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The number of studies concerning Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) grew quickly as we entered the twenty-first century. Many hydrological and oceanographic processes that drive and influence SGD were identified and characterized during this period. These processes included tidal effects on SGD, water and solute fluxes, biogeochemical transformations through the subterranean estuary, and material transport via SGD from land to sea. Here we compile and summarize the significant progress in SGD assessment methodologies, considering both the terrestrial and marine driving forces, and local as well as global evaluations of groundwater discharge with an emphasis on investigations published over the past decade. Our treatment presents the state-of-the-art progress of SGD studies from geophysical, geochemical, bio-ecological, economic, and cultural perspectives. We identify and summarize remaining research questions, make recommendations for future research directions, and discuss potential future challenges, including impacts of climate change on SGD and improved estimates of the global magnitude of SGD.

Abstract:Over the past decade, radium isotopes have been frequently applied as tracers of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). The unique radium signature of SGD is acquired within the subterranean estuary, a mixing zone between fresh groundwater and seawater in coastal aquifers, yet little is known about what controls Ra cycling in this system. The focus of this study was to examine controls on sediment and groundwater radium activities within permeable aquifer sands (Waquoit Bay, MA, USA) through a combination of field and laboratory studies. In the field, a series of sediment cores and corresponding groundwater profiles were collected for analysis of the four radium isotopes, as well as dissolved and sediment associated manganese, iron, and barium. We found that in addition to greater desorption at increasing salinity, radium was also closely tied to manganese and iron redox cycling within these sediments. A series of laboratory adsorption/desorption experiments helped elucidate the importance of 1) contact time between sediment and water, 2) salinity of water in contact with sediment, 3) redox conditions of water in contact with sediment, and 4) the chemical characteristics of sediment on radium adsorption/desorption. We found that these reactions are rapid (on the order of hours), desorption increases with increasing salinity and decreasing pH, and the presence of Fe and Mn (hydr)oxides on the sediment inhibit the release of radium.These sediments have a large capacity to sorb radium from fresh water. Combined with these experimental results, we present evidence from time series groundwater sampling 2 that within this subterranean estuary there are cyclic periods of Ra accumulation and release controlled by changing salinity and redox conditions.

In the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) fronts interact with shelf waters facilitating lateral transport of shelf‐derived components such as iron into high‐nutrient offshore regions. To trace these shelf‐derived components and estimate lateral mixing rates of shelf water, we used naturally occurring radium isotopes. Short‐lived radium isotopes were used to quantify the rates of shelf water entrainment while Fe/228Ra ratios were used to calculate the Fe flux. In the summer of 2006 we found rapid mixing and significant lateral iron export, namely, a dissolved iron flux of 1.1 × 105 mol d−1 and total acid leachable iron flux of 1.1 × 106 mol d−1 all of which is transported in the mixed layer from the shelf region offshore. This dissolved iron flux is significant, especially considering that the bloom observed in the offshore region (0.5–2 mg chl a m−3) had an iron demand of 1.1 to 4 × 105 mol Fe. Net vertical export fluxes of particulate Fe derived from 234Th/238U disequilibrium and Fe/234Th ratios accounted for only about 25% of the dissolved iron flux. On the other hand, vertical upward mixing of iron rich deeper waters provided only 7% of the lateral dissolved iron flux. We found that similarly to other studies in iron‐fertilized regions of the Southern Ocean, lateral fluxes overwhelm vertical inputs and vertical export from the water column and support significant phytoplankton blooms in the offshore regions of the Drake Passage.