Ground water plays an important role in water supply and the ecology of arid to semiarid areas such as Northwest China, where the landscape is fragile due to frequent drought in the past few decades. This paper discusses the role of ground water in these ecosystems, including the effect of condensation water and water table depth on the growth of plants and degree of soil salinity. The paper also discusses the controlling process for land desertification and soil salinization in Northwest China. Water table depth is a key factor controlling the water balance, ground water flow, and salt transport in the vadose zone. The suitable water table depth for vegetation growth, which can prevent land desertification and soil salinization, is within a range of 2 to 4 m; the optimal depth is approximately 3 m. As examples, changes in ecosystems owing to water resources development in Tarim and Manas basins, Xinjiang, China, are discussed.
The spatio-temporal variations of soil gas in the seismic fault zone produced by the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake were investigated based on the field measurements of soil gas concentrations after the main shock. Concentrations of He, H2, CO2, CH4, O2, N2, Rn, and Hg in soil gas were measured in the field at eight short profiles across the seismic rupture zone in June and December 2008 and July 2009. Soil-gas concentrations of more than 800 sampling sites were obtained. The data showed that the magnitudes of the He and H2 anomalies of three surveys declined significantly with decreasing strength of the aftershocks with time. The maximum concentrations of He and H2 (40 and 279.4 ppm, respectively) were found in three replicates at the south part of the rupture zone close to the epicenter. The spatio-temporal variations of CO2, Rn, and Hg concentrations differed obviously between the north and south parts of the fault zone. The maximum He and H2 concentrations in Jun 2008 occurred near the parts of the rupture zone where vertical displacements were larger. The anomalies of He, H2, CO2, Rn, and Hg concentrations could be related to the variation in the regional stress field and the aftershock activity.
Based on the geo-statistical theory and ArcGIS geo-statistical module, datas of 30 groundwater level observation wells were used to estimate the decline of groundwater level in Beijing piedmont. Seven different interpolation methods (inverse distance weighted interpolation, global polynomial interpolation, local polynomial interpolation, tension spline interpolation, ordinary Kriging interpolation, simple Kriging interpolation and universal Kriging interpolation) were used for interpolating groundwater level between 2001 and 2013. Cross-validation, absolute error and coefficient of determination (R2) was applied to evaluate the accuracy of different methods. The result shows that simple Kriging method gave the best fit. The analysis of spatial and temporal variability suggest that the nugget effects from 2001 to 2013 were increasing, which means the spatial correlation weakened gradually under the influence of human activities. The spatial variability in the middle areas of the alluvial–proluvial fan is relatively higher than area in top and bottom. Since the changes of the land use, groundwater level also has a temporal variation, the average decline rate of groundwater level between 2007 and 2013 increases compared with 2001–2006. Urban development and population growth cause over-exploitation of residential and industrial areas. The decline rate of the groundwater level in residential, industrial and river areas is relatively high, while the decreasing of farmland area and development of water-saving irrigation reduce the quantity of water using by agriculture and decline rate of groundwater level in agricultural area is not significant.
Spatial and temporal variations of total column of CH 4 and CO (TotCH 4 and TotCO) associated with the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan and 20 April 2013 Lushan earthquakes in western Sichuan, China were investigated using satellite data from AQUA AIRS in order to understand the lithospheric and atmospheric interactions during the seismic activity. The Wenchuan M S 8.0 and Lushan M S 7.0 earthquakes occurred in the Longmenshan fault zone. It was observed that large amounts of gases emitted from the earth's crust into the atmosphere before, during and after the earthquakes. The anomalies of TotCH 4 and TotCO occurred along the fault zone, and the peak values were found at the intersection areas where the crust stress approached the maximum. Furthermore, temporal anomalies of TotCH 4 and TotCO occurred during and after the Wenchuan earthquake, but 3 months before the Lushan earthquake. The anomalies related to the Lushan earthquake could be partially attributed to the Wenchuan earthquake because of the seismotectonic changes and fractures in the crust produced by the Wenchuan earthquake.
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