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This paper presents a revised and updated synthesis of the biogeochemical cycle of boron at the Earth's surface, where the largest fluxes are associated with the injection of sea-salt aerosols to the atmosphere (1.44 Tg B/yr), production and combustion of fossil fuels (1.2 Tg B/yr), atmospheric deposition (3.48 Tg B/yr), the mining of B ores (1.1 Tg B/yr), and the transport of dissolved and suspended matter in rivers (0.80 Tg B/yr). The new estimates show that anthropogenic mobilization of B from the continental crust exceeds the naturally occurring processes, resulting in substantial fluxes to the ocean and the hydrosphere. The anthropogenic component contributes 81% of the flux in rivers. The mean residence time for B in seawater supports the use of δ11B in marine carbonates as an index of changes in the pH of seawater over time periods of > 1 Ma.

In order to identify the origin of the salinity and formation of saline plumes in the central part of the Mediterranean coastal aquifer of Israel, we determined the elemental and boron, strontium, and oxygen isotopic compositions of fresh and brackish groundwater (Cl up to 1500 mg/L). We distinguish between two key anthropogenic sources: (1) sewage effluents used for irrigation with high Na/Cl, SO4/Cl, and B/C1 ratios and low Br/Cl ratios relative to seawater ratios, low δ11B values (0–10‰) and high δ18O values (>−4‰); and (2) imported water from the Sea of Galilee that is artificially recharged to the aquifer with high Br/Cl (3 × 10−3) and δ18O values (−1‰) and a low 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.70753. The brackish groundwater from the saline plumes have relatively low Na/Cl ratios (0.5–0.8) and high Ca/Mg, Mg/Cl, and Ca/(SO4 + HCO3) (>1) ratios relative to seawater ratios; marine SO4/Cl and Br/Cl ratios; δ11B values of 24.8–49.9‰; δ18O of −2.95‰ to −4.73‰ and 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.708275–0.708532. The composition of most of the investigated groundwater from the saline plumes differs from those of the anthropogenic sources, imported water, fresh uncontaminated groundwater (87Sr/86Sr of 0.70866, δ11B of 20–30‰), and saline water from the adjacent Eocene aquitard. Only in areas of artificial recharge does local groundwater have high Br/Cl and δ18O values that are typical to the Sea of Galilee. The linear relationships between chloride and most of the ions, including B and Sr, the relatively high δ11B (>30‰) and low δ18)O (