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Coastal aquifers play an important role in marine ecosystems by providing high fluxes of nutrients and solutes via submarine groundwater discharge pathways. The physical and chemical characterization of these dynamic systems is foundational to understanding the extent and magnitude of hydrogeologic processes and their subsequent contributions to the marine environment. We describe a km‐scale experimental field site located in a glaciofluvial delta entering Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Our characterization applies geophysical (ERT and HVSR), hydrogeologic (grain size analyses, slug tests and tidal response analyses) and geochemical (major ions and stable water isotopes) methods to describe the complexity of coastal aquifers in proglacial environments currently experiencing rapid transformations. The hydrogeologic and geophysical techniques revealed thick (20–84 m) sediments dominated by sands and gravels and delineated zones of freshwater, brackish water and saltwater at both high and low tides within the subterranean estuary. Estimates of hydraulic conductivities via multiple approaches ranged from 2 to 250 m d−1, with means across the four methods within the same order of magnitude. Tidal response analyses highlighted a coastal aquifer in strong connection with the sea as evidenced by clear spring‐ and neap‐tidal signals within a proximal piezometric hydrograph. Geochemical sampling revealed coastal groundwaters as substantially enriched in solutes compared to proximal river samples with limited variability across seasons. A clear connection between the Wosnesenski River and the adjacent aquifer was also observed, with concentrated recharge from the river corridor during the meltwater season. This combination of approaches provides the basis for a conceptual model for coastal aquifer systems within the Gulf of Alaska and an upscaled mean daily yield of freshwater and solutes from the delta subsurface. Our findings are critical for subsequent numerical simulations of groundwater flow, tidal pumping and chemical reactions and transport in these understudied environments. This approach may be applied for low‐cost, large‐scale hydrogeologic investigations in coastal areas and may be particularly useful for remote sites where access and mobility are challenging.
Coastal aquifers play an important role in marine ecosystems by providing high fluxes of nutrients and solutes via submarine groundwater discharge pathways. The physical and chemical characterization of these dynamic systems is foundational to understanding the extent and magnitude of hydrogeologic processes and their subsequent contributions to the marine environment. We describe a km‐scale experimental field site located in a glaciofluvial delta entering Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Our characterization applies geophysical (ERT and HVSR), hydrogeologic (grain size analyses, slug tests and tidal response analyses) and geochemical (major ions and stable water isotopes) methods to describe the complexity of coastal aquifers in proglacial environments currently experiencing rapid transformations. The hydrogeologic and geophysical techniques revealed thick (20–84 m) sediments dominated by sands and gravels and delineated zones of freshwater, brackish water and saltwater at both high and low tides within the subterranean estuary. Estimates of hydraulic conductivities via multiple approaches ranged from 2 to 250 m d−1, with means across the four methods within the same order of magnitude. Tidal response analyses highlighted a coastal aquifer in strong connection with the sea as evidenced by clear spring‐ and neap‐tidal signals within a proximal piezometric hydrograph. Geochemical sampling revealed coastal groundwaters as substantially enriched in solutes compared to proximal river samples with limited variability across seasons. A clear connection between the Wosnesenski River and the adjacent aquifer was also observed, with concentrated recharge from the river corridor during the meltwater season. This combination of approaches provides the basis for a conceptual model for coastal aquifer systems within the Gulf of Alaska and an upscaled mean daily yield of freshwater and solutes from the delta subsurface. Our findings are critical for subsequent numerical simulations of groundwater flow, tidal pumping and chemical reactions and transport in these understudied environments. This approach may be applied for low‐cost, large‐scale hydrogeologic investigations in coastal areas and may be particularly useful for remote sites where access and mobility are challenging.
No abstract
We investigate the site characterization and shallow shear velocity profiles from the analysis of the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral ratio (HVSR) around the Hyderabad metropolitan region (HMR), which falls under the southern Indian shield. This work uses both the ambient noise and microearthquake data to compute the HVSR, and additionally the Random Decrement technique to compute the HVSR of extracted Rayleigh waves. This study indicates comparable HVSR curves at each station with the three different datasets, from which we obtain the average dominant frequency (f0) and amplification value (A0). They are further used to calculate the seismic vulnerability index value (Kg). We observe that the value of f0 around the HMR is not fixed, but is varying in the range of 3.4 to 18 Hz, whereas the value of A0 is in the range of 1.7 to 12 approximately and Kg in the range of 0.16 to 1.68 approximately, with an exception of ∼ 33 at VKB (Vikarabad) station, which may be due to a local unconsolidated sub-surface structure. Based on the Diffused Field Assumption (DFA), we invert the average HVSR curves and average dispersion curves of Rayleigh waves, and provide the shallow shear velocity profiles up to 300 m, along with an approximate estimate of VS30 (in upper 30 m depth). The estimated VS30 values vary between 911 to 3143 m/s, falling under the classifications A and B (mostly Hard Rock and Rock type) of National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) (BSSC, 2001). However, our study shows some stations with shear velocity inversions at shallow depths within 300 m, indicating layers of low velocity, needing further study. In the absence of detailed near-surface findings, these findings are valuable inputs for geotechnical engineering studies and urban-city planning around the HMR, and emphasizes the effectiveness the HVSR method to determine sub-surface topography and/or unknown soil structures as an economical investigation viability.
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