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The Response of Playa and Sabkha Hydraulics and Mineralogy to Climate Forcing
Author(s) -
Tyler Scott W.,
Muñoz José F.,
Wood Warren W.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2005.00096.x
Subject(s) - groundwater recharge , water table , sabkha , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater , forcing (mathematics) , evaporation , water level , evapotranspiration , environmental science , geomorphology , atmospheric sciences , geotechnical engineering , facies , aquifer , ecology , meteorology , physics , cartography , structural basin , geography , biology
Dry playa lakes and sabkhat often represent the terminus of large ground water flow systems and act as integrators of both upgradient (recharge) and downgradient discharge (evaporation). Ground water levels beneath playa/sabkha systems show a variety of surprising responses driven by large evaporation demands and chemical processes not typically encountered in more humid regions. When the water table is very close to the land surface, almost instantaneous rises can be observed with little observed change in either upgradient ground water recharge or potential evaporation. Conversely, when water tables are several meters below the playa surface, water table responses to interannual variability of recharge can be damped and lag significantly behind such changes. This review of the dynamics of shallow water tables in playa lakes and sabkhat discusses the pertinent hydraulic and solute processes and extracts a simple but comprehensive model based on soil physics for predicting the water table response to either upstream recharge changes or changes in potential evaporation at the playa/sabkha. Solutes and associated authigenic minerals are also shown to be important in discriminating both the causes and effects of water level fluctuations.