Ion Clusters Reveal the Sources, Impacts, and Drivers of Freshwater Salinization.

ABSTRACT: Population growth, land use change, climate change, and natural resource extraction are driving the salinization of freshwater resources worldwide. Reversing these trends will require data-centric approaches that identify salt sources, environmental drivers, and ecosystem responses. In this study, we applied principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering to identify ion covariance patterns, or "ion clusters," in Broad Run, an urban stream in the Mid-Atlantic United States. These clusters correspond to distinct hydrologic regimes and reveal specific salinization risks: (1) phosphorus pollution mobilized during summer storms (Cluster 1); (2) elevated concentrations of sulfate and bicarbonate during baseflow (Cluster 2), likely reflecting groundwater discharge; and (3) elevated spec

SUBMITTER: Marin DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12269075 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature