Groundwater travel time computation for two-layer islands

A closed-form analytical computation of groundwater travel time (GWTT) for two-layer oceanic small island aquifers is developed assuming steady-state and sharp-interface conditions. The two-layer geology impacts on the GWTT are investigated using the developed analytical solution to achieve a greater transparency of such conceptualizations. The results demonstrate that the inclusion of geologic layering leads to large changes in the GWTT. Sensitivity analyses, using specified dimensionless parameters, are employed to assess the influences of hydraulic conductivity, recharge rate, upper layer thickness, and seawater/freshwater density difference parameters, which influence the GWTT. These evaluations reveal that the GWTT is mainly influenced by the recharge rate and the upper layer thickness compared to the other influential parameters when the typical parameter ranges are considered.