Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8894914 | Journal of Hydrology | 2018 | 49 Pages |
Abstract
Groundwater-fed agriculture has caused water table declines and groundwater quality degradation in the North China Plain. Based on sediment sampling in deep vadose zone (with a maximum depth of 11.0â¯m), groundwater recharge, seepage velocity, solute inventory and transport under four typical irrigated agricultural land-use types (winter wheat and summer maize, WM; pear orchards, PO; outdoor vegetables, VE; and cotton, CO) were investigated in this study. The results reveal that there are many solutes stored in the vadose zone. Nitrate storage per unit depth in the vadose zone is highest under PO (1703â¯kg/ha), followed by VE (970â¯kg/ha), WM (736â¯kg/ha) and CO (727â¯kg/ha). However, the amount of annual leached nitrate under the four land-use types results in a different order (VE, 404â¯kg/ha; WM, 108â¯kg/ha; PO, 23â¯kg/ha; CO, 13â¯kg/ha). The estimated average recharge rates are 180â¯mm/yr for WM, 27â¯mm/yr for CO, 320â¯mm/yr for VE and 49â¯mm/yr for PO. The seepage velocity under VE (2.22â¯m/yr) exceeds the values under the other three land-use types (WM, 0.85â¯m/yr; PO, 0.49â¯m/yr; CO, 0.09â¯m/yr). The highest seepage velocity under VE caused significant nitrate contamination in groundwater, whereas the other two land-use types (WM and PO) had no direct influence on groundwater quality. The results of this work could be used for groundwater resources management.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Earth-Surface Processes
Authors
Leilei Min, Yanjun Shen, Hongwei Pei, Ping Wang,