A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia

The primary source of water on many small islands is the fragile freshwater lens that floats on saline water in its shallow aquifer. The management of such a limited groundwater resource on these islands is seriously constrained by the occurrence of seawater intrusion. Sipadan Island, the renowned a...

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Main Authors: Mohd Harun Abdullah, Sarva Mangala Praveena, Ahmad Zaharin Aris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2010
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/1/01_Md_Yeaminhossain.pdf
id ukm-7368
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-73682016-12-14T06:43:52Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/ A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia Mohd Harun Abdullah, Sarva Mangala Praveena, Ahmad Zaharin Aris, The primary source of water on many small islands is the fragile freshwater lens that floats on saline water in its shallow aquifer. The management of such a limited groundwater resource on these islands is seriously constrained by the occurrence of seawater intrusion. Sipadan Island, the renowned and only oceanic island in Malaysia, had experienced in the over-extraction of its groundwater for more than ten years to cater for freshwater demand associated with tourism activities. This paper discusses the output of modelling of seawater intrusion into the island’s aquifer using SEAWAT-2000. The findings indicated that the island’s coastal aquifer has been encroached by seawater. The infiltration of isochlor (chloride concentration) of 2.5 and 45% of seawater and freshwater mixing ratios has moved 63.4 m and 12.7 m inland from the coastline, respectively. The upconing event at the pumping well, as simulated by the three-dimensional model, showed that 14.5% of seawater-freshwater mixing ratio took place below the bottom of each well. Intensive and unregulated exploitation of groundwater from such an unconfined aquifer of the island by pumping wells contributed to the upconing. In order to protect the fresh groundwater resources in the study area from seawater intrusion, adjustment of groundwater pumping rate is needed. This study showed that the model is useful in demonstrating the mechanism and movement of freshwater-seawater interface in the island, and thus provide a powerful management tool for such an aquifer. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2010-08 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/1/01_Md_Yeaminhossain.pdf Mohd Harun Abdullah, and Sarva Mangala Praveena, and Ahmad Zaharin Aris, (2010) A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia. Sains Malaysiana, 39 (4). pp. 525-532. ISSN 0126-6039 http://www.ukm.my/jsm/english_journals/vol39num4_2010/contentsVol39num4_2010.html
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description The primary source of water on many small islands is the fragile freshwater lens that floats on saline water in its shallow aquifer. The management of such a limited groundwater resource on these islands is seriously constrained by the occurrence of seawater intrusion. Sipadan Island, the renowned and only oceanic island in Malaysia, had experienced in the over-extraction of its groundwater for more than ten years to cater for freshwater demand associated with tourism activities. This paper discusses the output of modelling of seawater intrusion into the island’s aquifer using SEAWAT-2000. The findings indicated that the island’s coastal aquifer has been encroached by seawater. The infiltration of isochlor (chloride concentration) of 2.5 and 45% of seawater and freshwater mixing ratios has moved 63.4 m and 12.7 m inland from the coastline, respectively. The upconing event at the pumping well, as simulated by the three-dimensional model, showed that 14.5% of seawater-freshwater mixing ratio took place below the bottom of each well. Intensive and unregulated exploitation of groundwater from such an unconfined aquifer of the island by pumping wells contributed to the upconing. In order to protect the fresh groundwater resources in the study area from seawater intrusion, adjustment of groundwater pumping rate is needed. This study showed that the model is useful in demonstrating the mechanism and movement of freshwater-seawater interface in the island, and thus provide a powerful management tool for such an aquifer.
format Article
author Mohd Harun Abdullah,
Sarva Mangala Praveena,
Ahmad Zaharin Aris,
spellingShingle Mohd Harun Abdullah,
Sarva Mangala Praveena,
Ahmad Zaharin Aris,
A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
author_facet Mohd Harun Abdullah,
Sarva Mangala Praveena,
Ahmad Zaharin Aris,
author_sort Mohd Harun Abdullah,
title A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
title_short A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
title_full A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
title_fullStr A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed A numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
title_sort numerical modelling of seawater intrusion into an oceanic island aquifer, sipadan island, malaysia
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2010
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7368/1/01_Md_Yeaminhossain.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:49:31Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:49:31Z
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