Sources of elevated salinity in the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer, south-central Louisiana, USA

Abstract Salinization is a process impacting groundwater quality and availability across much of southern Louisiana, USA. However, a broad divergence of opinion exists regarding the causes of this elevated salinity: updip-migrating marine waters from the Gulf of Mexico, saline fluids migrating up fault planes, movement of water from salt domes, and/or remnant seawater from the last major marine transgression. The Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer (MRAA) in south-central Louisiana is recharged by the Mississippi River, and there are discharge zones to the west and east. Recharge waters from the Mississippi River are fresh, but Cl − levels in the western portions of the aquifer are as high as 1000 mg/L. The aquifer is an important source of water for several municipalities and industries, but prior to this study the source(s) of the elevated salinity or whether the salinization can be remediated had not been determined. The low Br/Cl ratios in the groundwaters are consistent with a saline endmember produced by subsurface dissolution of salt domes, not a marine source. The H and O isotopic systematics of the aquifer waters indicate meteoric sources for the H 2 O, not marine waters or diagenetically-altered deep brines. The westward salinization of aquifer water represents a broad regional process, instead of contamination by point sources. Mapping of spatial variations in salinity has permitted the identification of specific salt domes whose subsurface dissolution is producing waters of elevated salinity in the aquifer. These include the Bayou Choctaw and St. Gabriel domes, and possibly the Bayou Blue dome. Salinization is a natural, on-going process, and the potential for remediation or control is slight, if not non-existent.