Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Variations of Hydrodynamics and Submarine Groundwater Discharge in the Yellow River Estuary Under the Influence of the Water-Sediment Regulation Scheme

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The “Water-Sediment Regulation Scheme” (WSRS) is critically important to the hydrologic evaluation of the Yellow River estuary since a huge pulse of water and sediment are delivered into the sea during a short period. We used the natural geochemical tracers radium (223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra) and radon (222Rn) isotopes as well as other hydrological parameters to investigate the mixing variations and submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in the Yellow River estuary under the influence of the 2013 WSRS. Dramatically elevated radium and radon isotopic activities were observed during this WSRS compared with activities measured during a non-WSRS period. Radium “water ages” indicated that the offshore transport rate nearly tripled when the river discharge increased from 400 to 3400 m3/s. We calculated the SGD flux in the Yellow River estuary based on a radium mass balance model as well as radium and radon time-series models. The SGD flux was estimated at 0.02~0.20 m/day during a non-WSRS period and 0.67~1.22 m/day during the 2013 WSRS period. The results also indicate that large river discharge tends to lead more intense SGD along the river channel direction with a large amount of fresh SGD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Burnett, W.C., and H. Dulaiova. 2003. Estimating the dynamics of groundwater input into the coastal zone via continuous radon-222 measurements. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 69: 21–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, W.C., H. Bokuniewicz, M. Huettel, W.S. Moore, and M. Taniguchi. 2003. Groundwater and pore water inputs to the coastal zone. Biogeochemistry 66(1): 3–33.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, W.C., P.K. Aggarwal, A. Aureli, H. Bokuniewicz, J.E. Cable, M.A. Charette, E. Kontar, S. Krupa, K.M. Kulkarni, A. Loveless, W.S. Moore, J.A. Oberdorfer, J. Oliveira, N. Ozyurt, P. Povinec, A.M.G. Privitera, R. Rajar, R.T. Ramessur, J. Scholten, T. Stieglitz, M. Taniguchi, and J.V. Turner. 2006. Quantifying submarine groundwater discharge in the coastal zone via multiple methods. Science of the Total Environment 367: 498–543.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, W.C., I.R. Santos, Y. Weinstein, P.W. Swarzenski, and B. Herut. 2007. Remaining uncertainties in the use of Rn-222 as a quantitative tracer of submarine groundwater discharge. In A new focus on groundwater-seawater interactions, ed. W. Sanford, C. Langevin, M. Polemio, and P. Povinec, 109–118. Oxfordshire: IAHS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cable, J.E., W.C. Burnett, J.P. Chanton, and G. Weatherly. 1996. Modeling groundwater flow into the ocean based on 222Rn. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 144: 591–604.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cai, W., Y. Wang, J. Krest, and W.S. Moore. 2003. The geochemistry of dissolved inorganic carbon in a surficial groundwater aquifer in North Inlet, South Carolina, and the carbon fluxes to the coastal ocean. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67: 631–639.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Charette, M.A., M.E. Gonneea, P.J. Morris, P. Statham, G. Fones, H. Planquette, I. Salter, and A.N. Garabato. 2007. Radium isotopes as tracers of iron sources fueling a Southern Ocean phytoplankton bloom. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 54(18): 1989–1998.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, D.R., K. Dillon, W. Burnett, and J. Chanton. 2000. Estimating the groundwater contribution into Florida Bay via natural tracers, 222Rn and CH4. Limnology and Oceanography 45(7): 1546–1557.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dulaiova, H., W.C. Burnett, G. Wattayakorn, and P. Sojisuporn. 2006. Are groundwater inputs into river-dominated areas important? The Chao Phraya River-Gulf of Thailand. Limnology and Oceanography 51(5): 2232–2247.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, X., G. Liu, L. Shu, X. Wang, and M. Xu. 2009. Influence of a regulated discharge of the Yellow River to dynamic condition of groundwater of estuary region. Yellow River 31: 34–35 (in Chinese).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao, M., S. Liu, G. Zhao, H. Yuan, C. Wei, Y. Wu, and J. Tang. 2014. Vulnerability of eco-hydrological environment in the Yellow River Delta Wetland. Journal of Coastal Research 30(2): 344–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giffin, C., A. Kaufman, and W.S. Broecker. 1963. Delayed coincidence counter for the assay of actinon and thoron. Journal of Geophysical Research 68: 1749–1757.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, C., and W. Cao. 2003. Variation, regulation and control of flow and sediment in the Yellow River estuary I: mechanism of flow-sediment transport and evolution. Journal of Sediment Research 5: 1–8 (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jing, A., W. Chen, and X. Yang. 2009. Influence analysis of water and sediment regulation to testing river reach of Huayuankou hydrologic station in Yellow river. Water Resources & Hydropower of Northeast 9: 38–41 (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, G., and P. Swarzenski. 2010. Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and associated nutrient fluxes to the coastal ocean. In Carbon and nutrient fluxes in continental margins, ed. K.-K. Liu, L. Atkinson, R. Quiñones, and L. Talaue-McManus, 529–538. Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Krest, J.M., W.S. Moore, and Rama. 1999. 226Ra and 228Ra in the mixing zones of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers: indicators of groundwater input. Marine Chemistry 64: 129–152.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, M.J., and W.C. Burnett. 2003. Submarine groundwater discharge estimates at a Florida coastal site based on continuous radon measurements. Biogeochemistry 66(1-2): 55–73.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Macintyre, S., R. Wanninkhof, and J.P. Chanton. 1995. Trace gas exchange across the air-sea interface in freshwater and coastal marine environments. In Biogenic trace gases: measuring emissions from soil and water, ed. P.A. Matson and R.C. Harris, 52–97. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makings, U., I.R. Santos, D.T. Maher, L. Golsby-Smith, and B.D. Eyre. 2014. Importance of budgets for estimating the input of groundwater-derived nutrients to an eutrophic tidal river and estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 143: 65–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meybeck, M., and C. Vörösmarty. 2005. Fluvial filtering of land-to-ocean fluxes: from natural Holocene variations to Anthropocene. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 337(1): 107–123.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Milliman, J.D., and R.H. Meade. 1983. World-wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans. The Journal of Geology 91(1): 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monsen, N.E., J.E. Cloern, and L.V. Lucas. 2002. A comment on the use of flushing time, residence time, and age as transport time scales. Limnology and Oceanography 47: 1545–1553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S. 1976. Sampling 228Ra in the deep ocean. Deep-Sea Research 23: 647–651.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S. 1996. Large groundwater inputs to coastal waters revealed by 226Ra enrichments. Nature 380(6575): 612–614.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S. 1999. The subterranean estuary: a reaction zone of ground water and sea water. Marine Chemistry 65(1): 111–125.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S. 2000. Ages of continental shelf waters determined from 223Ra and 224Ra. Journal of Geophysical Research 105(C9): 22117–22122.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S. 2010. The effect of submarine groundwater discharge on the ocean. Annual Review of Marine Science 2: 59–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S., and R. Arnold. 1996. Measurement of 223Ra and 224Ra in coastal waters using a delayed coincidence counter. Journal of Geophysical Research 101(C1): 1321–1329.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, W.S., J.O. Blanton, and S.B. Joye (2006). Estimates of flushing times, submarine groundwater discharge, and nutrient fluxes to Okatee Estuary, South Carolina. Journal of Geophysical Research 111(C9). doi: 10.1029/2005JC003041.

  • Mulligan, A.E., and M.A. Charette. 2006. Intercomparison of submarine groundwater discharge estimates from a sandy unconfined aquifer. Journal of Hydrology 327: 411–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, C., C.A. Reidy, M. Dynesius, and C. Revenga. 2005. Fragmentation and flow regulation of the world’s large river systems. Science 308(5720): 405–408.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ottinger, M., C. Kuenzer, G. Liu, S. Wang, and S. Dech. 2013. Monitoring land cover dynamics in the Yellow River Delta from 1995 to 2010 based on Landsat 5 TM. Applied Geography 44: 53–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R.N., W.C. Burnett, M. Taniguchi, J. Chen, I.R. Santos, and S. Misra. 2008a. Determination of transport rates in the Yellow River-Bohai Sea mixing zone via natural geochemical tracers. Continental Shelf Research 28: 2700–2707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R.N., W.C. Burnett, M. Taniguchi, J. Chen, I.R. Santos, and T. Ishitobi. 2008b. Radon and radium isotope assessment of submarine groundwater discharge in the Yellow River delta, China. Journal of Geophysical Research 113: C09021. doi:10.1029/2008JC004776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ran, L., and X. Lu. 2012. Delineation of reservoirs using remote sensing and their storage estimate: an example of the Yellow River basin, China. Hydrological Processes 26(8): 1215–1229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, M., A. Paschke, E. Lieberman, and W.C. Burnett. 2012. Air–water partitioning of 222Rn and its dependence on water temperature and salinity. Environmental Science & Technology 46(7): 3905–3911.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stieglitz, T. 2005. Submarine groundwater discharge into the near-shore zone of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin 51(1): 51–59.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, Y., and T. Torgersen. 1998. The effects of water content and Mn-fiber surface conditions on 224Ra measurement by 220Rn emanation. Marine Chemistry 62: 299–306.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swarzenski, P.W. 2007. U/Th series radionuclides as coastal groundwater tracers. Chemical Reviews 107(2): 663–674.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swarzenski, P.W., C. Reich, K.D. Kroeger, and M. Baskaran. 2007. Ra and Rn isotopes as natural tracers of submarine groundwater discharge in Tampa Bay, Florida. Marine Chemistry 104(1): 69–84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi, M., T. Ishitobi, J. Chen, S.I. Onodera, K. Miyaoka, W.C. Burnett, R. Peterson, G. Liu, and Y. Fukushima. 2008. Submarine groundwater discharge from the Yellow River delta to the Bohai Sea, China. Journal of Geophysical Research 113: C06025. doi:10.1029/2007JC004498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S.M., G. Malin, P.D. Nightingale, and P.S. Liss. 1996. Seasonal variation of dimethyl sulphide in the North Sea and an assessment of fluxes to the atmosphere. Marine Chemistry 54: 245–262.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Valiela, I., and C. D’Elia. 1990. Groundwater inputs to coastal waters. Special Issue Biogeochemistry 10: 328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veeh, H.H., W.S. Moore, and S.V. Smith. 1995. The behaviour of uranium and radium in an inverse estuary. Continental Shelf Research 15(13): 1569–1583.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H., Z. Yang, Y. Saito, J.P. Liu, and X. Sun. 2006. Interannual and seasonal variation of the Huanghe (Yellow River) water discharge over the past 50 years: connections to impacts from ENSO events and dams. Global and Planetary Change 50(3): 212–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, H., Z. Yang, Y. Saito, J.P. Liu, X. Sun, and Y. Wang. 2007. Stepwise decreases of the Huanghe (Yellow River) sediment load (1950–2005): impacts of climate change and human activities. Global and Planetary Change 57(3): 331–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waska, H., S. Kim, G. Kim, R. Peterson, and W.C. Burnett. 2008. An efficient and simple method for measuring 226Ra, together with 223Ra and 224Ra using the scintillation cell in a delayed coincidence counting system (RaDeCC). Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99(12): 1859–1862.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, L.D., Z.S. Yang, B.D. Bornhold, G.H. Keller, D.B. Prior, and W.J. Wiseman Jr. 1986. Hyperpycnal plumes and plume fronts over the Huanghe (Yellow River) delta front. Geo-Marine Letters 6(2): 97–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, B., W.C. Burnett, N. Dimova, S. Diao, T. Mi, X. Jiang, and Z. Yu. 2013. Hydrodynamics in the Yellow River Estuary via radium isotopes: ecological perspectives. Continental Shelf Research 66: 19–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, B., D. Xia, W.C. Burnett, N.T. Natasha, H. Wang, L. Zhang, M. Gao, X. Jiang, and Z. Yu. 2014. Natural 222Rn and 220Rn indicate the impact of the Water-Sediment Regulation Scheme (WSRS) on submarine groundwater discharge in the Yellow River estuary, China. Applied Geochemistry 51: 79–85.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Young, M.B., M.E. Gonneea, D.A. Fong, W.S. Moore, J. Herrera-Silveira, and A. Paytan. 2008. Characterizing sources of groundwater to a tropical coastal lagoon in a karstic area using radium isotopes and water chemistry. Marine Chemistry 109: 377–394.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, L. 2002. The Huanghe (Yellow) River: a review of its development, characteristics, and future management issues. Continental Shelf Research 22: 389–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC grant 41206064, 41376085, and 41221004) and the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China (GZH201200505) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 201262014, 201213030). We would like to thank Liu Jixin, Liu Jun, Liu Sen, and Zhang Tingting for assistance during sample collection. We also acknowledge Professor Wang Houjie and Zhang Longjun for sharing the cruises and Professor William C. Burnett and Willard S. Moore for helpful comments. This is MCTL Contribution No.73.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, 238# Songling Road, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Dong Xia, Zhigang Yu, Bochao Xu, Xueyan Jiang & Peng Yao

  2. Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

    Dong Xia & Tiezhu Mi

  3. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

    Zhigang Yu, Bochao Xu & Xueyan Jiang

  4. Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao, China

    Maosheng Gao

Authors
  1. Dong Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhigang Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bochao Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Maosheng Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tiezhu Mi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Xueyan Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Peng Yao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bochao Xu.

Additional information

Communicated by David Reide Corbett

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xia, D., Yu, Z., Xu, B. et al. Variations of Hydrodynamics and Submarine Groundwater Discharge in the Yellow River Estuary Under the Influence of the Water-Sediment Regulation Scheme. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 333–343 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-9994-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-9994-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation