Submarine groundwater discharge and its implication for nutrient budgets in the western Bohai Bay, China

Qianqian Wang; Hailong Li; Yan Zhang; Xuejing Wang; Kai Xiao; Xiaolang Zhang; Yimeng Huang; Solomon Felix Dan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106132

Submarine groundwater discharge and its implication for nutrient budgets in the western Bohai Bay, China

J Environ Radioact. 2020 Feb:212:106132. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106132. Epub 2019 Dec 11.

Authors

Qianqian Wang¹, Hailong Li², Yan Zhang¹, Xuejing Wang³, Kai Xiao³, Xiaolang Zhang³, Yimeng Huang⁴, Solomon Felix Dan⁵

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation and Environment Evolution and School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences-Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China; State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences-Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences-Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control and School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control and School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁴ Sichuan Provincial Earthquake Bureau, Chengdu, 610041, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education/Institute for Advanced Ocean Study, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China.

PMID: 31885366
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106132

Abstract

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) supplies substantial quantities of nutrients from land to oceans. However, SGD and associated nutrient fluxes have long been ignored in Bohai Bay, which is subjected to the serious environmental problem. Here, we investigated the concentrations of radon (²²²Rn) and nutrients in groundwater and surface water in the western Bohai Bay during May 2017. The flushing time in the bay was estimated to be 38.8-58.3 days based on tidal prism model. The SGD flux was estimated to be 7.3 ± 4.8 cm d^-1 based on ²²²Rn mass balance model. The SGD associated nutrient fluxes were estimated to be (6.3 ± 4.1) × 10⁷ mol d^-1 for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), (1.2 ± 0.8) × 10⁶ mol d^-1 for dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and (7.5 ± 4.9) × 10⁷ mol d^-1 for dissolved inorganic silicon (DSi). By establishing nutrient budgets, we found that SGD was a major source, contributing 80.8% of all source for DIN, 90.7% of all source for DIP and 78.4% of all source for DSi into the western Bohai Bay. This study shows that SGD associated nutrient fluxes may have significant impact on nutrient budgets in the western Bohai Bay.

Keywords: Bohai bay; Nutrient fluxes; Radon mass balance model; Submarine groundwater discharge.

MeSH terms

Bays
China
Groundwater*
Nutrients
Oceans and Seas
Radiation Monitoring