Groundwater deeper than 500 m contributes less than 0.1% of global river discharge

Grant Ferguson; Jennifer C. McIntosh; Scott Jasechko; Ji-Hyun Kim; James S. Famiglietti; Jeffrey J. McDonnell

doi:10.1038/s43247-023-00697-6

Communications Earth & Environment (Feb 2023)

Groundwater deeper than 500 m contributes less than 0.1% of global river discharge

Grant Ferguson,
Jennifer C. McIntosh,
Scott Jasechko,
Ji-Hyun Kim,
James S. Famiglietti,
Jeffrey J. McDonnell

Affiliations

Grant Ferguson: Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan
Jennifer C. McIntosh: Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan
Scott Jasechko: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California
Ji-Hyun Kim: Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary
James S. Famiglietti: School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan
Jeffrey J. McDonnell: School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00697-6
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

Read online

At depths of over 500 m, deep groundwater has long residence times and likely contributes less than 0.1% to global streamflow and only sporadically connects with the surface terrestrial water cycle on geological timescales, according to estimates derived from the chloride mass balance approach.

Published in Communications Earth & Environment

ISSN: 2662-4435 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Geology; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation: Environmental sciences
Website: https://www.nature.com/commsenv/

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