Offshore freshened groundwater in the Pearl River estuary and shelf as a significant water resource

Chong Sheng, Jiu Jimmy Jiao (), Xin Luo, Jinchao Zuo, Lei Jia and Jinghe Cao
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Chong Sheng: The University of Hong Kong
Jiu Jimmy Jiao: The University of Hong Kong
Xin Luo: The University of Hong Kong
Jinchao Zuo: The University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Institution of Research and Innovation (SIRI)
Lei Jia: China Geological Survey
Jinghe Cao: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Large-river deltaic estuaries and adjacent continental shelves have experienced multiple phases of transgressions and regressions to form interlayered aquifer-aquitard systems and are expected to host vast paleo-terrestrial groundwater hundreds of kilometres offshore. Here, we used offshore hydrogeology, marine geophysical reflections, porewater geochemistry, and paleo-hydrogeological models, and identified a previously unknown offshore freshened groundwater body with a static volume up to 575.6 ± 44.9 km3 in the Pearl River Estuary and adjacent continental shelf, with the freshwater extending as far as 55 km offshore. An integrated analysis of stable isotopic compositions and water quality indices reveals the meteoric origins of such freshened groundwater and its significance as potential potable water or raw water source for desalination. Hotspots of offshore freshened groundwater in large-river deltaic estuaries and adjacent continental shelves, likely a global phenomenon, have a great potential for exploitable water resources in highly urbanized coastal areas suffering from freshwater shortage.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39507-0

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