Groundwater Systems and Resources in the Ordos Basin, China

Abstract

The Ordos Basin is a large-scale sedimentary basin in northwestern China. The hydrostratigraphic units from bottom to top are pre-Cambrian metamorphic rocks, Lower Paleozoic carbonate rocks, Upper Paleozoic to Mesozoic clastic rocks and Cenozoic deposits. The total thickness is up to 6000 m. Three groundwater systems are present in the Ordos Basin, based on the geological settings, i.e. the karst groundwater system, the Cretaceous clastic groundwater system and the Quaternary groundwater system. This paper describes systematically the groundwater flow patterns of each system and overall assessment of groundwater resources.

Inflection Points on Groundwater Age and Geochemical Profiles Along Wellbores Light up Hierarchically Nested Flow Systems

“…Hydrogeological conditions in the Ordos Plateau are characterized by shallow groundwater in a thin unconfined Quaternary sandy aquifer and relatively deep groundwater in a thick semi-confined Cretaceous sandstone aquifer. Scattered clayey lenses are present in this bedrock aquifer, causing anisotropic properties but do not break the relatively homogeneous feature of the aquifer media at the regional scale (Hou et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2012). In the lake basins of the study area, the Quaternary aquifer is generally less than 10 m thick.…”

Flowing wells: terminology, history and role in the evolution of groundwater science

“…One of the most intensively studied groundwater basins is the Ordos Plateau in northwestern China, composed mainly of a thick sandstone aquifer of Cretaceous age, up to around 1000 m thick. Because the overlying thin Quaternary deposits have much higher permeability and there is no continuous aquitard within the Cretaceous sandstone, the Ordos Plateau can be conceptualized as a thick unconfined aquifer (Hou et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2018). As early as the 1950s, several flowing wells were established in deep boreholes in the Cretaceous sandstone in topographic lows; subsequently, numerous flowing wells were drilled for agricultural water.…”

Analytical Solutions for Steady-State Multiwell Aquifer Tests in Rectangular Aquifers by Using Double Fourier Transform: A Case Study in the Ordos Plateau, China

“…The Ordos Plateau is located in Northwestern China (Figure 2(a)). Due to the arid to semiarid climate, groundwater is the only useable water resource in most parts [26]. In recent years, to satisfy the increasing demand for drinking water, the local government began a project of 5 Geofluids pumping groundwater from a site named Hatoucaidang with a group of wells (Figure 2(b)).…”