Hurricane Ingrid and Tropical Storm Hanna’s effects on the salinity of the coastal aquifer, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Hydrologic Controls of Methane Dynamics in Karst Subterranean Estuaries

“…Wavelet and correlation analyses of the meteorology, hydrology, and water chemistry reveal that precipitation‐induced effects in the groundwater hydrology facilitate mixing, transport, and consumption of methane. Water level leading flow velocity and positive relationships between tidal change and precipitation are well‐known characteristics of unconfined carbonate aquifers (Beddows et al, ; Kovacs et al, ; Menning et al, ; Moore et al, ) that also occur in the KSE we investigated (Figures and S3 and S4). For example, wavelet coherence between rainfall and water velocity indicates that precipitation positively affects flow velocity for 1–4 days during small rainfall events and for up to 21 days during high‐frequency, high‐intensity precipitation events (Figure ).…”

“…Slightly higher BW salinity in the wet season than in the dry season (Table ) and exceptionally elevated BW salinity measurements following frequent rainfalls in late October (Figure a) support the idea that salinity in the BW increases after rain‐induced hydrological changes. This effect is a result of greater shear at the deeper halocline between the dynamic meteoric lens (with increased flow) and the more stagnant saline groundwater (Coutino et al, ; Kovacs et al, ). However, the fact that the BW‐SG halocline (H2) was always stable during the sampling period (Figure ; Ri < 0.25 for H2 is outside of parameter space) suggests mixing between the BW and SG primarily occurs upstream of the sampling station under a different mixing regime within caves or perhaps at cenotes containing saline groundwater (Coutino et al, ).…”

“…The analysis was performed following the methods described by Grinsted et al (). Cross wavelet transforms of two time series identify common power in time‐frequency space, allowing for a mechanistic link between processes (Grinsted et al, ) and have been useful for identifying hydrologic mixing mechanisms and their temporal extent in unconfined aquifers within the Yucatan coastal platform (Coutino et al, ; Kovacs et al, ). Coherence between continuous wavelet transforms are more informative than standard lagged correlation analyses because they account for dynamic variations in time‐frequency space.…”

“…For example, oxygen enters the aquifer through point recharge of meteoric water (Ford & Williams, ), while the tidal‐pumping of coastal seawater (Beddows et al, ; Martin et al, ) introduces dissolved oxygen and sulfate that are respectively available for aerobic and anaerobic microbes (Socki et al, ). Seasonal precipitation patterns and extreme meteorological events (e.g., hurricanes) can alter the physical distribution and mixing of material within the caves (Coutino et al, ; Kovacs et al, ) with corresponding effects on the cave ecology and transformation of material expelled into the coastal ocean.…”

Multistage 8.2 kyr event revealed through high‐resolution XRF core scanning of Cuban sinkhole sediments

“…There is little data on groundwater hydrology for the area, but water chemistry measurements indicate that the water column is highly stratified like in other anchialine settings (e.g., the Yucatan; see Kovacs et al . [] for general description; supporting information Figure S1). The surface has near neutral pH and a salinity of ~12.5‰.…”