Hyperfiltration of saline water through clay-rich aquitards: chemical
and isotopic evidence form a vertical profiles in the North China Plain
Abstract
Clay aquitards are semipermeable membranes that allow groundwater flow
while retarding solute migration have been researched extensively but
also subjected to much debate. In this study, we collected clay samples
from drilling cores (30–90m) in the Hengshui area located in the Hebei
Plain, then extracted pore water using a high-pressure squeezing device.
Vertical hydrochemical and isotopic profile variation trends for the
pore water were revealed using hydrochemical (Cl-, Na+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+,
and SO42-) and stable isotopic measurements of H, O, and Cl. The results
showed that the hydrochemical clay interlayer pore water of the saline
aquifer is Cl•SO4-Na•Mg type and the average total dissolved
solids(TDS)is 10.17g/L. The hydrochemical clay aquitard pore water is
of the Cl•SO4-Na•Ca type with an average TDS of 1.9g/L. The
hydrochemical clay interlayer pore water of aquifer II is of Cl-Na•Ca
type with an average TDS of 1.1g/L. Our results showed that the water
quality of the aquifer II is not affected by the upper part of saline
aquifer, thus the clay aquitard acts as a significant barrier to salt
movement. A polarization layer concentrated in ions was formed between
the upper part of saline aquifer and the clay aquitard. The
concentration polarization layer increases the salt-inhibition effect.
Isotpic H, O, and Cl results showed significant fractionation. The pore
water of aquifer II lacked heavy isotopes(D、18O、37Cl), but had
significant heavy isotope enrichment in the concentrated polarized layer
(the δD value was -76‰, the δ18O value was -8.4‰, and the δ37Cl value
was 1.59‰). Hyperfiltration thus played a significant role in isotope
fractionation.