A New Normalized Groundwater Age-Based Index for Quantitative Evaluation of the Vulnerability to Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: Implications for Management and Risk Assessments - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Water Année : 2021

A New Normalized Groundwater Age-Based Index for Quantitative Evaluation of the Vulnerability to Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: Implications for Management and Risk Assessments

Résumé

The vulnerability of coastal aquifers to seawater intrusion has been largely relying on data-driven indexing approaches despite their shortcomings to depict the complex processes of groundwater flow and mass transport under variable velocity conditions. This paper introduces a modelling-based alternative technique relying on a normalized saltwater age vulnerability index post-processed from results of a variable density flow simulation. This distributed index is obtained from the steady-state distribution of the salinity and a restriction of the mean groundwater age to a mean saltwater age distribution. This approach provides a novel way to shift from the concentration space into a vulnerability assessment space to evaluate the threats to coastal aquifers. The method requires only a sequential numerical solution of two steady state sets of equations. Several variants of the hypothetical Henry problem and a case study in Lebanon are selected for demonstration. Results highlight this approach ability to rank, compare, and validate different scenarios for coastal water resources management. A novel concept of zero-vulnerability line/surface delineating the coastal area threatened by seawater intrusion has shown to be relevant for optimal management of coastal aquifers and risk assessments. Hence, this work provides a new tool to sustainably manage and protect coastal groundwater resources.
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hal-03526285 , version 1 (14-01-2022)

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Mohammed Adil Sbai, Abdelkader Larabi, Marwan Fahs, Joanna Doummar. A New Normalized Groundwater Age-Based Index for Quantitative Evaluation of the Vulnerability to Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: Implications for Management and Risk Assessments. Water, 2021, 13 (18), pp.2496. ⟨10.3390/w13182496⟩. ⟨hal-03526285⟩
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