Eutrophication of marine basins associated with submarine groundwater discharge is currently one of the most important challenges in modern coastal hydrogeology, and is classified as a serious global environmental problem. A particular source of groundwater pollution is agricultural activity, which is commonly carried out in the coastal zone. Research was conducted on a representative part of the Bay of Puck watershed, dominated by agricultural land use. The geological setting of the study area is heterogeneous, which has a significant influence on groundwater flow and occurrence in the multi-aquifer hydrosystem, draining into Puck Bay. The impact of agricultural practices on groundwater and nitrate discharge to the Puck Bay was determined, by an integrated modeling approach, developed using combination of the SWAT, MODFLOW-NWT and MT3DMS codes. Spatial and seasonal variations of the N-NO3 load leached from the soil profile and the infiltration of precipitation are convergent with observed trends in the discharge of groundwater and N-NO3 loads into Puck Bay. The simulations show that 1,355.13 m3/h of groundwater and 1.87 kg/h (16.4 t/year) of N-NO3 load are discharged into Puck Bay from the aquifers analyzed, the majority of which comes from an upper aquifer. The distribution of the values as determined was found to be influenced by agricultural practices, resulting from changes in crop structure, fertilizer management, cultivation methods and grazing.
Authors
Additional information
- Category
- Publikacja w czasopiśmie
- Type
- artykuły w czasopismach
- Language
- polski
- Publication year
- 2024
