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Offshore fresh groundwater reserves as a global phenomenon

Nature volume 504, pages 71–78 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The flow of terrestrial groundwater to the sea is an important natural component of the hydrological cycle. This process, however, does not explain the large volumes of low-salinity groundwater that are found below continental shelves. There is mounting evidence for the global occurrence of offshore fresh and brackish groundwater reserves. The potential use of these non-renewable reserves as a freshwater resource provides a clear incentive for future research. But the scope for continental shelf hydrogeology is broader and we envisage that it can contribute to the advancement of other scientific disciplines, in particular sedimentology and marine geochemistry.

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Figure 1: World map of topography and bathymetry showing known occurrences of fresh and brackish offshore groundwater.
Figure 2: Global overview of inferred key metrics and cross sections of well-characterised vast meteoric groundwater reserves.
Figure 3: The geology and the key groundwater flow, and dissolved salt transport processes below the continental shelf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Environment, Flinders University, PO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, SA, Australia

    Vincent E.A. Post

  2. National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, SA, Australia

    Vincent E.A. Post

  3. VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Critical Zone Hydrology Group, De Boelelaan 1085, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, the Netherlands

    Jacobus Groen & Henk Kooi

  4. Acacia Water, Jan van Beaumontstraat 1, Gouda, 2805 RN, the Netherlands

    Jacobus Groen

  5. Department of Earth & Environmental Science, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, 87801, NM, USA

    Mark Person

  6. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    Shemin Ge

  7. University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    W. Mike Edmunds

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  1. Vincent E.A. Post
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Post, V., Groen, J., Kooi, H. et al. Offshore fresh groundwater reserves as a global phenomenon. Nature 504, 71–78 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12858

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