Geochemical and hydrological processes controlling groundwater salinity of a large inland wetland of northwest Australia

Understanding mechanisms of hydrochemical evolution of groundwater under saline and brine wetlands in arid and semiarid regions is necessary to assess how groundwater extraction or injection in large-scale basins may affect the natural interface between saline–fresh aquifers in those systems. We investigated the evolution of groundwater of the Fortescue Marsh, a large inland wetland of northwest Australia that is mainly supplied by floodwater from the upper Fortescue River catchment. The marsh is located in the Pilbara region, one of the world's major iron ore provinces, where mining activities often occur below water tables. Here, we quantified the stable isotope and chemical composition of groundwater, surface water and rainfall in and around the marsh to better understand how saline marshes and playa lakes function geochemically, hydrologically and ecologically. The deep groundwater (>50m depth) of the Fortescue Marsh is highly saline (>100gL−1), whilst shallow groundwater (~0–20m depth) and surface water are mainly fresh or brackish. Currently, the marsh is mainly recharged by occasional floodwater. Consequently, salt in the marsh is concentrated by evaporation of rainfall. We expected that the hydrochemical composition of surface and groundwater would therefore reflect the chemical composition of rainwater. We analysed 206 water samples for stable isotope composition (δ2H, δ18O) and water chemistry, including: pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS), as well as Na, Ca, Mg, K, Si, Fe, HCO3, SO4, Cl, Sr and Br. We then developed geochemical models and a salt inventory to estimate the geological time of salt accumulation and to decouple geochemical characteristics of salt from modern groundwater. We found that groundwater associated with the marsh can be divided into two distinct groups that are characterised by their stable isotope compositions; i) fresh and brackish groundwater (TDS 10gL−1, δ18O varies from +2.5 to −7.2‰). Fresh groundwater was evaporated by