Evaluating the interactions between surface water and groundwater in the arid mid-eastern Yanqi Basin,northwestern China |
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| Authors: | Ming Wu Jin Lin Xiaobin Zhu Jichun Wu Bill X Hu |
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| Institution: | 1. Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education;2. Department of Hydrosciences, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;3. Institute of Groundwater and Earth Sciences, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China;4. National Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, China;5. Institute of Groundwater and Earth Sciences, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China |
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| Abstract: | The environment of Bosten Lake in the Mid-Eastern Yanqi Basin (MEYB), an arid inland area in northwest China, has deteriorated greatly due to increasing groundwater exploitation and changes in the interactions between groundwater and surface water. This study intended to simulate the spatio-temporal variability of groundwater and surface water across the entire MEYB over the period 2000–2013. The applicable groundwater flow model and mass balance calculation method for river water were constructed to evaluate the change in groundwater recharged by and discharged to different segments of the Kaidu River. Simulation results show that the entire river seepage in the MEYB increased from 1.05 to 6.17 × 108 m3/year between 2000 and 2013. The increasing river seepage, induced by increasing groundwater exploitation, plays the most important role in the water level decline in the downstream reaches of the Kaidu River and in Bosten Lake. This implies that the current utilization of groundwater resources in the MEYB is unsustainable. |
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| Keywords: | surface water–groundwater interaction exploitation numerical modelling Kaidu River Bosten Lake |
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