On the origins of hypersaline groundwater in the Nile Delta aquifer

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY

卷:560

Article

van Engelen, Joeri^1,2  Essink, Gualbert H. P. Oude^1,2  Kooi, Henk²  Bierkens, Marc F. P.^1,2 

[1] Univ Utrecht, Dept Phys Geog, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands

[2] Deltares, Unit Subsurface & Groundwater Syst, Daltonlaan 600, NL-3584 BK Utrecht, Netherlands

关键词: Nile Delta;    Hydrogeology;    Hypersaline;    Brine;    Groundwater;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.03.029

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The Nile Delta is essential to Egypt's agro- and socio-economy. Although surface water is the traditional source for Egypt's irrigation, the shallow fresh groundwater resources underlying the delta are increasingly burdened by groundwater pumping, which increases interest in the status of the groundwater resources. Groundwater up to three times more saline than sea water was found at 600 m depth. The occurrence of this hypersaline groundwater raises doubts on the often-made assumption in the literature that seawater is the only source of salt in the Nile Delta aquifer and makes further investigation necessary. Knowledge on the origin of this hypersaline groundwater is key in assessing the possibility of deep fresh groundwater pockets. In this paper we conducted computational analyses to assess possible origins using both analytical solutions and numerical models. It is concluded that the hypersaline groundwater can either originate from Quaternary free convection systems, or from compaction-induced upward salt transport of hypersaline groundwater that formed during the Messinian salinity crisis. Our results also indicate that with groundwater dating it is possible to discriminate between these two hypotheses. Furthermore, it is deduced that the hydrological connection between aquifer and sea is crucial to the hydrogeological functioning of the Nile Delta Aquifer. (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

【 授权许可】

Free