Hydraulic Conductivity Saltwater Freshwater

[A56]

I am working on a project where a salwater marsh and a freshwater marsh are being proposed within a proximate distance from each other. Can someone please elaborate on how to calculate the final hydraulic conductivity of the saltwater portion and the freshwater portion? From the hydraulic gradient, the runoff from the freshwater marsh will feed into the tidal saltwater portion. I would like to know what the resultant hydraulic conductivities for each portion would be. Thanks.

 

[fattdad]

You can measure the hydraulic conductivity in a laboratory. By definition, hydraulic conductivity relates to fresh water (permeability normilized for the unit weight of fresh water). For the permeability of saline water, you'd have to adjust for density.

Choice 2: Just do a pumping test or a slug test and take a direct field measurement. Figure that in the fresh water environment you'd measure the water flow through porus media for fresh water and in the saline environment - for saline water. I'd bet you're talking of some slight variation. The bigger factor in this whole equation is stratification from the varying densities. I bet if you did a perm test in the laboratory using fresh water and then using saline water (standard normailzed ocean water - SNOW) you wouldn't see a great difference. That said, you know that the density effects with respect to layering are a different matter.

Just some initial thoughts. . . .

f-d

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