Submarine fresh groundwater discharge into Laizhou Bay comparable to the Yellow River flux.
Near- and off-shore fresh groundwater resources become increasingly important with the social and economic development in coastal areas. Although large scale (hundreds of km) submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to the ocean has been shown to be of the same magnitude order as river discharge, submarine fresh groundwater discharge (SFGD) with magnitude comparable to large river discharge is never reported. Here, we proposed a method coupling mass-balance models of water, salt and radium isotopes based on field data of (223)Ra, (226)Ra and salinity to estimate the SFGD, SGD. By applying the method in Laizhou Bay (a water area of ~6000 km(2)), we showed that the SFGD and SGD are 0.57 ~ 0.88 times and 7.35 ~ 8.57 times the annual Yellow River flux in August 2012, respectively. The estimate of SFGD ranges from 4.12 × 10(7) m(3)/d to 6.36 × 10(7) m(3)/d, while SGD ranges from 5.32 × 10(8) m(3)/d to 6.20 × 10(8) m(3)/d. The proportion of the Yellow River input into Laizhou Bay was less than 14% of the total in August 2012. Our method can be used to estimate SFGD in various coastal waters.
1] State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China [2] MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Xuejing
X
Wang
1] State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China [2] MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Hailong
H
Li
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Jiu Jimmy
JJ
Jiao
Laboratoire de technologie écologique, Institut d'ingénierie de l'environnement, Faculté de l'environnement naturel, architectural et construit, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
D A
DA
Barry
1] School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland [2] State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
Ling
L
Li
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Xin
X
Luo
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Chaoyue
C
Wang
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Li
L
Wan
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Xusheng
X
Wang
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Xiaowei
X
Jiang
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Qian
Q
Ma
MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation &Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
Wenjing
W
Qu