Abstract: A new method has been developed to recognize and understand the temporal and spatial evolution of seawater intrusion in a coastal alluvial aquifer. The study takes into account that seawater intrusion is a dynamic process, and that seasonal and inter-annual variations in the balance of the aquifer cause changes in groundwater chemistry. Analysis of the main processes, by means of the Hydrochemical Facies Evolution Diagram (HFE-Diagram), provides essential knowledge about the main hydrochemical processes. Subsequently, analysis of the spatial distribution of hydrochemical facies using heatmaps helps to identify the general state of the aquifer with respect to seawater intrusion during different sampling periods. This methodology has been applied to the pilot area of the Vinaroz Plain, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The results appear to be very successful for differentiating variations through time in the salinization processes caused by seawater intrusion into the aquifer, distinguishing the phase of seawater intrusion from the phase of recovery, and their respective evolutions. The method shows that hydrochemical variations can be read in terms of the pattern of seawater intrusion, groundwater quality status, aquifer behaviour and hydrodynamic conditions. This leads to a better general understanding of the aquifers and a potential for improvement in the way they are managed.

Abstract: A combined high resolution short offset transient electromagnetic (SHOTEM) and deep sounding, long offset (LOTEM) survey has been carried out along two traverses between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan-Dead Sea Rift (DSR). The DSR is located in the study area some 200–250m below sea level. The measurements detected a deep conductor, the top of which exhibited a regular behavior along the both traverses, declining from the Mediterranean to the DSR base level. The geometry of this geoelectric boundary coincides fairly well with the configuration of a supposed fresh/saline groundwater interface as also obtained by both numerical and physical modeling for the known hydrogeological conditions in the study area. Therefore the detected geoelectric boundary is identified with the interface, supporting the hypothesis of current seawater intrusion into the deep regional aquifers between the Mediterranean and the DSR base levels. The intrusion causes the salination of fresh groundwater within the aquifers as well as the salination of the Sea of Galilee.

Abstract: This paper presents an alternative approach to deal with seawater intrusion problems, that overcomes some of the limitations of previous works, by coupling the well-known SWI2 package for MODFLOW with a stochastic inverse model named GC method. On the one hand, the SWI2 allows a vertically integrated variable-density groundwater flow and seawater intrusion in coastal multi-aquifer systems, and a reduction in number of required model cells and the elimination of the need to solve the advective-dispersive transport equation, which leads to substantial model run-time savings. On the other hand, the GC method allows dealing with groundwater parameter uncertainty by constraining stochastic simulations to flow and mass transport data (i.e., hydraulic conductivity, freshwater heads, saltwater concentrations and travel times) and also to secondary information obtained from expert judgment or geophysical surveys, thus reducing uncertainty and increasing reliability in meeting the environmental standards. The methodology has been successfully applied to a transient movement of the freshwater-seawater interface in response to changing freshwater inflow in a two-aquifer coastal aquifer system, where an uncertainty assessment has been carried out by means of Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The approach also allows partially overcoming the neglected diffusion and dispersion processes after the conditioning process since the uncertainty is reduced and results are closer to available data.