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Abstract: Terrestrial groundwater travels through subterranean estuaries before reaching the sea. Groundwater‐derived nutrients drive coastal water quality, primary production, and eutrophication. We determined how dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) are transformed within subterranean estuaries and estimated submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) nutrient loads compiling > 10,000 groundwater samples from 216 sites worldwide. Nutrients exhibited complex, nonconservative behavior in subterranean estuaries. Fresh groundwater DIN and DIP are usually produced, and DON is consumed during transport. Median total SGD (saline and fresh) fluxes globally were 5.4, 2.6, and 0.18 Tmol yr−1 for DIN, DON, and DIP, respectively. Despite large natural variability, total SGD fluxes likely exceed global riverine nutrient export. Fresh SGD is a small source of new nutrients, but saline SGD is an important source of mostly recycled nutrients. Nutrients exported via SGD via subterranean estuaries are critical to coastal biogeochemistry and a significant nutrient source to the oceans.

The reduction of saltmarsh habitat at a global scale has seen a concomitant loss of associated ecosystem services. As such, there is a need and a push for habitat rehabilitation. This study examined an innovative saltmarsh restoration project in Australia which sought to address the threats of mangrove encroachment and sea level rise. The project was implemented in 2017, using automated hydraulic control gates, termed "SmartGates," to lower the tidal regime over one site, effectively reversing sea level rise at a local level. Measured indicators of saltmarsh cover, number of species, seedling counts, and saltmarsh assemblages all showed significant positive development over time, with trends varying based on saltmarsh zone. The saltmarsh, predominantly Sarcocornia quinqueflora, developed from remnant supralittoral (previously high) marsh which remained at 45% cover to achieve over 15% coverage across the cleared habitat after 3 years. Slower development in the low marsh (<5%) compared to other zones contrasts with other saltmarsh restoration studies which may be due to the unique nature of the restoration method or the nature of Australian saltmarsh species which favor higher elevations and drier conditions. The development of saltmarsh at the treatment site was found to track toward that at comparison sites over time, becoming similar to some comparison sites by the studies end. This study highlights the usefulness of the novel restoration method used and of the measured indicators for assessing saltmarsh development. This innovative tidal control method could play an important role in the future of saltmarsh restoration worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater (GW) level prediction is important for effective GW resource management. It is hypothesized that using precipitation data in GW level modelling will increase the overall accuracy of the results and that the distance of the observation well to the weather station (where precipitation data are obtained) will affect the model outcome. Here, genetic programming (GP) was used to predict GW level fluctuation in multiple observation wells under three scenarios to test these hypotheses. In Scenario 1, GW level and precipitation data were used as input data. Scenarios 2 only had GW level data as inputs to the model, and in Scenarios 3, only precipitation data were used as inputs. Long-term GW level time series data covering a period of 8 years were used to train and test the GP model. Further, to examine the effect of data from previous time periods on the accuracy of GW level prediction, 12 models with input data up to 12 months prior to the current period were investigated. Model performance was evaluated using two criteria, coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). Results show that when predicting GW levels through GP, using GW level and precipitation data together (Scenario 1) produces results with higher accuracy compared to only using GW level (Scenario 2) or precipitation data (Scenario 3). Additionally, it was found that model accuracy was highest for the well located closest to the weather station (where precipitation data were collected), demonstrating the importance of weather station location in GW level prediction. It was also found that using data from up to six previous time periods (months) can be the most efficient combination of input data for accurate predictions. The findings from this study are useful for increasing the prediction accuracy of GW level variations in unconfined aquifers for sustainable GW resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater contamination is a major concern for groundwater resource managers worldwide. We evaluated groundwater pollution potential by producing a vulnerability map of an aquifer using a modified Depth to water, Net recharge, Aquifer media, Soil media, Topography, Impact of vadose zone, and Hydraulic conductivity (DRASTIC) model within a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. The proposed modification which incorporated the use of statistical techniques optimizes the rating function of the DRASTIC model parameters, to obtain a more accurate vulnerability map. The new rates were computed using the relationships between the parameters and point data chloride concentrations in groundwater. The model was applied on Saveh-Nobaran plain in central Iran, and results showed that the coefficient of determination (R2) between the point data and the relevant vulnerability map increased significantly from 0.52 to 0.78 after modification. As compared to the original DRASTIC model, the modified version produced better vulnerability zonation. Additionally, singleparameter and parameter removal sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the relative importance of each DRASTIC parameter. The results from both analyses revealed that the vadose zone is the most sensitive parameter influencing the variability of the aquifers’ vulnerability index. Based on the results, for non-point source pollution in agricultural areas, using the modified DRASTIC model is efficient compared to the original model. The proposed method can be effective for future groundwater assessment and plain-land management where agricultural activities are dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH4) emissions from estuarine wetlands were proved to be influenced by tide movement and inundation conditions notably in many previous studies. Although there have been several researches focusing on the seasonal or annual CH4 emissions, the short-term CH4 emissions during the tide cycles were rarely studied up to now in this area. In order to investigate the CH4 emission pattern during a tide cycle in Yangtze Estuary salt marshes, frequent fixed-point observations of methane flux were carried out using the in-situ static closed chamber technique. The results indicated that the daily average CH4 fluxes varied from 0.68 mgCH4·m−2·h−1 to 4.22 mgCH4·m−2·h−1 with the average flux reaching 1.78 mgCH4·m−2·h−1 from small tide to spring tide in summer. CH4 fluxes did not show consistent variation with both tide levels and inundation time but increased steadily during almost the whole research period. By Pearson correlation analysis, CH4 fluxes were not correlated with both tide levels (R = −0.014, p = 0.979) and solar radiation (R = 0.024, p = 0.865), but significantly correlated with ambient temperature. It is temperature rather than the tide level mainly controlling CH4 emissions during the tide cycles. Besides, CH4 fluxes also showed no significant correlation with the underground pore-water CH4 concentrations, indicating that plant-mediated transport played a more important role in CH4 fluxes compared with its production and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]