The extent of seawater circulation in the aquifer and its role in elemental mass balances: A lesson from the Dead Sea

Yael Kiro; Yishai Weinstein; Abraham Starinsky; Yoseph Yechieli

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.010

The extent of seawater circulation in the aquifer and its role in elemental mass balances: A lesson from the Dead Sea

Yael Kiro, Yishai Weinstein, Abraham Starinsky, Yoseph Yechieli

Department of Environment, Planning and Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper shows for the first time a field-based estimation of the volume of dispersive density-driven long-term seawater circulation in coastal aquifers, which is crucial to the understanding of water-rock interaction and to the assessment of its potential impact on elemental mass balances in the sea. The Dead Sea is an ideal place for studying this type of circulation due to the absence of tides and the accessibility of the shallow fresh-saline transition zone. The unique antithetical behavior of ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra during seawater circulation in the Dead Sea aquifer, where ²²⁸Ra is added and ²²⁶Ra is removed, provides a robust new method for quantifying aquifer circulation. Here we estimate water circulation through the Dead Sea aquifer to be 400 million m³/yr (~2.5 million m³/yr per 1 km of shoreline), which is ~20% of the fresh water inflow prior to the 1960s. This large volume can affect trace element concentrations in the Dead Sea, e.g. it is a sink for ²²⁶Ra, Ba and U and a source for ²²⁸Ra and Fe. These results suggest that dispersive density-driven seawater circulation in aquifers may play an important role in mass balances in other lacustrine and oceanic settings.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	146-158
Number of pages	13
Journal	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume	394
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.010
State	Published - 15 May 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the Hoffman Leadership & Responsibility Fellowship and the Rieger-JNF Fellowship for their support. We thank the Israel Ministry of National Infrastructure for funding this study. We thank William C. Burnett and Kirstin Eller (FSU) for the 228 Ra measurements by γ -spectrometry. We thank A. Katz, E. Morin, Y. Kolodny, I. Gavrieli, B. Lazar, M. Stein and Y. Rosenthal for fruitful discussions. We thank U. Ryb, M. Feldman, A. Abbo, H. Luzki, H. Hemmo, B. Rophe and U. Galilee for technical help. We thank O. Yoffe and D. Stiber for the trace element analysis. We thank N. Lensky for the the Dead Sea expeditions.

Keywords

Dead Sea
Radium
Seawater circulation in aquifers

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10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.010

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@article{cfad49e456cd43e2be3b70376c3826bd,

title = "The extent of seawater circulation in the aquifer and its role in elemental mass balances: A lesson from the Dead Sea",

abstract = "This paper shows for the first time a field-based estimation of the volume of dispersive density-driven long-term seawater circulation in coastal aquifers, which is crucial to the understanding of water-rock interaction and to the assessment of its potential impact on elemental mass balances in the sea. The Dead Sea is an ideal place for studying this type of circulation due to the absence of tides and the accessibility of the shallow fresh-saline transition zone. The unique antithetical behavior of 226Ra and 228Ra during seawater circulation in the Dead Sea aquifer, where 228Ra is added and 226Ra is removed, provides a robust new method for quantifying aquifer circulation. Here we estimate water circulation through the Dead Sea aquifer to be 400 million m3/yr (~2.5 million m3/yr per 1 km of shoreline), which is ~20% of the fresh water inflow prior to the 1960s. This large volume can affect trace element concentrations in the Dead Sea, e.g. it is a sink for 226Ra, Ba and U and a source for 228Ra and Fe. These results suggest that dispersive density-driven seawater circulation in aquifers may play an important role in mass balances in other lacustrine and oceanic settings.",

keywords = "Dead Sea, Radium, Seawater circulation in aquifers",

author = "Yael Kiro and Yishai Weinstein and Abraham Starinsky and Yoseph Yechieli",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the Hoffman Leadership & Responsibility Fellowship and the Rieger-JNF Fellowship for their support. We thank the Israel Ministry of National Infrastructure for funding this study. We thank William C. Burnett and Kirstin Eller (FSU) for the 228 Ra measurements by γ -spectrometry. We thank A. Katz, E. Morin, Y. Kolodny, I. Gavrieli, B. Lazar, M. Stein and Y. Rosenthal for fruitful discussions. We thank U. Ryb, M. Feldman, A. Abbo, H. Luzki, H. Hemmo, B. Rophe and U. Galilee for technical help. We thank O. Yoffe and D. Stiber for the trace element analysis. We thank N. Lensky for the the Dead Sea expeditions. ",

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N1 - Funding Information: We thank the Hoffman Leadership & Responsibility Fellowship and the Rieger-JNF Fellowship for their support. We thank the Israel Ministry of National Infrastructure for funding this study. We thank William C. Burnett and Kirstin Eller (FSU) for the 228 Ra measurements by γ -spectrometry. We thank A. Katz, E. Morin, Y. Kolodny, I. Gavrieli, B. Lazar, M. Stein and Y. Rosenthal for fruitful discussions. We thank U. Ryb, M. Feldman, A. Abbo, H. Luzki, H. Hemmo, B. Rophe and U. Galilee for technical help. We thank O. Yoffe and D. Stiber for the trace element analysis. We thank N. Lensky for the the Dead Sea expeditions.

PY - 2014/5/15

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N2 - This paper shows for the first time a field-based estimation of the volume of dispersive density-driven long-term seawater circulation in coastal aquifers, which is crucial to the understanding of water-rock interaction and to the assessment of its potential impact on elemental mass balances in the sea. The Dead Sea is an ideal place for studying this type of circulation due to the absence of tides and the accessibility of the shallow fresh-saline transition zone. The unique antithetical behavior of 226Ra and 228Ra during seawater circulation in the Dead Sea aquifer, where 228Ra is added and 226Ra is removed, provides a robust new method for quantifying aquifer circulation. Here we estimate water circulation through the Dead Sea aquifer to be 400 million m3/yr (~2.5 million m3/yr per 1 km of shoreline), which is ~20% of the fresh water inflow prior to the 1960s. This large volume can affect trace element concentrations in the Dead Sea, e.g. it is a sink for 226Ra, Ba and U and a source for 228Ra and Fe. These results suggest that dispersive density-driven seawater circulation in aquifers may play an important role in mass balances in other lacustrine and oceanic settings.

AB - This paper shows for the first time a field-based estimation of the volume of dispersive density-driven long-term seawater circulation in coastal aquifers, which is crucial to the understanding of water-rock interaction and to the assessment of its potential impact on elemental mass balances in the sea. The Dead Sea is an ideal place for studying this type of circulation due to the absence of tides and the accessibility of the shallow fresh-saline transition zone. The unique antithetical behavior of 226Ra and 228Ra during seawater circulation in the Dead Sea aquifer, where 228Ra is added and 226Ra is removed, provides a robust new method for quantifying aquifer circulation. Here we estimate water circulation through the Dead Sea aquifer to be 400 million m3/yr (~2.5 million m3/yr per 1 km of shoreline), which is ~20% of the fresh water inflow prior to the 1960s. This large volume can affect trace element concentrations in the Dead Sea, e.g. it is a sink for 226Ra, Ba and U and a source for 228Ra and Fe. These results suggest that dispersive density-driven seawater circulation in aquifers may play an important role in mass balances in other lacustrine and oceanic settings.

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The extent of seawater circulation in the aquifer and its role in elemental mass balances: A lesson from the Dead Sea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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