Modeling the influences of land reclamation on groundwater systems: A case study in Shekou peninsula, Shenzhen, China

a r t i c l e i n f o Land has been reclaimed along the coastal areas in many parts of the world to meet the growing demand for houses and other land use. Over 15 km 2 of land has been reclaimed around the Shekou peninsula, Shenzhen, China. Land reclamation may have significant influences on groundwater systems but this problem has not been adequately studied. Using FEFLOW (Diersch, 2005), a three-dimensional finite element groundwater model, the response of the groundwater system on the impact of land reclamation in the Shekou peninsula from 1983 to 2007 was simulated. The model was calibrated against observed groundwater levels in three observation wells. The results showed that, after reclamation, there was a regional increase of groundwater level in the study area. The groundwater divide between western and eastern coastlines moved during different reclamation stages. The results also showed that, submarine groundwater discharge along the coastlines was increased due to the increase of recharge in the newly reclaimed land. The model predicts change of groundwater level between 2007 and 2025, which demonstrates that the response of the aquifer system to land reclamation is a long lasting process. There will be a further increase in groundwater level and it may take about 10 years for the systems to reach a new equilibrium. It is suggested that the changes of the groundwater flow system due to large-scale land reclamation should be modeled before reclamation to investigate possible engineering and environmental consequences. The Shekou peninsula is located near the border between Hong Kong and the Shenzhen, Guangdong Province on the southeast coast of China (Fig. 1). It has a length of 17 km, and a width varying from 4 to 8 km. Due to rapid economic growth in southern China and trade between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, the economy around the Shekou peninsula has rapidly developed. As a result of the rapid population growth and industry expansion, there has been a great demand for land for new towns and housing. From 1983 to 2005, land has been reclaimed from the sea by dumping various fill materials along the south and east coastline of the Shekou peninsula (Fig. 1). Land reclamation has been a common practice to reduce the increasing housing pressure in coastal areas in many countries It's well recognized that land reclamation will have various adverse effects on marine environment, local ecology, and …