Stable and unstable displacement experiments were performed in millstone and limestone cores. Concentration histories at ten locations along the core samples were obtained by acoustic measurements. Particle‐tracking simulations of the displacements were also made utilizing permeability distributions measured with a permeameter. The combination of experimental observations and simulations indicate that superstable (M<1) displacements suppress the influence of heterogeneity; this suppression was reflected in smaller apparent dispersivities as the mobility ratio decreased below unity. In the millstone, which exhibited random heterogeneity, two‐dimensional particle‐tracking simulations reproduce with reasonable accuracy the growth of the fingered region in unstable displacements. In homogeneous porous media, concentration histories obtained in three‐dimensional simulations did not differ significantly from their two‐dimensional counterparts. In the more heterogeneous limestone, unstable displacements accentuated the influence of heterogeneity leading to longer transition zones. Two distinct flow regimes were observed in unstable displacements: (1) an initial period of rapid transition zone growth and (2) a subsequent period in which leading and trailing edges of the transition zone travel at nearly constant velocities.