Effects of freshwater injection on tidally influenced coastal unconfined aquifers
- 1College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China (xy.yu@hhu.edu.cn)
- 2State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China (xinpei@hhu.edu.cn)
- 3College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia (zhaoyang.luo@epfl.ch)
- 4State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China (lipu@hhu.edu.cn)
Freshwater injection is a practical and efficient solution to mitigate seawater intrusion in overexploited coastal aquifers. Previous studies predominantly considered isothermal conditions and overlooked temperature contrasts. How thermal effects of freshwater injection regulate flow processes and salinity distributions is poorly understood. This study investigated the dynamic characteristics of salinity distributions and seawater recirculation in coastal aquifers subjected to freshwater injection and tides. The processes were simulated using SUTRA-MS (a model simulating porewater flow coupled with salt and heat transport). The transience of upper saline plume and saltwater wedge responding to injected freshwater will be discussed here in detail. We will also discuss the thermal plume-induced changes in salinity distributions and water effluxes. Finally, the overshoot of total water efflux in response to the thermal impacts of freshwater injection will be discussed.
How to cite: Yu, X., Xin, P., Luo, Z., and Pu, L.: Effects of freshwater injection on tidally influenced coastal unconfined aquifers, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-10642, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10642, 2023.
