Major Ion Characterization of Coastal Saline Ground Waters

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Abstract
The ages and origins of saline ground waters in coastal aquifers can be important indicators of local aquifer flow characteristics. Unfortunately, attempts to classify such waters using established trilinear diagram techniques are frequently inconclusive due largely to the dominance of sodium and chloride ions. In a study of saline ground waters from the Chalk limestone of eastern central England, an alternative, less conventional, dilution diagram procedure is employed which reveals previously unrecognized differences in local major ion chemical character. These differences are interpreted in terms of the origins of the saline ground waters and their histories of mixing. Significantly, the interpretations reinforce and, in some cases, refine earlier interpretations based on notably less extensive minor ion and environmental isotope data. It is concluded that the saline ground waters are associated with at least three periods of saline intrusion during the past 120,000 years.