PhD defence: Kinza Haider

Kinza Haider defends her thesis

Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Submarine Groundwater Discharge to a Coastal Lagoon

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Peter Engesgaard, IGN
Senior Researcher Torben Sonnenborg, GEUS

Assessment committee:
Professor Karsten Høgh Jensen (chairman), IGN
Research Profesor Marco Antonellini, University of Bologna, Italy
Senior Research Scientist Rasmus Jakobsen, GEUS

Abstract (shortened):
The main goal of this PhD study was to understand and estimate the amount of submarine groundwater discharge into the Eastern part of Ringkøbing Fjord in Western Denmark from shallow and deep aquifer systems. In order to accomplish this objective, an existing large-scale airborne geophysical survey and hydrogeological data from the boreholes in the study area in conjunction with historical observations of evolution of salinity in the lagoon was used for large-scale numerical modeling. This data helped locating zones of groundwater discharge, estimating complex salinity distribution under the sediment bed and information about geology under lagoon sediment bed up to Miocene age. The important zone of discharge is present near the shoreline. Here small-scale, dynamic numerical models and field investigation techniques were used to estimate the fresh water component of groundwater discharge from the shallow aquifers. The simulated and observed fresh groundwater discharge was a non-negligible component. Eventually the study suggests that groundwater discharge is an important component in our study area and thus cannot be ignored.

The thesis is available at the PhD administration office 04.1.409.