Estimation of the inland extending length of the freshwater–saltwater interface in coastal unconfined aquifers

ABSTRACT

The inland extending length of the freshwater–saltwater interface toe is useful in studies of seawater intrusion in coastal areas. The submarine fresh groundwater discharge in coastal zones is affected not only by hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient of the aquifer, but also by the position of the interface. Two observation wells at different distances from the coast are required to calculate the fresh groundwater flow rate in coastal unconfined aquifers. By considering that the submarine groundwater discharge is equal to the groundwater flow rate, the length of the interface toe extending inland can be estimated when the groundwater flow is at a steady-flow state. Aquifers with horizontal and sloping confined beds and without/with unique surface vertical infiltration are considered. Examples used to illustrate the application of these methods indicate that the inland extending lengths of the interface toe in aquifers with vertical surface infiltration are much shorter than those in aquifers without vertical surface infiltration, and the length of the interface in aquifers with a horizontal confining lower bed are smaller than those in aquifers with a confining lower bed sloping towards the sea. The extent of the interface on the northwestern coast near the city of Beihai in southern Guangxi, China, on 18 January 2013 was estimated as 471–478 m.

Editor M.C. Acreman Associate editor not assigned     

Secondary flows induced by wind forcing in the Rhône region of freshwater influence

Secondary flows induced by the blocking effect of a river plume on a transverse upwelling are investigated in a microtidal region of freshwater influence (ROFI). A nested version of the SYMPHONIE primitive-equation free-surface model for 3-D baroclinic coastal flows has been developed for the Rhône ROFI. The main characteristics of the model are a generalized sigma coordinate system in finite differences, using a time splitting for external and internal modes and high-order numerical advection schemes for density fields in combination with an modified turbulence closure scheme. The nesting system consists of two grids forced by the high-resolution ALADIN model atmospheric data. The coarse grid of 3 km resolution for the whole Gulf of Lions allows the forcing of the Liguro-Provençal large-scale current when the fine mesh of 1-km resolution is centred on the river mouth of the Grand Rhône. Documented field experiments from the Biodypar 3 field campaign performed during March 1999 are used for validation. Numerical results, CTD profiles and a SPOT TSM visible image are in good agreement concerning the shape and structure of the river plume. Other coastal flow features can be observed from satellite imagery. Computations of realistic situations recover these main secondary structures. Complementary process-oriented runs give an explanation of how the coastal upwelling induced by an inhomogeneous offshore wind is destabilized by the combination of the river plume and along-shelf current-blocking effects. In the end, a factor-separation analysis provides evidence that the locally non-linear effects in momentum contribute to the occurrence of secondary vortices.Responsible Editor: Phil Dyke     

Geometry and dynamics of the freshwater—seawater interface in a coastal aquifer in southeastern Spain

Abstract

The contact between freshwater and seawater in coastal aquifers is studied using a relatively simple model for homogeneous aquifers. However, for real aquifers it is not so simple. The desalination plant built to supply water to the city of Almería is situated over the aquifer in the southern part of the River Andarax Delta. Its design capacity is 1100 L s^?1, and it is supplied from boreholes pumping water from beneath the freshwater—seawater contact in this aquifer. Well logs kept over a period of two years have allowed us to accurately define the interface geometry of the freshwater—seawater contact. Lithological data collected from 31 boreholes have also indicated the existence of strata with low hydraulic conductivity, within others of high conductivity. During a simultaneous pumping test of six wells with 690 L s^?1 total discharge, electrical conductivity measurements showed the influx of seawater 6–10 m below sea level and a drawdown of the interface in the piezometers closest to the pumping wells.     

Effects of freshwater inputs on the lower trophic levels of a temperate estuary: physical, physiological or trophic forcing?

The aim of this 6?year study was to assess whether freshwater inputs (rainfall and dam discharges) were acting as physical, physiological or trophic forcing factors on phytoplankton pigment concentrations and the dominant mysids of a temperate estuary (Guadalquivir estuary; SW, Spain). The effects of natural and human-controlled freshwater inputs modified the physico-chemical conditions and consequently biological production (bottom up control). Nutrient (nitrogen hypernutrification), suspended particulate matter and allochthonous photosynthetic pigment imports linked to freshwater inputs from adjacent habitats were observed, as well as light-limited autochthonous primary production. Seasonal and/or spatial patterns were shown by all study variables, including mysids. Freshwater management effects on dominant mysids differed depending on the species?? salinity tolerance (physiological forcing) and preferred prey availability (trophic forcing). Moreover, high inorganic matter content had a negative effect on the density of Mesopodopsis slabberi (physical forcing), which led to an increased detritivory/herbivory ratio (Neomysis integer/M. slabberi ratio). In conclusion, freshwater inputs appeared to effect estuarine lower trophic levels via a combination of different forcing mechanisms. Although several general patterns can be derived, the response of the system to freshwater inputs was not always univocal.     

What is the future fate of estuaries given nutrient over-enrichment,freshwater diversion and low flows?

Freshwater inflow is central to the definition of estuaries and if we lose control of the quantity of freshwater flow or discharge (including seasonal timing) to estuaries, then freshwater water quality has the potential to become a moot issue in estuarine ecosystems (Definition of estuaries: estuaries (aestus = tide) are physico-chemically, geomorphically, and biotically diverse ecosystems. Although numerous definitions of estuaries exist, we prefer the following: an estuary is a partially enclosed coastal water body in which freshwater runoff, often seasonally and episodically pulsed, dilutes salty ocean water and the biotic structure is influenced by dynamic tidal action and associated salinity gradients and reef building organisms and wetlands influence development and evolution of ecological structure and function (see for expanded definition)).     

First record of freshwater sponge Trochospongilla horrida Weltner, 1893 in Serbia – A morphological and genetic study

Trochospongilla horrida Weltner, 1893 (Spongillidae, Spongillida) has a relatively wide, though discontinuous, distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. The aim of this paper was to report the first finding of T. horrida in Serbia. During 2017, research was carried out on ten tributaries of the Sava and the Danube. T. horrida was identified at three localities in Tisa, Juzna Morava and Zapadna Morava rivers, out of 51 inspected sites. For the first time ribosomal 28S DNA was used for T. horrida identification.     

Predicting salt intrusion into freshwater aquifers resulting from CO2 injection – A study on the influence of conservative assumptions

Brine migration and saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers are among the hazards which may result from injecting CO₂ into deep saline formations. Comprehensive risk assessment should include estimates of the salinization of freshwater aquifers, preferably based on numerical simulation results. A crucial task is to choose an appropriate conceptual model and relevant scenarios. Overly conservative assumptions may lead to estimation of unacceptably high risks, and thus prevent the implementation of a CO₂ storage project unnecessarily. On the other hand, risk assessment should not lead to an underestimation of hazards. This study compares two conceptual model approaches for the numerical simulation of brine-migration scenarios through a vertical fault and salt intrusion into a fresh water aquifer. The first approach calculates salt discharge into freshwater using an immiscible two-phase model with constant salinity in the brine phase. The second approach takes compositional effects into account and considers salinity as a variable parameter in the water phase. A spatial model coupling is introduced to adapt the increased model complexity to the required complexity of the physics. The immiscible two-phase model is applied in the CO₂ storage reservoir and spatially coupled to a single-phase (water) two-component (water, salt) model, where salt mass fraction is a variable. A Dirichlet–Neumann technique is used for the coupling conditions at the interface of the two models. The results show that the predicted salt discharges can vary by orders of magnitude depending on the choice of the model. The implications of the results for risk assessment are discussed.     

Transitional and freshwater bioassessments: One site,two perspectives?

The freshwater–saltwater-transition-zone was analysed using two different sampling protocols and assessment methodologies, developed for freshwater and estuaries, to compare their agreement level in terms of community composition and quality assessments. The use of different protocols resulted in significant differences in macroinvertebrate communities, in index scores and initially in quality classes. After modifications in the sensitivity scores of the IBMWP and AMBI indices (average scores or the use of a score of the other index when both were present), the differences were largely reduced and quality classes became coincident for the assessments provided by IPtIs and BAT tools. Such harmonisation of quality assessments for adjacent water categories (e.g., large rivers vs. transitional waters), exemplified here as an harmonisation in one of the metrics comprised in the assessment tools, is essential as it has direct implications on the expansion and accomplishment of River Basin Management Plans committed by the Water Framework Directive.     

European freshwater mussels (Unio spp., Unionidae) in Siberia and Kazakhstan: Pleistocene relicts or recent invaders?

Unionidae is a species-rich family of large freshwater mussels with an almost worldwide distribution. In many regions of the world, these mussels are imperiled. Northern Asia, excluding the Far East, is an excellent example of a region with a sharply impoverished fauna of the Unionidae as recently thought with one native species. Since the end of the 19th century, two freshwater mussel species of the genus Unio (U. pictorum and U. tumidus) were repeatedly recorded in Siberia. In the course of this study, these finds are confirmed both morphologically and genetically, the number of known occurrences of these mussels in the waterbodies of Asiatic Russia and Kazakhstan has drastically increased, and the third species, globally endangered U. crassus, was found in the Ob’ River basin. The unique U. tumidus haplotype discovered from the Upper Irtysh River basin is of probable relic origin, which may indicate the presence of a Pleistocene refugium there. Due to natural environmental changes during the last century, several genera of freshwater Mollusca that previously inhabited Western Siberia, but went completely extinct in the Pleistocene, have started to recover the North Asiatic part of their former ranges. The case of Unio is exceptional since the recovery of its lost range goes not exclusively with the humans’ help but also involves the natural mechanisms of dispersal and range extension, and also because these mussels are disappearing in other parts of the world and are placed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.     

Seawater–freshwater mixing and resulting calcite dissolution: an example from a coastal alluvial aquifer in eastern South Korea

Abstract

In order to evaluate groundwater quality and geochemical reactions arising from mixing between seawater and dilute groundwater, we performed a hydrochemical investigation of alluvial groundwater in a limestone-rich coastal area of eastern South Korea. Two sites were chosen for comparison: an upstream site and a downstream site. Data of major ion chemistry and ratios of oxygen–hydrogen isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δD) revealed different major sources of groundwater salinity: recharge by sea-spray-affected precipitation in the upstream site, and seawater intrusion and diffusion zone fluctuation in the downstream site. The results of geochemical modelling showed that Ca²⁺ enrichment in the downstream area is caused by calcite dissolution enhanced by the ionic strength increase, as a result of seawater–groundwater mixing under open system conditions with a constant P_CO2 value (about 10^?1.5 atm). The results show that, for coastal alluvial groundwater residing on limestone, significant hydrochemical change (especially increased hardness) due to calcite dissolution enhanced by seawater mixing should be taken into account for better groundwater management. This process can be effectively evaluated using geochemical modelling.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor Y. Guttman

Citation Chae, G.-T., Yun, S.-T., Yun, S.-M., Kim, K.-H., and So, C.-S., 2012. Seawater–freshwater mixing and resulting calcite dissolution: an example from a coastal alluvial aquifer in eastern South Korea. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (8),1–12.     

Study of Variations of Some Characteristics of the Giant Coronal Hole of 2015–2017

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Analysis of images of the full solar disk obtained by ground-based (BST-2, CrAO RAS) and space-based (SDO/AIA, SDO/HMI) instruments and the potential approximation...     

Application of Characteristics of Seismogenic Structures in the Determination of Parameter of Potential Seismic Source Areas

INTRODUCTIONThe method of probabilistic seismic risk analysis was proposed by Cornell in1968(Cornell,1968).After more than30years development,it has become the main method for seismic riskassessment of engineering sites and seismic zonation,and has been u…     

Analysis of foreshock sequence of the 1975 Haicheng earthquake of Ms 7.3

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Mathematical modelling of nonlinear behaviour of seismicity

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An endemic freshwater mussel species from the Orontes River basin in Turkey and Syria represents duck mussel’s intraspecific lineage: Implications for conservation

Amik Lake or, historically, Lake of Antioch, was a large freshwater body in the lower Orontes River basin (Hatay Province, Turkey) that was drained in the 1940s–1970s. Several endemic animal species were described from this lake, including the freshwater mussel Anodonta pseudodopsis Locard, 1883 (Bivalvia: Unionidae) characterized by a large rounded shell covered by a peculiar yellow or yellowish-brown periostracum. Molecular analyses of topotypes of this nominal taxon collected from the former lake’s tributaries in the Amik Plain indicate that it is an intra-specific lineage of the widespread Anodonta anatina (Linnaeus, 1758) based on the mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA, and the nuclear 28S rRNA gene fragments. Geometric morphometric analyses using the lectotype and topotypes of Anodonta pseudodopsis support our DNA-based hypothesis on the status of this nominal taxon. A new synonymy is provided as follows: Anodonta anatina = Anodonta pseudodopsis syn. nov. The syntype of Anodonta pseudodopsis SMF 5129 “See von Antiochia” (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany) is designated here to be the lectotype of this nominal taxon. Finally, we conclude that Anodonta anatina range covers the Orontes River basin in Turkey and Syria and the Nahr al-Kabir al-Shamali River in the Latakia Governorate of Syria. This intraspecific lineage of Anodonta anatina and other freshwater mussels of the Middle East are highly threatened due to multiple anthropogenic impacts and must be a focus of international conservation efforts. The Karasu River in eastern Turkey hosts viable populations of all freshwater mussel species of the Orontes’s fauna and can be considered one of the most important water bodies for the conservation of these imperiled animals in the region.     

A Review of Catalogues of Chinese Earthquakes

In the past decade, the most authoritative catalogues of Chinese earthquakes and the most popular with seismologists in China are the following:(1) Gu Gongxu, 1983, Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes;(2) Min Ziqun, 1988, Concise Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes;(3) Xie Yusuou, 1989, Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes (M≥ 4.7) from 1900-1980 with Uniform Magnitudes; and(4) Min Ziqun, 1995, Catalogue of Chinese Historical Strong Earthquakes. Earthquakes that occurred before 1900 are mainly documented in historical records.Since 1950s, more recent earthquakes were documented in two major compilations of historical records finished in 1956 and 1983-1987. Separately this effort resulted in two chronicles: two volumes for the first one and five volumes for the second one. The magnitudes are converted from the maximum intensity. These magnitudes, by convention, are connected with surface wave magnitudes. However, it is clear that they do not have any strict seismological definition.The period of 1900-1962 documen     

Estimation of Occurrence Probability of Earthquake Intensity for a Period of Ten Years

A method of estimation of occurrence probability of earthquake intensity at a given site from the results of a ten-year scale of earthquake prediction described with a probability of occurrence in a given "prediction cell" is proposed in this paper. 2316 cities and towns in China were analyzed by using this method. The probability of intensity Ⅵ-Ⅸ were given for every city. These results can be used for the earthquake insurance, loss estimation, and planning of disaster protection.     

Influence of uncertainty in delimitation of seismic statistical zone on results of PSHA

The seismic hazard of research area is evaluated by probabilistic analysis method for three different seismic statistical zone scenarios.The influence of uncertainty in seismic statistical zone delimiting on the evaluation result is discussed too.It can be seen that for those local sites along zone‘s border or within areas with vast change of upper bound magnitude among different scenarios the influence on seismic hazard result should not be neglected.