General Information and Hydrogeology of the Mediterranean and Dead Sea Coastal Aquifers and Their Relation with Their Base Level

Abstract

Coastal aquifers are a very important water source, as large populations are concentrated in coastal areas around the world, depending on their water as their only source. As a result of an increasing demand along with poor management, over exploitation has led to a decrease in groundwater levels which in turn has resulted in intrusion of seawater and salinization of potable groundwater reservoirs (Melloul and Zeitoun 1999). The location and geometry of the fresh-saline water interface depend on the interplay of many parameters such as recharge versus discharge, production rates, hydraulic gradients, hydraulic conductivity and water density. Determination of seawater intrusion/regression rates was inferred by examining the changes in salinity (Acworth and Dasey 2003; Linderfelt and Turner 2001), chemical composition (Russak et al. 2016; Mercado 1985) or mapping the location of the fresh-saline water interface (Melloul and Zeitoun 1999). Direct determination of the seawater