Rainfall-Runoff Time Lags from Saltwater Interface Interactions in Atlantic Coastal Plain Basins

Abstract

The dynamic behavior of the freshwater-saltwater interface (FSI) in coastal aquifers can introduce unexpected lags between recharge and stream discharge, especially when recharge is forced by long-term cyclical precipitation patterns. This work seeks to assess these FSI impacts at the watershed scale. Recharge-discharge time lags were evaluated in 68 watersheds overlying the Floridan Aquifer System in the coastal region of the southeastern United States (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina). Utilizing the strength of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) signal in this region, 10–20 year averaged recharge and discharge time series were used for the selected watersheds. Lags of 10–25 years between recharge and discharge were found in 16% of the basins considered, possibly induced by a dynamic FSI which responded slowly to the AMO-scale recharge signal. Freshwater storage coefficients (S) were estimated from time series of change-in-storage and groundwater level, with 11 basins showing S>1.5 indicating water storage well above that expected for unconfined aquifers. These 11 basins with both multidecadal recharge-discharge time lags and high S values showed a positive linear relationship between time lag and FSI depth with slope 0.016 yr/m (R-squared = 0.30). These large time lags may be directly impacting the management of these basins as they obscure water and solute mass balances in the southeastern US.