Studies on water resources salinization along the Italian coast: 30 years of work

Abstract

The population density on the Italian coasts is twice the national average. Numerous urban, economic, and productive settlements lie along the coast, which in many areas have altered the natural characteristics of the territory. Moreover, recent climate change studies forecast large impacts on the hydrologic cycle in the Mediterranean. Thus, in the next years, coastal water resources will be gradually more stressed. This in turn may result in a progressive salinization, which is a widespread and worrying phenomenon worldwide. In this paper, the historical and geographical distribution of peer-review studies focusing on the salinization of water resources along the Italian coasts will be critically discussed.

Numerical simulation of seawater intrusion in the lower Seybouse aquifer system, Algeria

“…Fresh groundwater resources in coastal aquifers are significantly impacted by seawater intrusion (Chang & Yeh, 2010;Mastrocicco, 2021). Climate change, sea level rise, change in land use and excessive groundwater pumping led to severe seawater intrusion (Yang et al, 2013).…”

Evaluation of Fresh Groundwater Lens Volume and Its Possible Use in Nauru Island

“…The mixing zone separating freshwater and seawater influences the depth at which freshwater is available [9]. Usually, in small islands' subsoil, the mixing zone contains a gradual transition in salinity from freshwater to seawater as well [6,10,11], and its thickness is related to the tidal fluctuations [12,13]. Buddemeier and Oberdorfer [14] suggested that the mixing zone, defined by salinities between 2.5% and 95% of seawater concentration, can occupy a significant volume of atoll island aquifers compared to the freshwater component.…”