Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a hydrological process which commonly occurs in coastal areas.
Both types of water can circulate in marine sediments due to tidal pumping, waves, bottom currents or density driven transport processes.
Including the densities of freshwater (ρf = 1.00 g •cm-3) and seawater (ρs = 1.025 g •cm-3) equation (2) simplifies to: z=40*h Together with Darcy's Law, the length of a salt wedge from the shoreline into the hinterland can be calculated: L= ((ρs-ρf)Kf m)/(ρf Q) With Kf being the hydraulic conductivity, m the aquifer thickness and Q the discharge rate.
In general the interface between fresh and saline water forms a zone of transition due to diffusion/dispersion or local anisotropy.
[11] Lee (1977)[12] designed a seepage meter, which consists of a chamber which is connected to a sampling port and a plastic bag.
According to Schlüter et al. (2004)[13] chloride pore water profiles can be used to investigate submarine groundwater discharge.
Stable isotope ratios in the water molecule may also be used to trace and quantify the sources of a submarine groundwater discharge.