Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:33:08.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Groundwater salinisation in the Wadden Sea area of the Netherlands: quantifying the effects of climate change, sea-level rise and anthropogenic interferences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

P. Pauw ,
P.G.B. de Louw  and
G.H.P. Oude Essink
P. Pauw*
Affiliation:
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, the Netherlands
P.G.B. de Louw
Affiliation:
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, the Netherlands
G.H.P. Oude Essink
Affiliation:
Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, the Netherlands
*
*Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Hydrogeological research in coastal areas has gained considerable attention over the last decades due to increasing stresses on fresh groundwater resources. Fundamental groundwater flow and solute transport analyses remain essential for a concise understanding of the governing processes that lead to salinisation of fresh groundwater resources. However, the challenge of modern research is the application and quantification of these processes in real world cases. In this context, deltaic areas are amongst the most difficult study areas as they often have a complex groundwater salinity distribution. The Wadden Sea area in the northern part of the Netherlands is an example of such an area.

We quantified salt water intrusion and salinisation of groundwater flow systems in two representative case studies in the Wadden Sea area, using the density dependent groundwater flow and transport code M0CDENS3D. The results indicate that sea-level rise and autonomous processes will cause severe salinisation in the future, especially in the low polder areas close to the sea. In addition, we show that enhanced land subsidence due to salt exploitation accelerates this process. Salinisation can be mitigated to some extent by raising surface water levels in polders and by creating saline groundwater collection areas that maintain a low controlled water level.

Keywords

Fresh-saline distributionnumerical modelingregional groundwater flowsalinisationsea-level riseclimate changemitigation strategy
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 373 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2012

References

Bakker, M., Oude Essink, G.H.P. & Langevin, C.D., 2004. The rotating movement of three immiscible fluids. Journal of Hydrology 287: 270–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bear, J. Cheng, A.H.-D, Sorek, S., Ouazar, D. & Herrera, I. (eds), 1999. Seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers – Concepts, methods and practices. Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht), 640 pp.Google Scholar
Breunese, J.N., Van Eijs, R.H.E., De Meer, S. & Kroon, I.C., 2003. Observation and prediction of the relation between salt creep and land subsidence in solution mining – The Barradeel case. In: Solution Mining Research Institute conference (Chester, United Kingdom).Google Scholar
Custodio, E. & Bruggeman, G.A. (eds), 1987. Groundwater problems in coastal areas (Studies and reports in hydrology). UNESCO (Paris), 596 pp.Google Scholar
De Louw, P.G.B., Eeman, S., Siemon, B., Voortman, B.R., Gunnink, J., Van Baaren, E.S. & Oude Essink, G.H.P., 2011. Shallow rainwater lenses in deltaic areas with saline seepage. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 8: 7657–7707.Google Scholar
De Louw, P.G.B., Oude Essink, G.H.P., Stuyfzand, P.J. & Van der Zee, S.E.A.T.M., 2010. Upward groundwater flow in boils as the dominant mechanism of salinization in deep polders, the Netherlands. Journal of Hydrology 394:494–506.Google Scholar
Eeman, S., Leijnse, A., Raats, P.A.C. & Van der Zee, S.E.A.T.M., 2011. Analysis of the thickness of a fresh water lens and of the transition zone between this lens and upwelling saline water. Advances in Water Resources 34: 291–302.Google Scholar
Faneca Sànchez, M., Gunnink, J.L., Van Baaren, E.S., Oude Essink, G.H.P., Siemon, B., Auken, E., Elderhorst, W. & De Louw, P.G.B., 2012. Modelling climate change effects on a Dutch coastal groundwater system using airborne Electro Magnetic measurements. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 9. Discussion paper: 6135–6184.Google Scholar
FAO, 1997. Seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers: guidelines for study, monitoring and control. Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (Rome), 152 pp.Google Scholar
Giambastiani, B.M.S., Antonellini, M., Oude Essink, G.H.P. & Stuurman, R.J., 2007. Saltwater intrusion and water management in the unconfined coastal aquifer of Ravenna (Italy): a numerical model. Journal of Hydrology 340:91–104.Google Scholar
Goes, B.J.M., Oude Essink, G.H.P., Vernes, R.W. & Sergi, F., 2009. Estimating the depth of fresh and brackish groundwater in a predominantly saline region using geophysical and hydrological methods, Zeeland, the Netherlands. Near Surface Geophysics: 401–412.Google Scholar
Haasnoot, M., Vermulst, J.A.P.H. & Middelkoop, H., 1999. Impacts of climate change and land subsidence on the water systems in the Netherlands: terrestrial areas. RIZA report 99.049 (Lelystad), 114 pp.Google Scholar
Konikow, L.F., Goode, D.J. & Hornberger, G.Z., 1996. A three-dimensional method-of-characteristics solute-transport model (MOC3D). United States Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4267 (Reston, Virginia), 87 pp.Google Scholar
Konikow, L.F. & Kendy, E., 2005. Groundwater depletion: A global problem. Hydrogeology Journal 13: 317–320.Google Scholar
Lee, J.Y. & Song, S.H., 2006. Evaluation of groundwater quality in coastal areas: implications for sustainable agriculture. Environmental Geology 52:1231–1242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, M.G. & Harbaugh, A.W., 1988. A modular three-dimensional finite-difference ground-water flow model: Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations of the United States Geological Survey Book 6, Chapter A1. United States Printing Office (Washington): 586 pp.Google Scholar
Meisler, H., Leahy, P.P. & Knobel, L.L., 1984. Effect of eustatic sealevel changes on saltwater-freshwater relations in the northern Atlantic coastal plain. United States Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 2255. United States Government Printing Office (Alexandria, Virginia): 28 pp.Google Scholar
Oude Essink, G.H.P., 1996. Impact of sea-level rise on groundwater flow regimes, a sensitivity analysis for the Netherlands (Ph.D. thesis). Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands (Delft): 411 pp.Google Scholar
Oude Essink, G.H.P., 1998. MOC3D adapted to simulate 3D density-dependent groundwater flow. In: Proceedings of the MODFLOW'98 Conference (Golden, Colorado): 291–303.Google Scholar
Oude Essink, G.H.P., 2001. Salt water intrusion in a three-dimensional groundwater system in the Netherlands: A numerical study. Transport in Porous Media 43: 137–158.Google Scholar
Oude Essink, G.H.P., Van Baaren, E.S. & De Louw, P.G.B., 2010. Effects of climate change on coastal groundwater systems: A modeling study in the Netherlands. Water Resources Research 46 (W00F04).Google Scholar
Post, V.E.A., 2003. Groundwater salinization processes in the coastal area of the Netherlands due to transgressions during the Holocene (Ph.D. thesis). VU University (Amsterdam), 138 pp.Google Scholar
Schultz, E., 1992. Water management of the drained lakes in the Netherlands (in Dutch) (Ph.D. thesis). Delft University of Technology (Delft), 507 pp.Google Scholar
Steuer, A., Siemon, B. & Auken, E., 2007. A comparison of helicopter-borne electromagnetics in frequency- and time-domain at the Cuxhaven valley in Northern Germany. Journal of Applied Geophysics 67: 194–205.Google Scholar
Stuyfzand, P.J., 1993. Hydrochemistry and hydrology of coastal dunes of the western Netherlands (Ph.D. thesis). VU University (Amsterdam): 366 pp.Google Scholar
Vandenbohede, A. & Lebbe, L., 2007. Effects of tides on a sloping shore: Groundwater dynamics and propagation of the tidal wave. Hydrogeology Journal 15: 645–658.Google Scholar
Vandenbohede, A., Houtte, E., & Lebbe, L., 2008a. Sustainable groundwater extraction in coastal areas: a Belgian example. Environmental Geology 57: 735–747.Google Scholar
Vandenbohede, A., Luyten, K. & Lebbe, L. 2008b. Effects of global change on heterogeneous coastal aquifers: A case study in Belgium. Journal of Coastal Research 24: 160–170.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, G.P., 1993. Man-Made Lowlands: History of Water Management and Land Reclamation in the Netherlands. Uitgeverij Matrijs (Utrecht), 294 pp.Google Scholar
Van Meir, N., 2001. Density-dependent Groundwater Flow: Design of a parameter identification test and 3D-simulation of sea-level rise (Ph.D. thesis). Ghent University (Ghent), 319 pp.Google Scholar
Warrick, R.A., Oerlemans, J., Woodworth, P., Meijer, M.F. & Le Provost, C., 1996. Changes in sea level. In: Houghton, J.T., Filho, L.G.M. & Callander, B.A. (eds): Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge): 359–405.Google Scholar
Werner, A.D., Bakker, M., Post, V.E.A., Vandenbohede, A., Lu, C., Ataie-Ashtiani, B., Simmons, C.T. & Barry, D.A., 2012. Seawater intrusion processes, investigation and management: Recent advances and future challenges. Advances in Water Resources (in press).Google Scholar