RT Journal Article
T1 A Framework to Assess Natural Chloride Background in Coastal Aquifers Affected by Seawater Intrusion in Eastern Spain.
A1 Grima-Olmedo, Juan
A1 Ballesteros-Navarro, Bruno
A1 Pulido-Velazquez, David
A1 Renau-Pruñonosa, Arianna
A1 Alcalá, Francisco Javier
A1 Llopis-Albert, Carlos
A1 Jiménez-Gavilán, Pablo
A1 Milkov-Ivanov, Nikolay
A1 Baena-Ruiz, Leticia
A1 Grima-Olmedo, Carlos
A1 Milkov-Ivanov, Nikolay
K1 Acuíferos - Mediterráneo
K1 Aguas subterráneas - Protección
AB The protection of groundwater resources in coastal aquifers is an increasingly importantissue worldwide. To establish threshold values and remediation objectives, it is essential to know thenatural background concentrations of relevant ions in groundwater. The rationale is to define theNatural Background Level (NBL) of chemical species determined by atmospheric and lithologicalforces. In many coastal aquifers, this evaluation worsens since atmospheric and lithological salinitycombines with many other anthropogenic sources of salinity, including exogenous salinity induced byseawater intrusion (SWI). This paper presents a combination of six well-known statistical techniquesand a new methodology (i.e., SITE index) in eight GWBs affected by SWI in Eastern Spain. Thechloride ion was the selected conservative chemical specie to assess the qualitative status due to thevariable SWI affection. The Natural Chloride Background (NCB) obtained from these methodologiesat the GWB scale was compared with regional NCB data calculated with the Atmospheric ChlorideMass Balance (CMB) method in Continental Spain. The CMB method provides atmosphericallyderived NCB data that are not influenced by SWI or anthropogenic activities or lithological forces.This external evaluation can be considered the atmospheric fraction of NCB, which serves as aregional criterion to validate the more detailed statistical methodologies applied at the GWB scale. Asa result, a conceptualization of NCB is obtained by means of a range of values between 115 mg L􀀀1and 261 mg L􀀀1 in the studied coastal GWBs affected by SWI in Eastern Spain.
PB MDPI
YR 2023
FD 2023-07-28
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/31608
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/31608
LA eng
NO Grima-Olmedo, J., Ballesteros-Navarro, B., Pulido-Velazquez, D., Renau-Pruñonosa, A., Alcalá, F. J., Llopis-Albert, C., Jiménez-Gavilán, P., Milkov-Ivanov, N., Baena-Ruiz, L., & Grima-Olmedo, C. (2023). A Framework to Assess Natural Chloride Background in Coastal Aquifers Affected by Seawater Intrusion in Eastern Spain. Water, 15(15), 2728. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15152728
NO Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 5 mar 2026