Global Subterranean Estuaries Modify Groundwater Nutrient Loading to the Ocean

Authors

• Stephanie J. Wilson, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
• Amy Moody, Environmental Protection Agency
• Tristan McKenzie, University of Gothenburg
• M. Bayani Cardenas, University of Texas at Austin
• Elco Luijendijk, University of Bergen
• Audrey H. Sawyer, Ohio State University
• Alicia Wilson, University of South Carolina
• Holly A. Michael, University of Delaware
• Bochao Xu, Ocean University of China
• Karen L. Knee, American University
• Hyung-Mi Cho, Inha University
• Yishai Weinstein, Bar-Ilan University
• Adina Paytan, University of California at Santa Cruz
• Nils Moosdorf, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research
• Chen-Tung Aurthur Chen, National Sun Yat-Sen University
• Melanie Beck, Carl von Ossietzky Universität
• Cody Lopez, Texas A & M University
• Dorina Murgulet, Texas A & M University
• Guebuem Kim, Seoul National University
• Mathew A. Charette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Hannelore Waska, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM)
• J. Severino P. Ibánhez, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (IIM-CSIC)
• Gwénaëlle Chaillou, University of Quebec
• Till Oehler, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research
• Shin-ichi Onodera, Hiroshima University
• Mitsuyo Saito, Hiroshima University
• Valenti Rodellas, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
• Natasha Dimova, University of Alabama
• Daniel Montiel, University of Alabama
• Henrietta Dulai, University of Hawaii
• Christina Richardson, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Jinzhou Du, East China Normal University
• Eric Petermann, Federal Office For Radiation Protection
• Xiaogang Chen, Westlake University
• Kay L. Davis, Australian Institute of Marine Science
• Sebastien Lamontagne, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
• Ryo Sugimoto, Fukui Prefectural University
• Guizhi Wang, Xiamen University
• Hailong Li, Southern University of Science and Technology
• Américo I. Torres, Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos CCT-CONICET CENPAT
• Cansu Demir, University of Texas at Austin
• Emily Bristol, University of Texas at Austin
• Craig T. Connolly, University of Texas at Austin
• James W. McClelland, University of Texas at Austin
• Brenno J. Silva, Federal University of Pernambuco
• Douglas Tait, Southern Cross University
• BSK Kumar, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
• R. Viswanadham, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
• VVSS Sarma, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
• Emmanoel Silva-Filho, Universidade Federal Fluminense
• Alan Shiller, University of Southern Mississippi
• Alanna Lecher, Lynn University
• Joseph Tamborski, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Henry Bokuniewicz, Stony Brook University
• Carlos Rocha, Trinity College Dublin
• Anja Reckhardt, Carl von Ossietzky Universität
• Michael Ernst Böttcher, Old Dominion University
• Shan Jiang, Federal Office for Radiation Protection
• Laura M. Hernández-Terrones, Universidad del Caribe
• Suresh Babu, Ministry of Earth Sciences
• Beata Szmczycha, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences
• Mahmood Sadat-Noori, University of New South Wales
• Felipe Niencheski, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
• Kimberly Null, Moss Landing Marine Labs
• Craig Tobias, University of Connecticut
• Bongkeun Song, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• Iris C. Anderson, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
• Isaac R. Santos, Southern Cross University

ORCID

0000-0003-2422-3252 (Tamborski), 0000-0002-8877-0303 (Böttcher)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

DOI

10.1002/lol2.10390

Publication Title

Limnology and Oceanography Letters

Volume

9

Issue

4

Pages

411-422

Abstract

Terrestrial groundwater travels through subterranean estuaries before reaching the sea. Groundwater-derived nutrients drive coastal water quality, primary production, and eutrophication. We determined how dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) are transformed within subterranean estuaries and estimated submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) nutrient loads compiling > 10,000 groundwater samples from 216 sites worldwide. Nutrients exhibited complex, nonconservative behavior in subterranean estuaries. Fresh groundwater DIN and DIP are usually produced, and DON is consumed during transport. Median total SGD (saline and fresh) fluxes globally were 5.4, 2.6, and 0.18 Tmol yr⁻¹ for DIN, DON, and DIP, respectively. Despite large natural variability, total SGD fluxes likely exceed global riverine nutrient export. Fresh SGD is a small source of new nutrients, but saline SGD is an important source of mostly recycled nutrients. Nutrients exported via SGD via subterranean estuaries are critical to coastal biogeochemistry and a significant nutrient source to the oceans.

Rights

© 2024 The Authors.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Data Availability

Article states: "The data used for this meta-analysis, including all raw data used and characteristics determined for each site, have beensubmitted to the Pangaea data repository (https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.955032). The data have also been published as an open-accessShiny App, which allows for interactive visualization and exploration of data by site or variable (https://marineresearch.shinyapps.io/Gobal_STE_Nutrients/).Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article."

Original Publication Citation

Wilson, S. J., Moody, A., McKenzie, T., Cardenas, M. B., Luijendijk, E., Sawyer, A. H., Wilson, A., Michael, H. A., Xu, B. C., Knee, K. L., Cho, H. M., Weinstein, Y., Paytan, A., Moosdorf, N., Chen, C. T. A., Beck, M., Lopez, C., Murgulet, D., Kim, G., . . . Santos, I. R. (2024). Global subterranean estuaries modify groundwater nutrient loading to the ocean. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 9(4), 411-422. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10390

Repository Citation

Wilson, Stephanie J.; Moody, Amy; McKenzie, Tristan; Bayani Cardenas, M.; Luijendijk, Elco; Sawyer, Audrey H.; Wilson, Alicia; Michael, Holly A.; Xu, Bochao; Knee, Karen L.; Cho, Hyung-Mi; Weinstein, Yishai; Paytan, Adina; Moosdorf, Nils; Aurthur Chen, Chen-Tung; Beck, Melanie; Lopez, Cody; Murgulet, Dorina; Kim, Guebuem; Charette, Mathew A.; Waska, Hannelore; Ibánhez, J. Severino P.; Chaillou, Gwénaëlle; Oehler, Till; Onodera, Shin-ichi; Saito, Mitsuyo; Rodellas, Valenti; Dimova, Natasha; Montiel, Daniel; Dulai, Henrietta; Richardson, Christina; Du, Jinzhou; Petermann, Eric; Chen, Xiaogang; Davis, Kay L.; Lamontagne, Sebastien; Sugimoto, Ryo; Wang, Guizhi; Li, Hailong; Torres, Américo I.; Demir, Cansu; Bristol, Emily; Connolly, Craig T.; McClelland, James W.; Silva, Brenno J.; Tait, Douglas; Kumar, BSK; Viswanadham, R.; Sarma, VVSS; Silva-Filho, Emmanoel; Shiller, Alan; Lecher, Alanna; Tamborski, Joseph; Bokuniewicz, Henry; Rocha, Carlos; Reckhardt, Anja; Böttcher, Michael Ernst; Jiang, Shan; Hernández-Terrones, Laura M.; Babu, Suresh; Szmczycha, Beata; Sadat-Noori, Mahmood; Niencheski, Felipe; Null, Kimberly; Tobias, Craig; Song, Bongkeun; Anderson, Iris C.; and Santos, Isaac R., "Global Subterranean Estuaries Modify Groundwater Nutrient Loading to the Ocean" (2024). OES Faculty Publications. 515.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/515