Laboratory and numerical investigation of transport processes occurring above and within a saltwater wedge

Abstract

Salt wedges divide coastal groundwater flow regime into two distinct regions that include a freshwater region above the saltwater-freshwater interface and a saltwater region below the interface. Several recent studies have investigated saltwater transport in coastal aquifers and the associated flow and mixing processes. Most of these studies, however, have either focused on studying the movement of salt wedge itself or on studying contaminant transport processes occurring above the wedge. As per our knowledge, so far no one has completed laboratory experiments to study contaminant transport processes occurring within a saltwater wedge. In this study, we completed laboratory experiments to understand contaminant transport dynamics occurring within a saltwater wedge. We used a novel experimental approach that employed multiple neutral-density tracers to map and compare the mixing and transport processes occurring above and within a saltwater wedge. The experimental data were simulated using SEAWAT, and the model was used to further investigate the saltwater flow and transport dynamics within a wedge. The laboratory data show that the transport rates active within the wedge are almost two orders of magnitude slower than the transport rates active above the wedge for the small-scale experimental system which is characterized by very low level of mixing. The numerical results, however, postulate that for large-scale systems involving higher levels of mixing (or dispersion) the transport rate active within the wedge could be comparable or even higher than the rates active above the wedge. More field or laboratory studies completed under high dispersion conditions are needed to further test this hypothesis.