Seminar

Offshore freshened groundwater (OFG) is water stored in pores of sediments and fractures of rocks in the sub-seafloor with total dissolved solids (TDS) below that of seawater. The available evidence suggests that the estimated global occurrence of vast OFG reservoirs may be used as an alternative resource to alleviate the water crisis in coastal cities. This study will make the first attempt to investigate the occurrence and evolution of the offshore groundwater in the areas from the Pearl River Estuary to adjacent continental shelf in the South China Sea and its implication on water resources for coastal cities and environmental issues. The offshore Quaternary boreholes, controlled-source electromagnetic profiles, together with a large sum of piston gravity cores will be obtained, and the high-resolution analysis of hydro-geochemical, isotopes and hydraulic parameters from the porewater and sediment of the cores will be performed. Besides, two- and three-dimensional groundwater flow models will be constructed by considering the influences of marine topography, offshore aquifer system heterogeneity, and density difference to investigate the influence of paleo-climate sea level dynamics such as marine transgression/regression, variable precipitation on the occurrence and evolution of offshore groundwater system.

Additional information: Mr. Chong SHENG, chongsh@connect.hku.hk