Large scale submarine groundwater discharge dominates nutrient inputs to China’s coast
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a nutrient source to coastal waters. However, most SGD estimates are restricted to a local scale and hardly distinguish contributions from fresh (FSGD) and recirculated (RSGD) SGD. Here, we compiled data on radium/radon of groundwater (n ~ 2000) and seawater (n ~ 10,000) samples along ~18,000 km of China's coastal seas to resolve large scale FSGD and RSGD and their associated nutrient loads. Nearshore-scale FSGD ( ~ 3.56 × 10<sup>8</sup> m<sup>3</sup> d<sup>-1</sup>) was only 2% of the total SGD but comparable to RSGD in terms of nutrient loads. Despite large uncertainties quantified via Monte Carlo simulations, SGD was a dominant contributor to China's coastal nutrient budgets, with dissolved inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus and silicate fluxes of ~395, 2.9, and 581 Gmol a<sup>-1</sup>, respectively. Total SGD accounted for 19-54% of nutrient inputs, exceeding inputs from atmospheric deposition and rivers. Overall, SGD helps sustaining primary production along one of the most human-impacted marginal seas on Earth.
Authors
- Hyung‐Mi Cho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6829-4573)
- Dongyan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3606-9846)
- Ergang Lian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8155-6462)
- Xiaogang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4329-0530)
- William C. Burnett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9521-5172)
- M. Bayani Cardenas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6270-3105)
- Kai Xiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6353-4822)
- Guangquan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2531-3092)
- Isaac R. Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0524-842X)
- Tianyi Zhu
- Bochao Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5069-3824)
- Yan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6488-5563)
- Sumei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0713-8152)
- Zhigang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1931-810X)
- Lixin Yi
- Ziliang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3821-8999)
- Shibin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5143-8481)
- Huaming Yu
Institutions
- Florida State University (US)
- Tongji University (CN)
- Inha University (KR)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment (CN)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN)
- Westlake University (CN)
- Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (CN)
- Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
- First Institute of Oceanography (CN)
- Ocean University of China (CN)
- East China Normal University (CN)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-03-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58103-y
- Citations
- 26
- Primary Topic
- Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 34.74