How important is the impact of land-surface inundation on seawater intrusion caused by sea-level rise?

• Published in: Hydrogeology journal Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 1673 - 1677
• Main Authors: Ataie-Ashtiani, Behzad, Werner, Adrian D., Simmons, Craig T., Morgan, Leanne K., Lu, Chunhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-11-2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Aquifers; Chemical analysis; Climate change; Coastal aquifers; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Heterogeneity; Hydrogeology; Hydrology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Intrusion; Inundation; Large scale integration; Marine; Mathematical analysis; Penetration; Saline water intrusion; Sea level; Sea water; Seawater; Technical Note; Waste Water Technology; Water analysis; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Climate change; Seawater overtopping; Seawater intrusion; Coastal aquifer; Sea-level rise
• ISSN: 1431-2174; 1435-0157
• DOI: 10.1007/s10040-013-1021-0

The influence of sea-level rise (SLR) on seawater intrusion (SWI) has been the subject of several publications, which consider collectively a range of functional relationships within various hydrogeological and SLR settings. Most of the recent generalized analyses of SWI under SLR neglect land-surface inundation (LSI) by seawater. A simple analytical method is applied to quantitatively assess the influence and importance of LSI on SLR–SWI problems under idealized conditions. The results demonstrate that LSI induces significantly more extensive SWI, with inland penetration up to an order of magnitude larger in the worst case, compared to the effects of pressure changes at the shoreline in unconfined coastal aquifers with realistic parameters. The study also outlines some of the remaining research challenges in related areas, concluding that LSI impacts are among other important research questions regarding the SLR–SWI problems that have not been addressed, including the effects of aquifer heterogeneities, real-world three dimensionality, and mitigation measures.