Tide-induced salt-fingering flow during submarine groundwater discharge

This study investigated the stability of the upper saline plume (USP) within shallow tide-affected submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) zones. In contrast to earlier studies, numerical modeling revealed a number of realistic hydrological and hydrogeological conditions where the USP becomes unstable and salt-fingering flow occurs. These conditions were reasonably well identified in a stability diagram based on two dimensionless numbers that characterize the system. If fingering flow occurs, the SGD pattern is distinctly different from that of stable flow conditions: (i) freshwater discharge zones along the beach face are manifold and change their location with time, (ii) undulating freshwater/seawater interface that is extended along the groundwater flow path, and (iii) the total tide-averaged fresh SGD rate varies considerably in an irregular pattern. This has presumably important implications on reactive transport processes in the subterranean estuary, as well as on the interpretation of field data on water and solute fluxes during SGD.