Abstract
Pétrola Lake is a terminal lake located in the discharge zone of an endorheic basin. Terminal lakes may be responsible for a significant amount of recharge from evaporated saline water, increasing the salinity of the shallow groundwater. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the interaction between groundwater and saline water from Pétrola Lake in order to improve the knowledge of groundwater recharge processes by density-driven flow (DDF) in terminal lakes. To achieve this goal, hydrochemical (chloride concentration) and stable isotope (δ18O and δDH2O) data were used. The isotopic composition of 190 groundwater and surface water samples collected between September 2008 and July 2015 provide a regression line (δDH2O = 5.0·δ18O – 14.3‰, R2 = 0.95) consistent with dominant evaporation processes. In the basin, groundwater recharge is mainly produced by Atlantic-derived precipitation. In the lake, isotope data suggested that the loss of water occurred at humidity values between 60% and 75%. The saline boundary layer is formed at elevated salt concentrations. Leakage from the lake to the underlying aquifer would take place with salinities from 1.24 g/cm3 by means of the DDF. This study contributes to better understand the role of DDF in terminal lakes.
Highlights
The volume of inland saline waters in the world is estimated to be around 85,400 km3 [1]
The aim of this study was to evaluate the interaction between groundwater and saline water from Pétrola Lake in order to improve the knowledge of groundwater recharge processes by density-driven flow (DDF) in terminal lakes
Highest values of electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), density (ρ) and chloride were found in piezometers GW-12 and GW-26
Summary
The volume of inland saline waters in the world is estimated to be around 85,400 km3 [1]. Saline lakes are common features of arid and semi-arid regions, where the excess of evaporation over precipitation resulted in the accumulation of salts at the land surface. Terminal discharge lakes represent the end-point of groundwater flow systems. In those lakes, water contribution derives from regional groundwater flow (RGF) as well as from perimeter recharge areas. Water contribution derives from regional groundwater flow (RGF) as well as from perimeter recharge areas These terminal lakes may be responsible for a significant amount of recharge from evaporated saline water, increasing the salinity of the shallow groundwater [2]. Groundwater recharge is produced by the wedge-shaped high salinity zone, which is formed underneath a terminal hypersaline lake. Documenting surface-water/groundwater interaction in saline lakes is essential to know how the transport of solutes occurs
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