Source, transport, and evolution of saline groundwater in a shallow Holocene aquifer on the tidal deltaplain of southwest Bangladesh

Deltaic groundwater resources are often vulnerable to degradation from seawater intrusion or through interaction with saline paleowaters. The Ganges‐Brahmaputra‐Meghna River delta, in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, is a particularly vulnerable area with an estimated 20 million coastal inhabitant...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water resources research 2015-07, Vol.51 (7), p.5791-5805
Main Authors: Worland, Scott C., Hornberger, George M., Goodbred, Steven L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquifers
Bangladesh
Brackishwater environment
Coastal aquifers
Coastal zone
delta
Drinking water
Estuaries
Estuarine water
Geology
Groundwater
Groundwater resources
Groundwater salinity
Holocene
Hydrogeology
Hydrology
Infiltration
Isotopes
Mapping
Meteoric water
Rivers
Saline groundwater
Saline water intrusion
Salinity
Salinity effects
Salt water intrusion
Seawater
Seawater intrusion
Solute transport
Solutes
Subsurface mapping
Transport
Water resources
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Summary:Deltaic groundwater resources are often vulnerable to degradation from seawater intrusion or through interaction with saline paleowaters. The Ganges‐Brahmaputra‐Meghna River delta, in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, is a particularly vulnerable area with an estimated 20 million coastal inhabitants directly affected by saline drinking water. The shallow groundwater of the coastal regions is primarily brackish with pockets of fresher water. A small‐scale hydrologic investigation of groundwater salinity beneath an embanked tidal channel island was undertaken to explore possible hydrogeological explanations of the distribution of water salinities in the shallow aquifer. This study employs a combination of 3H and 14C dating, electromagnetic subsurface mapping, and a 2‐D solute transport model. The authors conclude that the shallow groundwater salinity can best be explained by the slow infiltration of meteoric water into paleo‐brackish estuarine water that was deposited during the early‐mid Holocene. The saline groundwater is connate The confining unit varies in thickness The freshwater is supplied by isolated meteoric recharge
ISSN:0043-1397
1944-7973
DOI:10.1002/2014WR016262