Cary, L., Petelet-Giraud, E., Bertrand, G., Kloppmann, W., Aquilina, L., Martins, V., et al. (2015). Origins and processes of groundwater salinization in the urban coastal aquifers of Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil): a multi-isotope approach. Science of the Total Environment, 530-531, 411–429.
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Di Lorenzo, T., & Galassi, D. M. P. (2013). Agricultural impact on Mediterranean alluvial aquifers: do groundwater communities respond? Fundamental and Applied Limnology/Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 182(4), 271–282.
Abstract: In Mediterranean countries agricultural development heavily depends on groundwater availability due
to arid and semi-arid climate and poor surface-water resources. Agriculture represents one of the most relevant
pressures which generate impacts in alluvial aquifers by means of fertilizers and pesticides usage and groundwater
overexploitation. Until now, very few studies have addressed the ecological response of groundwater fauna to
groundwater contamination and overexploitation due to agricultural practices. We investigated a Mediterranean
alluvial aquifer heavily affected by nitrates contamination and groundwater abstraction stress due to crop irrigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of groundwater communities to (a) groundwater nitrate
contamination, (b) groundwater abstraction due to irrigation practices, and (c) saltwater intrusion. The present
work suggests that nitrate concentration lower than 150 mg l
–1 is not an immediate threat to groundwater biodiversity in alluvial aquifers. This conclusion must be carefully considered in the light of the total lack of knowledge
of the effects of long-term nitrate pollution on the groundwater biota. Moreover, local extinctions of less tolerant
species, prior to monitoring, cannot be ruled out. Conversely, species abundances in ground water are affected by
groundwater withdrawal, but species richness may be less sensitive. This result is attributable to the disappearance
of saturated microhabitats and to the depletion of fine unconsolidated sediments, reducing the surface available
to bacterial biofilm, which represent the trophic resource for several groundwater invertebrates and where the
main aquifer self-purification processes, such as denitrification, take place. Saltwater intrusion seems not to affect
groundwater species at the values measured in this coastal aquifer.
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El Mandour, A., El Yaouti, F., Fakir, Y., Zarhloule, Y., & Benavente, J. (2007). Evolution of groundwater salinity in the unconfined aquifer of Bou-Areg, Northeastern Mediterranean coast, Morocco. Environmental Geology, 54(3), 491–503.
Abstract: The Bou-Areg plain in the Mediterranean coast at the North-eastern of Morocco is characterized by a semiarid climate. The aquifer consists of two sedimentary formations of Plio-quaternary age: the upper formation of fine silts and the lower one of coarse silts with sand and gravels. The aquifer is underlain by marly bedrock of Miocene age that dips toward the coastal lagoon of Bou-Areg. The
hydrodynamic characteristics vary between 10–4 and 10–3 m/s; and transmissivities range between 10–4 and 10–1 m2 /s. The general direction of flow is SW to NE, toward the lagoon. The aquifer is crossed by the river Selouane, which also ends in the lagoon. The groundwater is characterized by a high salinity that can reach 7.5 g/l. The highest values are observed in the upstream and in the downstream sectors of the aquifer. The temporal evolution of the physicochemical parameters depends on the climatic conditions and
piezometric variations. The analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of the physico-chemical parameters suggests different sources of groundwater salinization: the seawater intrusion, the influence of marly gypsum-bearing terrains, and the influence of anthropogenic products as the agricultural fertilizers, which cause great nitrate concentrations that vary between 80 and 140 mg/l.
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Gopinath, S., Srinivasamoorthy, K., Saravanan, K., & Prakash, R. (2019). Tracing groundwater salinization using geochemical and isotopic signature in Southeastern coastal Tamilnadu, India. Chemosphere, 236, 124305.
Abstract: Attempt has been made to discriminate groundwater salinity causes along the east coast of India. A total of 122 groundwater samples (61/season) were collected for two diverse seasons (Pre Monsoon and Post Monsoon) and analyzed for physical and chemical components along with stable isotopes. The Piper diagram proposes samples along the coast predisposed by saltwater incursion. Ionic ratio plots recommend groundwater discriminatory by changing geochemical signatures. The statistical correlation suggests impact of saltwater incursion, anthropogenic and rock water interaction as sources for dissolved constituents in groundwater. The thermodynamic stability plot suggests higher silicate dissolution, weathering and ion exchange prompting water chemistry nevertheless of seasons. The δ 18O and δ 2H increases towards the sea suggesting enrichment attributed to the sea water influence and rainfall influences along the southwestern parts of the study area.
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Han, D. M., Song, X. F., Currell, M. J., Yang, J. L., & Xiao, G. Q. (2014). Chemical and isotopic constraints on evolution of groundwater salinization in the coastal plain aquifer of Laizhou Bay, China. Journal of Hydrology, 508, 12–27.
Abstract: Summary A hydrochemical-isotopic investigation of the Laizhou Bay Quaternary aquifer in north China provides new insights into the hydrodynamic and geochemical relationships between freshwater, seawater and brine at different depths in coastal sediments. Saltwater intrusion mainly occurs due to two cones of depression caused by concentrated exploitation of fresh groundwater in the south, and brine water for salt production in the north. Groundwater is characterized by hydrochemical zonation of water types (ranging from Ca–HCO3 to Na–Cl) from south to north, controlled by migration and mixing of saline water bodies with the regional groundwater. The strong adherence of the majority of ion/Cl ratios to mixing lines between freshwater and saline water end-members (brine or seawater) indicates the importance of mixing under natural and/or anthropogenic influences. Examination of the groundwater stable isotope δ18O and δ2H values (between −9.5‰ and −3.0‰ and −75‰ and −40‰, respectively) and chloride contents (∼2 to 1000meq/L) of the groundwater indicate that the saline end-member is brine rather than seawater, and most groundwater samples plot on mixing trajectories between fresh groundwater (δ18O of between −6.0‰ and −9.0‰; Cl<5meq/L) and sampled brines (δ18O of approximately −3.0‰ and Cl>1000meq/L). Locally elevated Na/Cl ratios likely result from ion exchange in areas of long-term freshening. The brines, with radiocarbon activities of ∼30 to 60 pMC likely formed during the Holocene as a result of the sequence of transgression-regression and evaporation; while deep, fresh groundwater with depleted stable isotopic values (δ18O=−9.7‰ and δ2H=−71‰) and low radiocarbon activity (<20 pMC) was probably recharged during a cooler period in the late Pleistocene, as is common throughout northern China. An increase in the salinity and tritium concentration in some shallow groundwater sampled in the 1990s and re-sampled here indicates that intensive brine extraction has locally resulted in rapid mixing of young, fresh groundwater and saline brine. The δ18O and δ2H values of brines (∼−3.0‰ and −35‰) are much lower than that of modern seawater, which could be explained by 1) mixing of original (δ18O enriched) brine that was more saline than presently observed, with fresh groundwater recharged by precipitation and/or 2) dilution of the palaeo-seawater with continental runoff prior to and/or during brine formation. The first mechanism is supported by relatively high Br/Cl molar ratios (1.7×10−3–2.5×10−3) in brine water compared with ∼1.5×10−3 in seawater, which could indicate that the brines originally reached halite saturation and were subsequently diluted with fresher groundwater over the long-term. Decreasing 14C activities with increasing sampling depth and increasing proximity to the coastline indicate that the south coastal aquifer in Laizhou Bay is dominated by regional lateral flow, on millennial timescales.
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