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1. Salinization of inland waters

   https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-99762-1.00042-5  

   Kaushal, Sujay S; Mayer, Paul M; Shatkay, Ruth R; Maas, Carly M; Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel; Hintz, William D; Wessel, Barret M; Tully, Katherine; Rippy, Megan A; Grant, Stanley B (January 2025, Elsevier)
2. Reversing Freshwater Salinization: A Holistic Approach

   Grant, S.B. (January 2021, Advances in water research)

   Inland freshwater salinity is rising globally, a trend that threatens water and food supplies, civil infrastructure, and freshwater ecosystems. 

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3. Impact of salinization on lake stratification and spring mixing

   https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10215  

   Ladwig, Robert; Rock, Linnea A.; Dugan, Hilary A. (October 2021, Limnology and Oceanography Letters)

   Anthropogenic freshwater salinization affects thousands of lakes worldwide, and yet little is known about how salt loading may shift timing of lake stratification and spring mixing in dimictic lakes. Here, we investigate the impact of salinization on mixing in Lakes Mendota and Monona, Wisconsin, by deploying under-ice buoys to record salinity gradients, using an analytical approach to quantify salinity thresholds that prevent spring mixing, and running an ensemble of vertical one-dimensional hydrodynamic lake models (GLM, GOTM, and Simstrat) to investigate the long-term impact of winter salt loading on mixing and stratification. We found that spring salinity gradients between surface and bottom waters persist up to a month after ice-off, and that theory predicts a salinity gradient of 1.3–1.4 g kg-1 would prevent spring mixing. Numerical models project that salt loading delays spring mixing and increases water column stability, with ramifications for oxygenation of bottom waters, biogeochemistry, and lake habitability. 

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4. The slow and steady salinization of Sparkling Lake, Wisconsin

   https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10191  

   Dugan, Hilary A.; Rock, Linnea A. (April 2021, Limnology and Oceanography Letters)

   The concentrations of conservative solutes in seepage lakes are determined by the relative inputs of precipitation vs. groundwater. In areas of road salt application, seepage lakes may be at high risk of salinization depending on groundwater flow. Here, we revisit a 1992 analysis on the salinization of Sparkling Lake, a deep seepage lake in Northern Wisconsin. The original analysis predicted a rapid increase in chloride concentrations before reaching a steady steady of 8 mg L⁻¹by 2020. Forty years of monitoring Sparkling Lake show that rather than reaching a dynamic equilibrium, chloride concentrations have steadily increased. We update the original box model approach by adding a soil reservoir component that shows the slow steady rise in chloride is the result of terrestrial retention. For freshwater rivers and lakes, chloride retention on the landscape will both delay chloride impairment and prolong recovery and must be considered when modeling future chloride contamination risk. 

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5. Feedbacks Regulating the Salinization of Coastal Landscapes

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-070924-031447  

   Kirwan, Matthew L; Michael, Holly A; Gedan, Keryn B; Tully, Katherine L; Fagherazzi, Sergio; McDowell, Nate G; Molino, Grace D; Pratt, Dannielle; Reay, William G; Stotts, Stephanie (January 2025, Annual Review of Marine Science)

   The impact of saltwater intrusion on coastal forests and farmland is typically understood as sea-level-driven inundation of a static terrestrial landscape, where ecosystems neither adapt to nor influence saltwater intrusion. Yet recent observations of tree mortality and reduced crop yields have inspired new process-based research into the hydrologic, geomorphic, biotic, and anthropogenic mechanisms involved. We review several negative feedbacks that help stabilize ecosystems in the early stages of salinity stress (e.g., reduced water use and resource competition in surviving trees, soil accretion, and farmland management). However, processes that reduce salinity are often accompanied by increases in hypoxia and other changes that may amplify saltwater intrusion and vegetation shifts after a threshold is exceeded (e.g., subsidence following tree root mortality). This conceptual framework helps explain observed rates of vegetation change that are less than predicted for a static landscape while recognizing the inevitability of large-scale change. 

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