linearization of brine density - arnaud-reveillere/SAMBA GitHub Wiki

Salinity, pressure, and temperature all increase with depth in sedimentary basins. Due to the low compressibility of water, the effect of temperature dominates that of pressure, and density therefore decreases with depth for a given constant salinity. Brine density profile therefore typically looks like the left part of the diagram below.

The right part of the figure illustrates the density profile during the leakage, due to replacement of the lifted brine initially filling the leak by the more saline, denser lifting brine coming from the bottom aquifer. The resulting increase in the weight of the fluid filling the leak counters the upwards leakage flow.