GALDIT Modification for Seasonal Seawater Intrusion Mapping Using Multi Criteria Decision Making Methods

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 14; p. 2258
• Main Authors: Yang, Jeong-Seok, Jeong, Yong-Wook, Agossou, Amos, Sohn, Jin-Sik, Lee, Jae-Boem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Analysis; Anthropogenic factors; Aquifers; Chemical analysis; Climate change; Climatic changes; Coastal aquifers; Coastal zone; Contamination; Correlation; Decision making; Dissolved solids; Entropy (Information theory); GALDIT; Geology; Groundwater; Groundwater levels; Human influences; Hydraulics; Mapping; Methods; Parameter modification; Ratings & rankings; Research methodology; Reservoirs; Saline water intrusion; Salt water intrusion; Sea level; Sea-water; Seasons; Seawater; Sensitivity analysis; Shannon’s entropy theory; SWI; TDS; TOPSIS; Water analysis; Water, Underground; Benin; South Korea
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w14142258

Recently, coastal aquifers have been found to be increasingly exposed to seawater intrusion (SWI) due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Various method exists for coastal aquifer vulnerability mapping and the one most commonly used is GALDIT because of its simplicity. The present study modified the original GALDIT ratings and weights using Shannon’s entropy theory to study the seasonal vulnerability of coastal aquifer in the coastal region of Benin, West Africa. Thus, the monthly GALDIT index for the study region was computed using 5 years of (2015–2019) average data of GALDIT dynamic input parameters. The original and modified GALDIT approaches were validated using total dissolved solid (TDS) concentration. Pearson’s correlation and Spearman coefficient correlations were calculated, and generally the modification of the GALDIT parameters’ relative weight using entropy has improved the method as this gave a better correlation with TDS concentration (0.739). From the calculated monthly GALDIT index, the most vulnerable period was identified using TOPSIS method. Based on TOPSIS results, the coastal aquifer of Benin is more vulnerable to seawater intrusion in February due to the decrease of groundwater level in that period and less vulnerable in July. The performed sensitivity analysis showed that height of groundwater level above the mean sea level, distance from shore, and thickness of the saturated aquifer have the most influence in vulnerability to SWI assessment in the study area.