TY - JOUR
T1 - A multi-isotopic evaluation of groundwater in a rapidly developing area and implications for water management in hyper-arid regions
AU - Gómez-Alday, Juan José
AU - Hussein, Saber
AU - Arman, Hasan
AU - Alshamsi, Dalal
AU - Murad, Ahmed
AU - Elhaj, Khalid
AU - Aldahan, Ala
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the funding by the United Arab Emirates University , Research Affairs, project 31S252-UPAR 2016 program and project 31R192-UPAR 2018 program and by the FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades-Agencia Estatal de Investigación / CICYT-CGL2017-87216-C4-2-R from the Spanish government, as well as SBPLY/17/180501/000296L from the Castilla–La Mancha Regional government .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/1/20
Y1 - 2022/1/20
N2 - Management of water resources in hyper-arid areas faces vital challenges in a global climate change context. Consequently, understanding the effects on groundwater sources can help mitigating the problem of water scarcity and the negative impact of human intervention on the environment. A case study area in the hyper-arid climate of the United Arab Emirates, was tackled here with the focus on applying stable isotopes as tools for evaluating groundwater sources and quality assessment. The results of major ions indicate variable increase in groundwater salinity moving away from Al Hajar Mountains recharge areas to the discharge areas (Arabian Gulf coast). The data of stable isotopes (δ18OH2O, δ2HH2O, δ18ONO3, δ15NNO3, δ18OSO4, δ34SSO4, δ11B) suggest impact of paleo-groundwater in the abstractions of the wells nearest to the coast. Nitrate isotopes indicate farming activities sources that can be masked due to the contribution from the nitrate-poor paleo-groundwater. Nitrate reduction processes are expected near to the recharge front. Sulphate and boron isotopes further suggest that influence of ancient evaporite dissolution in salinization. Management efforts should be focused on the diffuse sources of quality mitigations that can be vital in fingerprinting local and regional (transboundary) effects.
AB - Management of water resources in hyper-arid areas faces vital challenges in a global climate change context. Consequently, understanding the effects on groundwater sources can help mitigating the problem of water scarcity and the negative impact of human intervention on the environment. A case study area in the hyper-arid climate of the United Arab Emirates, was tackled here with the focus on applying stable isotopes as tools for evaluating groundwater sources and quality assessment. The results of major ions indicate variable increase in groundwater salinity moving away from Al Hajar Mountains recharge areas to the discharge areas (Arabian Gulf coast). The data of stable isotopes (δ18OH2O, δ2HH2O, δ18ONO3, δ15NNO3, δ18OSO4, δ34SSO4, δ11B) suggest impact of paleo-groundwater in the abstractions of the wells nearest to the coast. Nitrate isotopes indicate farming activities sources that can be masked due to the contribution from the nitrate-poor paleo-groundwater. Nitrate reduction processes are expected near to the recharge front. Sulphate and boron isotopes further suggest that influence of ancient evaporite dissolution in salinization. Management efforts should be focused on the diffuse sources of quality mitigations that can be vital in fingerprinting local and regional (transboundary) effects.
KW - Arid climate
KW - Groundwater pollution
KW - Nitrate
KW - Salinization
KW - Stable isotopes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114773995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85114773995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150245
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150245
M3 - Article
C2 - 34534868
AN - SCOPUS:85114773995
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 805
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 150245
ER -