Conceptual model of recharge to southeastern Badain Jaran Desert groundwater and lakes from environmental tracers

Abstract

1-2 ka for the desert's southeastern margin is inferred from radiocarbon. These results reveal that some replenishment to the desert aquifer is occurring but at a rate much lower than previously suggested, which is relevant for water resources planning in this ecologically-sensitive area.

Relating seasonal dynamics of enhanced vegetation index to the recycling of water in two endorheic river basins in north-west China

“…Long-term mean recharge in low-lying areas north of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Fig. 1) is assessed to be about 0.9-2.5 kg m −2 yr −1 (∼ 1-2 % of mean annual total precipitation) based on chloride mass balance and isotopic assessments (Ma et al, 2008(Ma et al, , 2009Gates et al, 2008a, b), indicating that most of the surface and shallow-subsurface water generated in the mountains and flowing to the oases is eventually lost to the atmosphere as a result of evaporation. Lack of recharge of groundwater and excessive extraction of the resource for agricultural and other domestic uses has led to salinisation and desertification of the land surface in west-central Gansu (Zong et al, 2011;Aarnoudse et al, 2012;Currell et al, 2012).…”

“…Kang et al, 1999;Gates et al, 2008a;Huo et al, 2008;Li et al, 2008;Jia et al, 2011;Ma et al, 2009Ma et al, , 2013Pang et al, 2011;Zhuang et al, 2011) make reference to the importance of orographic rainout and the role of oasis vegetation in supporting the water cycle in the Hexi Corridor. However, none of these studies explicitly connects in-mountain production of precipitation to the seasonal evolution of oasis vegetation.…”

“…Gates et al, 2008a;Ma et al, 2008Ma et al, , 2009Ma et al, , 2012Huang and Wen, 2014) and atmosphericcirculation modelling studies (e.g. Gao et al, 2004;Chu et al, 2005;Meng et al, 2009Meng et al, , 2012Meng et al, , 2015Wen et al, 2012).…”

Entropy Base Estimation of Moisture Content of the Top 10-m Unsaturated Soil for the Badain Jaran Desert in Northwestern China

“…Locations and elevations were recorded with a Garmin GPS, as shown in Table 1. Moisture contents were determined gravimetrically after drying overnight at 110 • C. These data have been partly reported in the previous studies [12,13,19,[25][26][27]. …”

Spatio-temporal variations of δ2H and δ18O in precipitation and shallow groundwater in the Hilly Loess Region of the Loess Plateau, China

“…Retaining spatio-temporal variations in hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in precipitation and groundwater, in conjunction with hydrologic observations and hydrochemistry, has been widely used to identify origins of water bodies (Vrbka et al 1993;Lambs 2000), infiltration modes of precipitation (Douglas 1997;Gazis and Feng 2004;Li et al 2007), the interactions between groundwater and other waters (Simpson and Herczeg 1991;McDonnell et al 1991;Mook 2000;Lamontagne et al 2005;Song et al 2006) and groundwater recharge mechanisms (Clark and Fritz 1997;Tang et al 2001;McGuire et al 2002;Rademacher et al 2003;Demlie et al 2007;Gates et al 2008). Limited isotopic studies have been performed in the Loess Plateau, mainly at profile or point scales.…”