Submarine groundwater discharge into the near-shore zone of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
Along the tropical coastline of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region, little is known to date about submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into the near-shore ocean. In an oceanographic sense, SGD consists of freshwater flow from land as well as seawater circulated through sediments. Recent radiochemical and geophysical studies, using the tracer (222)Rn and apparent ground conductivity respectively, provide evidence for SGD to occur in a variety of hydrogeological settings. In this paper, a non-quantitative overview of different settings of SGD in the region is presented: (1) recirculation of seawater through animal burrows in mangrove forests, (2) freshwater SGD from unconfined aquifers as a narrow coastal fringe of freshwater along Wet Tropics beaches, (3) SGD from coastal dune systems in form of localised freshwater springs in the intertidal zone, (4) inner-shelf SGD from confined submarine aquifer systems comprised of riverine paleochannels incised into the shelf.
Stieglitz
Thomas
T
Marine Geophysical Laboratory, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville QLD 4811, Australia. thomas.stieglitz@jcu.edu.au
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D011793:Queensland; D012623:Seawater; D012987:Soil; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014872:Water Movements
D012987:Soil