The role of clay membranes in protecting deep groundwater from salinization

A solute transport model incorporating clay membrane effects was developed for leaky aquifer systems, addressing the long-standing discrepancy between predicted and observed saltwater intrusion in the North China Plain. This work was conducted by a research group (led by Xianmeng Meng) at the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and published in Hydrogeology Journal https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-026-03022-5. The model couples hydraulic and solute concentration gradients as dual driving forces, with membrane effects integrated into both advection and dispersion terms. Simulations reveal that the membrane effect substantially retards vertical solute migration through the aquitard, with retardation amplified by higher chemico-osmotic efficiency coefficients and higher solute concentrations in the overlying phreatic aquifer. This study provides a physically based framework for evaluating aquitard sealing capacity and assessing deep groundwater vulnerability to salinization.

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