Xiaolang Zhang: 8898 Seminar
Speaker: Xiaolang Zhang, Postdoc
Seminar Title: On the timescale and hydrological impacts for a lake evolving from fresh to saline state.
Abstract: Under a changing climate, many areas of the world are experiencing drier conditions, leading to rising lake salinities where evaporation exceeds precipitation. The salinization time of a lake, or timescale needed to evolve from historically fresh to presently saline state, is important for understanding paleo-hydrology and lacustrine geochemical cycling. Here, the salinization timescale of a representative saline lake in the Badain Jaran Desert, China is quantified. The calculated salinization time of 8,053 ± 169 years is in line with the timescales of 6,300~8,600 years which is based on the 14C dating of freshwater snails. The imbalance between imported solutes via groundwater discharge over the salinization time and their inventories in the present lake water suggest significant solute sinks through mineral deposition and downward intrusion to the lacustrine aquifer. Specifically, sinks of barium, lithium, and strontium have removed ~102-103 times the present-day inventories dissolved in lake water. These findings can guide the exploration of salinization processes in other lakes in similar hydrological and hydrogeological settings.
Host: TBD
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