Groundwater Flow in the Ganges Delta. Harvey, C. F. 296(5573):1563.
Groundwater Flow in the Ganges Delta [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
asu et al. (1) reported that 2 × 1011 m3/year of groundwater flows directly into the Bay of Bengal, an outflow equivalent to 19\,% of the discharge from the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system. They showed that this estimate of flow could have important consequences for the interpretation of marine strontium isotope records, because strontium concentrations are higher in Ganges delta groundwater than in Ganges-Brahmaputra river water. The flow could also have implications for the origin and fate of other groundwater constituents in the Ganges delta that could be flushed by such rapid regional flow, such as the dangerously high concentrations of arsenic contaminating millions of drinking water wells (2). Here, I show that the large estimate of regional groundwater flow by Basu et al. is implausible given the extremely flat topography of the Ganges delta, and that the young helium-tritium ratios that they find in groundwater may reflect irrigation pumping rather than basin-scale flow.
@article{harveyGroundwaterFlowGanges2002,
  title = {Groundwater Flow in the {{Ganges}} Delta},
  author = {Harvey, Charles F.},
  date = {2002},
  journaltitle = {Science},
  volume = {296},
  pages = {1563},
  issn = {1095-9203},
  doi = {10.1126/science.296.5573.1563a},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.296.5573.1563a},
  abstract = {asu et al. (1) reported that 2 × 1011 m3/year of groundwater flows directly into the Bay of Bengal, an outflow equivalent to 19\,\% of the discharge from the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system. They showed that this estimate of flow could have important consequences for the interpretation of marine strontium isotope records, because strontium concentrations are higher in Ganges delta groundwater than in Ganges-Brahmaputra river water. The flow could also have implications for the origin and fate of other groundwater constituents in the Ganges delta that could be flushed by such rapid regional flow, such as the dangerously high concentrations of arsenic contaminating millions of drinking water wells (2). Here, I show that the large estimate of regional groundwater flow by Basu et al. is implausible given the extremely flat topography of the Ganges delta, and that the young helium-tritium ratios that they find in groundwater may reflect irrigation pumping rather than basin-scale flow.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14007204,agricultural-resources,groundwater,india,pollution,water-resources},
  number = {5573}
}

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