COASTAL GROUNDWATER AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL, ECOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING IMPLICATIONS
Coastal hydrogeology has become one of the most important frontier topic areas in groundwater science. This frontier has become particularly important because most of the world’s population now lives within 100 km of coastlines. Coastal groundwater problems involve highly dynamic physical, chemical, and biological interactions between seawater and groundwater. The expanding human presence in coastal areas has dramatically changed the coastal natural environment and created some environmental, ecological, and engineering problems, but at the same time also offered unprecedented opportunities for novel research. This talk will cover some relatively new topics that have emerged in the coastal hydrogeology, including modification of groundwater regime by human activities such as land reclamation and deep foundations, tide-induced airflow and its impact on the stability of coastal structures, submarine groundwater discharge and its contribution to red tides and ocean acidification, and palaeo-hydrogeology and its implication on offshore groundwater reserves.
He obtained his BEng and MEng in Hydrogeology from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK. He worked as Editor (2008-2015) of Hydrogeology Journal and Associate Editor (2002-2008) for Ground Water. He was the 2023 recipient of O.E. Meinzer Award, the Hydrogeology Division, Geological Society of America and the M King Hubbert Award of National Ground Water Association. He was also the 2022 Ineson Lecturer of the London Geological Society. He has published over 230 SCI journal papers and a book on Coastal Hydrogeology (Cambridge University Press, co-authored with Vincent Post).
Additional information: Prof. JIAO, jjiao@hku.hk