Coastal managers are increasingly faced with the challenge of disposing of stranded whale carcasses on beaches. Direct burial in the beach is often used as a cost effective method of disposal. However, whale burial management plans are often met with public resistance owing to the perceived risk of shark attraction to burial leachate that may discharge from the seabed. A reactive transport model was combined with a numerical variable-density groundwater flow model to assess buried whale leachate plume formation, transport, influence on beach aquifer reactivity, and discharge to coastal surface water for a range of burial setback distances, depths, and whale sizes. A second set of simulations was performed to evaluate aquifer nitrate removal efficiencies for a range of buried wrack scenarios and to evaluate the role of organic carbon source on beach reactivity. A sensitivity analysis was performed for both sets of models across ten physical and reaction parameters. Simulations using the best estimate parameter set showed that whale burials can produce DOC and ammonium leachate plumes in the beach aquifer that are transported to and discharge near the low tide line in water depths of 0.4–2.4 m. DOC and ammonium concentrations in discharging whale leachate were1.6 and 26 times higher than typical surf zone concentrations, respectively. Of the factors tested, the burial distance inland from the high tide line was the most important factor affecting leachate fluxes to surface water. Burials placed farther inland led to smaller DOC fluxes to surface water, but increased ammonium fluxes. Burial depth also affected whale leachate to the subtidal zone, with deeper burials resulting in smaller fluxes of DOC. Leached DOC from whale decomposition and from buried wrack can fuel denitrification hotspots within beach sediments. The sensitivity analysis showed that nitrate removal supported by buried wrack and whale leachate fluxes are highly dependent on beach properties, hydrologic forcing, and reaction parameters. The wrack model results have implications for beach scraping and the whale burial models show that whale leachate can be delivered to the shallow subtidal zone via groundwater discharge pathways, with potential implications for shark attraction and whale burial management practices.

沿海管理者越来越面临在海滩上处置滞留鲸鱼尸体的挑战。在海滩上直接埋葬通常被用作一种经济有效的处置方法。但是，鲸鲨的埋葬管理计划常常遭到公众的抵制，原因是人们认为鲨鱼会吸引可能从海底排放的埋藏渗滤液的风险。将反应性运输模型与数值可变密度地下水流模型相结合，以评估埋藏鲸鱼倒塌距离，深度和鲸鱼大小的范围内埋入鲸鱼渗滤液羽流的形成，运输，对海滩含水层反应性的影响以及向沿海地表水的排放。 。进行了第二组模拟，以评估一系列掩埋沉船情景下的含水层硝酸盐去除效率，并评估有机碳源对海滩反应性的作用。对两组模型进行了十个物理和反应参数的敏感性分析。使用最佳估计参数集进行的模拟显示，鲸鱼的埋葬会在海滩含水层中产生DOC和渗滤液铵羽，这些羽会被运送到0.4-2.4 m的低潮线附近并在附近退潮。鲸鱼沥出液中的DOC和铵浓度分别比典型的冲浪区浓度高1.6倍和26倍。在测试的因素中，高潮线向内陆的埋葬距离是影响渗滤液向地表水通量的最重要因素。埋葬在更内陆的埋葬导致通向地表水的DOC通量较小，但铵通量增加。埋藏深度也影响到潮下带的鲸鱼渗滤液，埋藏深度越深，DOC的通量就越小。鲸鱼分解和沉船残渣中溶出的DOC可以为海滩沉积物中的反硝化热点提供燃料。敏感性分析表明，掩埋残骸和鲸鱼沥滤液通量支持的硝态氮去除高度依赖于海滩性质，水文强迫和反应参数。残骸模型的结果对海滩刮刮有影响，而鲸鱼的埋葬模型表明鲸鱼渗滤液可通过地下水排放途径输送到浅潮下带，这对吸引鲨鱼和鲸鱼的埋葬管理有潜在的影响。