CAREER: Hydrodynamic Controls on Fluid and Solute Exchanges Across the Aquifer-Estuary Interface

职业：含水层-河口界面流体和溶质交换的水动力控制

• 批准号: 2142830
• 负责人: James Heiss
• 金额: $ 67.95万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Lowell
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142830&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Hydrodynamic; Controls; Fluid; Solute

Surface water and dissolved chemicals cycle through sediments that underlie rivers and the ocean due to tides, waves, currents, and other hydrological processes. Within the sediments, dissolved chemicals, such as organic carbon and nitrate, undergo chemical transformations before re-entering surface water. This cycling affects river and ocean water quality, ecosystem health, and coastal groundwater resources. This project will quantify and map water and chemical exchanges and saltwater intrusion along the land-sea transition zone in three types of estuaries using surface water, groundwater flow, and biogeochemical computer models. The research will be integrated into a multi-step educational pipeline for high school students from underrepresented communities in the hydrologic sciences though field-based learning, and professional development courses on groundwater-surface water interactions that will be offered through partnership with a regional interstate compact. There is limited understanding of the scales of groundwater-surface water and associated chemical exchanges between river and ocean systems. The project will fill this knowledge gap by addressing fundamental questions on the connectedness of rivers and oceans through groundwater-surface water exchanges in estuaries. The research will develop new coupled surface water, groundwater, and reactive transport modeling approaches to understand the role of estuary hydrodynamics and heterogeneity in surface water chemistry on driving fluid and chemical exchanges across aquifer-estuary interfaces. Knowledge of river to seabed exchanges will allow for more accurate estimates of nutrient, metal, contaminant, and carbon fluxes to the ocean, thus bridging understanding of subsea exchanges to exchanges in terrestrial river corridors. Insights into hydrodynamic controls on groundwater-surface water exchanges will 1) aid in predicting the impacts of sea level rise on chemical transformations in estuarine pore water, 2) improve coastal surface water quality models, 3) guide coastal groundwater resource management, and 4) strengthen long-standing restoration efforts in the study estuaries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于潮汐、波浪、洋流和其他水文过程，地表水和溶解的化学物质在河流和海洋下面的沉积物中循环。在沉积物中，溶解的化学物质，如有机碳和硝酸盐，在重新进入地表水之前经历化学转化。这种循环会影响河流和海洋的水质、生态系统健康和沿海地下水资源。该项目将利用地表水、地下水流动和生物地球化学计算机模型，对三种类型河口的海陆过渡带上的水和化学交换以及咸水入侵进行量化和绘制地图。这项研究将通过实地学习和通过与区域州际契约合作提供的地下水-地表水相互作用专业发展课程，为水文科学中代表性不足社区的高中生纳入一个多步骤的教育渠道。对地下水-地表水的规模以及河流和海洋系统之间的相关化学交换的了解有限。该项目将通过河口地下水-地表水交换解决有关河流和海洋的连通性的基本问题，从而填补这一知识空白。这项研究将开发新的地表水、地下水和反应运移耦合模拟方法，以了解河口水动力和地表水化学中的非均质性在驱动含水层-河口界面上的流体和化学交换方面的作用。了解河流到海底的交换将使人们能够更准确地估计进入海洋的营养物质、金属、污染物和碳通量，从而将对海底交换的理解与陆地河流走廊的交换联系起来。对地下水-地表水交换的水动力控制的深入了解将有助于1)预测海平面上升对河口孔隙水化学变化的影响，2)改进沿海地表水水质模型，3)指导沿海地下水资源管理，4)加强研究河口的长期恢复工作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。