The origin of increased salinity in the Cambrian-Vendian aquifer system on the Kopli Peninsula, northern Estonia

Abstract

Monitoring of the confined Cambrian-Vendian aquifer system utilised for industrial water supply at Kopli Peninsula in Tallinn over 24 years reveals remarkable changes in chemical composition of groundwater. A relatively fast 1.5 to 3.0-fold increase in TDS and in concentrations of major ions in abstracted groundwater is the consequence of heavy pumping. The main sources of dissolved load in Cambrian-Vendian groundwater are the leaching of host rock and the other geochemical processes that occur in the saturated zone. Underlying crystalline basement, which comprises saline groundwater in its upper weathered and fissured portion, and which is hydraulically connected with the overlying Cambrian-Vendian aquifer system, is the second important source of ions. The fractured basement and its clayey weathering crust host the Ca-Cl type groundwater, which is characterised by high TDS values (2–20 g/L). Intensive water abstraction accelerates the exchange of groundwaters and increases the area of influence of pumping. Chemical and isotopic studies of groundwater indicate an increasing contribution of old brackish water from the crystalline basement and rule out the potential implication of an intrusion of seawater into aquifer.