivers. The model is formed by coupling a solute transport model with a chemical equilibrium submodel. The solute transport model is based on OTIS, a model that considers the physical processes of advection, dispersion, lateral inflow, and transient storage. The equilibrium submodel is based on MINTEQ, a model that considers the speciation and complexation of aqueous species, acid-base reactions, precipitation/dissolution, and sorption.
Within OTEQ, reactions in the water column may result in the formation of solid phases (precipitates and sorbed species) that are subject to downstream transport and settling processes. Solid phases on the streambed may also interact with the water column through dissolution and sorption/desorption reactions. Consideration of both mobile (water-borne) and immobile (streambed) solid phases requires a unique set of governing differential equations and solution techniques that are developed herein. The partial differential equations describing physical transport and the algebraic equations describing chemical equilibria are coupled using the sequential iteration approach. The model's ability to simulate pH, metal oxide precipitation-dissolution, and pH-dependent sorption provides a means of evaluating the complex interactions between trace-metal chemistry and hydrologic transport at the field scale.
The OTEQ solute transport model and related materials (data and documentation) are made available by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to be used in the public interest and the advancement of science. You may, without any fee or cost, use, copy, modify, or distribute this software, and any derivative works thereof, and its supporting documentation, subject to the USGS software User's Rights Notice.
Funding for software development was provided by the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program and the USGS Office of Water Quality.
