Submarine groundwater discharge data at meter scale (223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra, 228Ra and 222Rn) in Indian River Bay (Delaware, US)

Carlos Duque; Karen L Knee; Christopher J Russoniello; Mahmoud Sherif; Usama A Abu Risha; Neil C Sturchio; Holly A Michael

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2019.104728

Submarine groundwater discharge data at meter scale (²²³Ra, ²²⁴Ra, ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra and ²²²Rn) in Indian River Bay (Delaware, US)

Data Brief. 2019 Oct 28:27:104728. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2019.104728. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Authors

Carlos Duque^{1

2}, Karen L Knee³, Christopher J Russoniello^{2

4}, Mahmoud Sherif^{2

5}, Usama A Abu Risha⁶, Neil C Sturchio², Holly A Michael^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ WATEC, Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
² Department of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
³ Department of Environmental Science, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
⁵ Department of Geology, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
⁶ Geology Department, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.

Abstract

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) was sampled at high-spatial resolution in Indian River Bay, DE, USA, in July 2016 to characterize the spatial variability of the activity of the radium and radon isotopes commonly used to estimate SGD. These data were part of an investigation into the methods and challenges of characterizing SGD rates and variability, especially in the coastal aquifer transition from freshwater to saltwater (Hydrogeological processes and near shore spatial variability of radium and radon isotopes for the characterization of submarine groundwater discharge (Duque et al., 2019)). Samples were collected with seepage meters and minipiezometers to obtain sufficient volumes for analytical characterization. Seepage meter samples (for ²²³Ra, ²²⁴Ra, ²²⁶Ra, and ²²⁸Ra) were collected at two-hour intervals over a semi-diurnal tidal cycle from 30 seepage meters. Samples for ²²²Rn characterization were collected with a minipiezometer from 25 cm below the bay bed at each seepage meter location. All samples were analyzed with standard and state of the art procedures.

Keywords: Coastal groundwater; Indian River bay, DE, USA; Radioactive tracers; Radium (Ra); Radon (Rn); Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD).