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Hawaii's Fresh Water Leaks to the Ocean Through Underground Rivers (archive)

There are few things on the island of Hawaii that are more valuable than fresh water. This is not because the island is dry. There is plenty of rain. The trouble is that there is tremendous demand for this water and much of it that does accumulate on the island's surface disappears before it can be used.

New research by marine geophysicists reveals that underground rivers running off the large island's western coast are a key force behind this vanishing act.

[...] Ocean water conducts electricity exceptionally well because of the presence of dissolved salt ions. By comparison, fresh water is a rather poor conductor. Aware of these different electrical properties, [Eric Attias, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii,] worked with a team at Scripps Institute of Oceanography to tow a 3,200-foot long system behind a boat that emitted electromagnetic fields down through the submerged coastal rocks near Hualalai volcano on the west coast.

Dr. Attias' work shows that within the rock of the island below the waves, there are underground rivers of fresh water flowing 2-½ miles out into the ocean. These rivers are flowing through fractured volcanic rock and surrounded by porous rocks that are saturated with salt water. Between all of this salt water and the flowing fresh water are thin layers of rock formed from compacted ash and soil that appear to be impermeable and thus keeping the two types of water separated. In total, these rivers appear to contain enough fresh water to fill about 1.4 million Olympic swimming pools.

Marine electrical imaging reveals novel freshwater transport mechanism in Hawai'i (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4866) (DX)

Original Submission