Estimating the freshwater-lens reserve in the coastal plain of the middle Río de la Plata Estuary (Argentina)

Highlights: • Freshwater source in the Río de la Plata littoral is stored into groundwater lenses. • Freshwater lenses distribution is linked to the litho-morpho-stratigraphic setting. • First information is provided to set a preliminary groundwater management plan. Drinking-water supply is one of the main issues that populations face in many coastlands. Shallow coastal aquifers are often characterized by the presence of lens-shaped freshwater floating on the saline groundwater plume of marine origin. These groundwater lenses are commonly associated with landforms, such as littoral ridges and dunes and in many cases they represent the main source of water supply in remote coastal areas. At the right side of the middle Río de la Plata estuary (Argentina) the aquifer system is generally saline. Elongated and thin sandy beach ridge systems emerging from the general flat morphology of the marsh-flood plain are capable of storing precipitations forming freshwater lenses, which to date are the main freshwater supply for inhabitants. The aim of this study is to identify and delimitate the presence of such valuable freshwater reserves in order to provide the first necessary guidelines for the water management plan in this area, which has never been implemented since, to the Authors' knowledge, no specific investigation had been carried out before this study. To achieve this goal, Vertical Electrical Sounding, groundwater electrical conductivity measurements, water balances and groundwater chemical analyses were performed and interpreted together. The whole dataset was processed to define the electro-stratigraphic model of the study area and to produce the map of the electrical conductivity of the shallow aquifer. In addition, a three-dimensional model of the fresh water reservoir has been implemented for a better understanding of the relationship between geomorphology and groundwater. Results point out that a total freshwater volume of 78,259,700 m³ is stored into a continuous lens and the annual average recharge from precipitation amounts to 6,303,500 m³. Although preliminary, this work provides the basic knowledge on the potential fresh groundwater lenses and provides important information for addressing a sustainable use of the freshwater resource.