Coastal aquifer hydrodynamics and salinity in response to the tide: case study in Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

The variability in dynamics and salinity of the coastal alluvial aquifer on which the city of Lisbon is located was evaluated. Such an evaluation was based on the analysis of level and groundwater electrical conductivity fluctuations depending on the tide in the Tagus River. The results obtained made it possible to recognize three sectors. First, a littoral sector where the variations in level and salinity are larger on the coast and decrease towards the innermost sections of the alluvial fan. Second, a sector close to the docks where there is greater dynamic and salinity variability than in the coastal sectors, as the excavations of the docks favour the tidal propagation towards the aquifer. And third, a sector located towards the apex of the alluvial fan associated with the dynamics of the stormwater channel. In this sector, the largest periodical water table fluctuations in the aquifer occur, since the freshwater that cannot drain towards the river enters the aquifer at high tide, causing a slight decrease in salinity content. On the basis of these results, conceptual models of hydrogeological behaviour were used to describe the spatial and temporal variations in the hydrodynamic and salinity characteristics of groundwater.