Estimation of seawater retreat timescales in homogeneous and confined coastal aquifers based on dimensional analysis |
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| Authors: | Antonios Mamalakis Vassilios Kaleris |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece;2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California, USA |
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| Abstract: | Reliable estimation of the timescales of seawater retreat (SWR) in coastal aquifers has significant implications for sustainable groundwater management in coastal areas. Due to the complexity of coastal dynamics, analytical estimates of SWR timescales are limited in number, and numerical models are mainly utilized. Although numerical models allow for accurate analysis of the coastal systems, they concern particular aquifer cases, thus their results are not generally applicable. Here, we perform a dimensional analysis for the depth-integrated freshwater/seawater continuity equations and identify the dimensionless parameters that affect SWR in confined, homogeneous and flux-controlled aquifers. Based on numerical simulations, we gain insight into how these parameters affect SWR, and produce type curves which can be used as a simple tool for estimating SWR timescales in idealized coastal systems, independent of the hydraulic and geometric characteristics of the aquifer. The reliability of our estimates in real-world applications is also discussed. |
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| Keywords: | seawater retreat timescales dimensional analysis coastal aquifers sharp interface approach Ghyben-Herzberg approximation groundwater dynamics heterogeneity |
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