Estimating groundwater recharge in a cold desert environment in northern China using chloride

Gates, John B.; Edmunds, W.M.; Ma, Jinzhu; Scanlon, Bridget R.

doi:10.1007/s10040-007-0264-z

Cited by 133 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In the situation, the soil particle composition of silty sand and silt play an unimportant role in soil moisture distribution. The soil moisture is more depleted compared with that in the Badain Jaran Desert (1%-3%, [51,52]) and in the Tengger Desert (1%-5%, [41]), where precipitation is about 90 and 150 mm/a, respectively. The average soil moisture content within 1 m is 0.75% for UZ1, similar to ~0.8% in profile around T7.…”

Section: Soil Moisture and Chloridementioning

confidence: 90%

Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river

et al. 2013

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In groundwater-dependent ecosystems, groundwater circulation controls the overall water quality and ecosystem dynamics. Groundwater and vegetation across a 30-km groundwater transect linking oasis, desert and river in an extremely arid area were investigated with a series of soil profiles drilled into the unsaturated zone to understand groundwater circulation and its control on groundwater quality and surface vegetation in the extremely arid Lower Tarim River, NW China. Measurements have included water-table depth, water chemistry and water isotopes ( 2 H, 18 O, 3 H) for 15 water samples, soil moisture and chloride content for 11 soil profiles, and vegetation investigation. Results show that the groundwater in desert zone is characterized by slow recharge rate (pre-modern water), great water-table depth (6.17-9.43 m) and high salinity (15.32-26.50 g/L), while that in oasis (uncultivated land) and riparian zone is characterized by relatively fast recharge rate (modern water), small groundwater-table depth (3.56-8.36 m) and low salinity (1.25-1.95 g/L). Stable isotopes show that secondary evaporation takes place during irrigation in oasis. The vegetation characteristics (coverage, richness, evenness and number of plants) are closely related to soil moisture and water-table depth. Groundwater recharge from irrigation in oasis and from river in riparian zone sustains a better ecosystem than that in the desert area, where lateral and vertical groundwater recharge is limited. The more evapotranspirative enrichment may occur in the vegetated and water-rich riparian zone as compared to desert. This study also demonstrates the effectiveness of environmental tracers in studying ecohydrological processes in arid regions.isotope, soil profile, riparian zone, ecosystem, salinity, arid zone hydrology Citation:Huang T M, Pang Z H, Chen Y N, et al. Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river.

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Section: Soil Moisture and Chloridementioning

confidence: 90%

Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river

et al. 2013

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“…Studies of the unsaturated zone using chemical or isotopic techniques in particular are considered to offer definite advantages over physical approaches and recently the use of CFCs and SF 6 have been shown as promising tools for identifying modern recharge and infiltration rates (Stadler et al 2010;Lapworth et al, 2013). Profile techniques using tritium or Cl in unsaturated zones of predominantly sandy terrain (Scanlon et al, 2006) have now been successfully applied in many areas: Africa (Edmunds et al, 1988;Gaye and Edmunds, 1996), Middle East (Edmunds and Walton, 1980), Australia (Allison and Hughes, 1978), India (Sukhija et al, 1976), North America (Phillips, 1994;Wood and Sandford, 1995) and China (Gates et al, 2008), and generally provide realistic mean recharge estimates over periods of years or decades. Of the three widely used tracer methods (tritium, stable isotopes and Cl) Cl proves especially attractive as a low-cost tracer for recharge estimation in rural, often remote areas (Edmunds and Gaye, 1994).…”

Section: Recharge Investigations Using Hydrogeochemical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This technique has been successfully applied to sedimentary areas with deep unsaturated zones, such as in Australia (Allison et al, 1994), Senegal (Gaye and Edmunds, 1996) and China (Gates et al, 2008) but its application to basement areas and the weathered regolith has received little attention (Lapworth et al, 2013). In this paper, as well as Cl, major ions are used to characterize the hydrogeochemistry so as to infer the predominant aquifer units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of groundwater recharge in weathered basement aquifers, southern Zimbabwe; a geochemical approach

Macdonald

Edmunds

2014

Applied Geochemistry

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Geochemical techniques have been used to estimate groundwater recharge and its spatial variability in basement terrain in a semi-arid area of southern Zimbabwe. Recharge rates estimated by chloride mass balance have been determined in the Romwe Catchment, a small (4.6 km 2 ) headwater catchment underlain by banded gneisses, with good hydrological and geological control. The results support the findings from piezometric monitoring that there are significant differences in hydrogeological properties of weathered basement derived from different primary lithologies. Annual recharge estimates for shallow weathered aquifers derived from melanocratic bedrock (dominated by pyroxene gneiss), 22 mm, and leucocratic felsic bedrock, 6.7 mm, are 3.7% and 1.1% respectively of the long-term mean annual rainfall. The significant uncertainties associated with the chloride mass balance recharge estimates are discussed. Groundwater derived from each lithology generally has a distinctive geochemistry (Na/Cl, K/Na, Mg/Ca, Na/Cl, B, Ba). The information from the Romwe catchment control area was then scaled up using information from remote sensing images (which defined areas of dark and light soils above the banded gneiss) to confirm the higher recharge rates in the melanocratic lithology in the unexplored Greater Romwe (225 km 2 ) area. It is concluded that properly calibrated, remote sensing images could be further regionalized to site groundwater sources in basement terrain, providing a relatively inexpensive development tool.

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“…Là encore, il s'agit d'une approche très simplificatrice, largement utilisée en milieu semi-aride (Edmunds et al 2002, Gates et al 2008) mais dont les biais nombreux ne doivent pas être méconnus (Wood 1999, Alcalá et Custodio 2008. La valeur retenue ici pour Cl pluie est 8,7 mg L -1 , la moyenne des pluies de 2010 supérieures à 5 mm prélevées à Idini et Rosso.…”

Section: Infiltration De La Pluieunclassified

Modalités de recharge d’un aquifère en zone semi-aride : cas de la nappe du Trarza (Sud-Ouest Mauritanie)

Mohamed

Marlin

Leduc

et al. 2014

Hydrological Sciences Journal

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Means of groundwater recharge in a semi-arid area: example of the Trarza aquifer (southwest Mauritania) Abstract The Trarza aquifer extends over about 40 000 km 2 in southwestern Mauritania, between the Senegal River in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Mauritanides metamorphic chain in the north and east. The Trarza aquifer lies in Continental Terminal and Quaternary sediments. The field investigations conducted between 2010 and 2012 significantly added to the few older measurements. The hydrodynamic and geochemical approaches showed that in this semi-arid area, the groundwater dynamics is influenced by many environmental changes, past and present (from Quaternary transgressions to the various dams regulating the Senegal River). Groundwater is mainly recharged by lateral infiltration of surface water of the Senegal River, and to a lesser extent, by rainfall infiltration. Groundwater mineralization is controlled by water-rock interactions with silicates and alumino-silicate minerals and is locally influenced by marine water resulting from past Quaternary transgressions. Evaporation strongly affects surface waters before and during their infiltration. Very preliminary calculations suggest an annual recharge of less than or equal to 5% of precipitation, i.e. about 5 to 10 mm.

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Estimating groundwater recharge in a cold desert environment in northern China using chloride

Cited by 133 publications

References 40 publications

Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river

Groundwater circulation relative to water quality and vegetation in an arid transitional zone linking oasis, desert and river

Estimation of groundwater recharge in weathered basement aquifers, southern Zimbabwe; a geochemical approach

Modalités de recharge d’un aquifère en zone semi-aride : cas de la nappe du Trarza (Sud-Ouest Mauritanie)

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