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1. Prioritizing the Best Potential Regions for Brine Concentration Systems in the USA Using GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05462  

   Caceres Gonzalez, Rodrigo A. ; Hatzell, Marta C. ( June 2023 , Environmental Science & Technology)
2. Subglacial brine flow and wind-induced internal waves in Lake Bonney, Antarctica

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102020000036  

   Lawrence, Jade P. ; Doran, Peter T. ; Winslow, Luke A. ; Priscu, John C. ( June 2020 , Antarctic Science)

   Abstract Brine beneath Taylor Glacier has been proposed to enter the proglacial west lobe of Lake Bonney (WLB) as well as from Blood Falls, a surface discharge point at the Taylor Glacier terminus. The brine strongly influences the geochemistry of the water column of WLB. Year-round measurements from this study are the first to definitively identify brine intrusions from a subglacial entry point into WLB. Furthermore, we excluded input from Blood Falls by focusing on winter dynamics when the absence of an open water moat prevents surface brine entry. Due to the extremely high salinities below the chemocline in WLB, density stratification is dominated by salinity, and temperature can be used as a passive tracer. Cold brine intrusions enter WLB at the glacier face and intrude into the water column at the depth of neutral buoyancy, where they can be identified by anomalously cold temperatures at that depth. High-resolution measurements also reveal under-ice internal waves associated with katabatic wind events, a novel finding that challenges long-held assumptions about the stability of the WLB water column. 

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3. Identifying the source settings of deep brine leakage from CO2 geological repositories using observations from shallow overlying formations

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2023.104505  

   Askar, Ahmad H. ; White, Jeremy T. ; Illangasekare, Tissa H. ( September 2023 , Advances in Water Resources)

   Shallow groundwater resources overlaying deep saline formations used in carbon storage applications are subjected to a potential contamination threat by CO2/brine leakage via natural or anthropogenically-induced conductive pathways in the confining caprock. Identifying the leakage source location and rate is critical for developing remediation plans and designing corrective actions. Owing to limited information about the flow and transport characteristics of deep regimes and high cost of obtaining data on their response to CO2 injection operation, estimating accurate source settings (i.e., location and rate) can be extremely challenging. Under such conditions, Bayesian inverse frameworks become useful tools to help identify potential leakage patterns. This study tests and validates an ensemble-based data-assimilation approach that reduces the uncertainty in the prior knowledge about source settings through conditioning forward transport models using relatively inexpensive easy-to-acquire shallow zone data. The approach incorporates the newly developed ensemble smoother tool in the inversion code “PEST++” with the transport code “FEFLOW” to perform history matching and uncertainty analysis. A novel parameterization method that allows the disposition of potential source was used to search the leakage location during calibration process. In the absence of field data, the approach was validated using experimental data generated in ~8 m long soil tank simulating leakage from storage zone migrating to the shallow aquifer. The results show that source location uncertainty can be reasonably reduced using shallow zone data collected from near-surface aquifers. However, more prior information about the system and deeper data are essential to estimate a practical probability range for the leakage rate. 

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4. Produced water softening using high-pH catholyte from brine electrolysis: reducing chemical transportation and environmental footprints

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101911  

   Khajouei, Golnoosh ; Park, Hoil Il ; Finklea, Harry O. ; Ziemkiewicz, Paul F. ; Peltier, Edward F. ; Lin, Lian-Shin ( April 2021 , Journal of Water Process Engineering)
5. Hydrological and thermodynamic controls on late Holocene gypsum formation by mixing saline groundwater and Dead Sea brine

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2021.10.002  

   Weber, Nurit ; Antler, Gilad ; Lazar, Boaz ; Stein, Mordechai ; Yechieli, Yoseph ; Gavrieli, Ittai ( January 2022 , Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta)