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An Analysis of Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers

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Seawater intrusion is defined as the movement of seawater into freshwater aquifers which are generally made of ground water near the coast. An interface or dispersion zone is the area where fresh water and seawater meet. Analytical models and numerical models as well as Mathematical methods are used to find or to investigate solutions to this, as the seawater contaminates the fresh drinking water. The aim of this essay is to give an account of two modelling approaches that describe what happens at the interface by discussing the models. As well as to discuss how tides may have an impact on seawater intrusion. Ataie-Ashtiani, Volker and Lockington(1999:17) suggested that there is a direct relationship between the area of the dispersion, the scale, the shape, the degree of the dispersion area, and parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, the comparative densities of the salt and fresh water as well as the rate of discharge of the ground water. There is limited accuracy to the usage of the models as the models are limited by assuming various situations. Altaie-Ashtiani et al (1999:18) gestates the rare occurrence of salt-water intrusion in ground water in two ways: the sharp-interface approach and the disperse interface approach. The sharp-interface approach is the approach in which it should be assumed that the salt water and fresh water are immiscible fluids which are separated by a sharp interface. This approach includes the diffusion and the effects of the hydrodynamic
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