Groundwater–surface water exchange at a New England salt marsh: The interplay between tidal pumping at multiple frequencies and terrestrial groundwater discharge

Abstract

Groundwater–surface water exchange plays a fundamental role in the transport of energy and solutes in coastal salt marshes, which are positioned at an intersection between terrestrial and marine hydrologic environments. Hydraulic gradients in shallow marsh sediments continuously change due to tidal water level variations that alternately flood and drain the marsh platform, often superimposed on terrestrial groundwater drainage. We use timeseries data from Vertical Temperature Profiler and Conductivity-Temperature-Depth instruments to investigate the space–time patterns of groundwater–surface water exchange at a hillslope-adjacent fringing salt marsh on the Herring River in Wellfleet, MA. Analyses of data acquired from September to December 2023 demonstrate that time-averaged exchange rates systematically vary from recharge near the tidal channel to saline groundwater discharge towards the upland fringe and systematically decrease during the transition from summer to winter conditions. Exchange rates were continuously modulated by tides, including high-frequency compound and harmonic components generated by non-linear interactions as the astronomical tide propagated into the estuary. The exchange rate sensitivity to tidal forcing decreased with both frequency and distance from the tidal channel, consistent with the lateral diffusion of pore pressure perturbations through the high permeability layer underlying the surficial, low permeability peat. We find that tidal loading of the marsh sediments is a two-stage process consisting of direct, instantaneous loading during inundation and indirect, time delayed loading via lateral diffusion of pore pressure variations in-between inundation intervals. The combination of terrestrial groundwater entering the marsh through the high permeability layer beneath the peat, seawater flooding the marsh platform during inundation, and tidally induced pore pressure variations diffusing into the marsh generates a complex space–time exchange pattern, including bi-directional exchange at tidal periods, with poorly understood but important implications for biogeochemical processes in the marsh sediments and constituent fluxes to the coastal ocean.