https://www.whoi.edu/science/MCG/groundwater/pubs/PDF/burnett%20et%20al..pdf

Quantifying Submarine Groundwater Discharge in the Coastal Zone via Multiple Methods

Coastal hydrogeologists and oceanographers now recognize the potentially significant contribution that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) could make to the coastal ocean. SGD may be both volumetrically and chemically important to coastal water and chemical budgets. A worldwide compilation of observed SGD shows that groundwater seepage from the land to the ocean occurs in many environments along the world’s continental margins. Further, SGD has a significant influence on the environmental condition of many nearshore marine environments and provides a strong motivation for improved assessments. Our review reveals a critical lack of data from coastal zones of almost all parts of the world, especially in South America, Africa and parts of Asia, making a comprehensive compilation incomplete. SGD should be paid more attention with regard to water and dissolved material budgets at the local and global scales. SGD intercomparison experiments and coastal typologies (classification) may enable evaluation of the accuracy of the SGD estimates and up-scaling of SGD to a global scale. Copyright  2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Investigation of submarine groundwater discharge

In both marine and freshwaters, the concentration of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) frequently exceeds that of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), including ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite. Recent evidence indicates that many organic N compounds are released into the DON pool and taken up from this pool by planktonic microbiota on timescales of hours to days. This observation suggests that many components of the DON pool can play an active role in supplying N nutrition directly or indirectly to phytoplankton and bacteria and, in so doing, may affect the species composi- tion of the ambient microbial assemblage. Here we present an overview of the state of knowledge of DON pools in aquatic environments, focused mainly on data gathered in the last decade. We review information on DON concentrations in freshwater and marine systems, analytical methods for the determination of DON, and the biotic and abiotic sources and sinks of DON. More detailed discussion addresses specific components of the DON pool: urea, dissolved combined and free amino acids, pro- teins, nucleic acids, amino sugars, and humic substances. The DON pool in natural waters is not inert and can be an important sink and source for N. There is a need for greater appreciation and under- standing of the potential role of DON as a dynamic participant in the nitrogen cycle within aquatic ecosystems, particularly in freshwater environments.

/pdf/dissolved-organic-nitrogen-a-dynamic-participant-in-aquatic-nnmkh306x0.pdf

Dissolved organic nitrogen: a dynamic participant in aquatic ecosystems

Streambed temperature mapping, hydraulic testing using minipiezometers, and geochemical analyses of interstitial water of the streambed were used to delineate the pattern of ground water discharge in a sandy streambed and to develop a flux-based conceptual model for ground water/surface water interactions. A new and simple empirical method was used to relate fluxes obtained from minipiezometer data to streambed temperatures. The relationship allowed flux to be calculated at locations where only streambed temperature measurements were made. Slug testing and potentiomanometer measurements at 34 piezometers indicated ground water discharge ranged from 0.03 to 446 L/m2/day (and possibly as high as 7060 L/m2/day) along a 60 m long by 11 to 14 m wide reach of river. Complex but similar plan-view patterns of flux were calculated for both summer and winter using hundreds of streambed temperatures measured on a 1 by 2 m grid. The reach was dominated by ground water discharge and 5% to 7% of the area accounted for ∼20% to 24% of the total discharge. < 12% of the total area consisted of recharge zones or no-discharge zones. A conceptual model for ground water/surface water interactions consisting of five different behaviors was developed based on the magnitude and direction of flux across the surface of the streambed. The behaviors include short-circuit discharge (e.g., high-flow springs), high discharge (e.g., preferential flowpaths), low to moderate discharge, no discharge (e.g., horizontal hyporheic or ground water flow), and recharge. Geological variations at depth played a key role in determining which type of flow behavior occurred in the streambed.

Delineating and Quantifying Ground Water Discharge Zones Using Streambed Temperatures

The objective of the present paper is to show that groundwater is a general geologic agent. This perception could not, and did not, evolve until the system nature of basinal groundwater flow and its properties, geometries, and controlling factors became recognized and understood through the 1960s and 1970s.

Groundwater as a geologic agent: An overview of the causes, processes, and manifestations

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1989.34.7.1343

Anomalous, short‐term influx of water into seepage meters

Groundwater-lake interactions: I. Accuracy of seepage meter estimates of lake seepage

An integrated approach was used to quantify groundwater phosphorus flux to Narrow Lake, a smallglacial-terrain lake in central Alberta. Data from a drilling program, major ion concentrations, environmental isotopes, and computer simulations indicated that the lake gains water through the nearshore region from a small, shallow groundwater flow system; at deep offshore regions, water moves from the lake to the groundwater flow system. Seepage flux was quantified by water budget, Darcy’s equation with data from wells near the lake, Darcy’s equation with data from minipiezometers in the lake, and seepage meters. Whole-lake seepage flux determined from minipiezometer data (30 mm yr-I) was only lO-25% of the other estimates (mean, 221 mm yr-I; range, 133-332 mm yr- l from seepage meter and water budget data, respectively). Groundwater contributed - 30% of the annual water load to the lake. The P concentration, [PI, in pore water from lake sediments (mean, 175 mg m-‘) was 8 times higher than groundwater from wells near the lake (mean, 2 1 mg m-3). Thus, if well water was used to estimate the [P] of the seepage water, the rate of groundwater P loading to the lake would be underestimated. The rate of groundwater P loading to the lake computed from average seepage flux and average pore-water [P] was 39 mg m-2 yr-I, and groundwater may be the largest single source of P to epilimnetic water in the lake.

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1990.35.4.0870

An integrated approach to quantify groundwater transport of phosphorus to Narrow Lake, Alberta

Groundwater-lake interactions: II. Nearshore seepage patterns and the contribution of ground water to lakes in central Alberta

Average rates of atmospheric deposition of total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) to Narrow Lake, located on sedimentary bedrock in the boreal forest of central Alberta, were 20 and 424 mg m−2 yr−1, respectively, between 1983–1986. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in deposition rates between sites on Narrow Lake, on the lake shore, and on land 18 km away. Deposition of TP, but not TN, followed a distinct pattern during the open-water season; TP was highest just after ice-off (May) and decreased throughout the remainder of the open-water season. Deposition during the winter accounted for only 4 and 12% of the annual TP and TN loads, respectively. Dry fallout contributed 50 and 33% of atmospheric deposition of TP and TN, respectively. In both dry and wet fallout, dissolved P (< 0.45 μm) and organic N were the predominant fractions of TP and TN, respectively. During July 1986, unusually heavy rainfalls caused an increase in TP, but not TN, concentrations in the epilimnion of Narrow Lake. Wet fallout accounted for only 9% of the observed increase of epilimnetic TP; the rest was from surface runoff from the drainage basin. The design of sampling programs to measure atmospheric deposition of nutrients to lakes is discussed.

R. D. Shaw

Papers

Anomalous, short‐term influx of water into seepage meters

Groundwater-lake interactions: I. Accuracy of seepage meter estimates of lake seepage

An integrated approach to quantify groundwater transport of phosphorus to Narrow Lake, Alberta

Groundwater-lake interactions: II. Nearshore seepage patterns and the contribution of ground water to lakes in central Alberta

Atmospheric deposition of phosphorus and nitrogen in Central Alberta with emphasis on Narrow Lake