Comment on “Closed-form analytical solutions for assessing the consequences of sea-level rise on groundwater resources in sloping coastal aquifers”: paper published in Hydrogeology Journal (2015) 23:1399–1413, by R. Chesnaux

Excerpt

Recently, the impact of sea-level rise (SLR) on seawater intrusion (SWI) has received considerable attention. The subject article (Chesnaux 2015) used Fetter’s (1972) analytical solution for the steady-state location of seawater in unconfined aquifers beneath oceanic islands to explore changes in water-table height, seawater wedge toe position, groundwater travel time and freshwater volume in sloping-shore coastal unconfined aquifers. A number of limitations to this work associated with the choice of mathematical model and inland boundary condition should be highlighted to avoid misinterpretation of the Chesnaux (2015) results. For example, the case presented by Chesnaux (2015) is specific to the inland boundary conditions, whereas a more generalizable solution is possible by considering alternative inland boundary conceptualisations such as those used in previous studies (e.g. Werner et al. 2012; Ataie-Ashtiani et al. 2013). This Comment article describes these extensional concepts, and highlights conclusions regarding SWI in response to SLR that differ to those obtained by Chesnaux (2015), who considered only a subset of common aquifer conditions. …