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How much information can soil solute profiles reveal about groundwater recharge?

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Abstract

The unsaturated zone is an important link between groundwater and the land surface, and can provide storage capacity for both water and contaminants. Consequently, the solute profile of the unsaturated zone can provide much information on groundwater recharge using tracers. This study takes a rain-fed agricultural area (Luochuan loess plain) in the Chinese Loess Plateau as an example to demonstrate how much recharge information in the thick unsaturated zone can be obtained from the solute profile. The results show that the recharge rate is 36–67 mm yr–1 and infiltration rate is 0.19 to 0.30 m yr–1, as obtained using three methods, i.e., evaluating the Cl-peak, chloride mass balance, and nitrate levels. The amount of time needed for annual precipitation to reach the water table is 133–316 years, and the groundwater is tritium free. The nitrate introduced by human activities is mainly distributed in the upper unsaturated zone (above 6 m), and the groundwater nitrate content (3.7 to 9.6 mg l–1 as NO3) remains at baseline level. The storage capacity of the unsaturated zone is found to delay the entrance of pollutants into the aquifer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, China

    Tianming Huang

  2. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Tianming Huang, Shuo Yang & Jilai Liu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Shuo Yang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Zhi Li

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  1. Tianming Huang
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  2. Shuo Yang
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  4. Zhi Li
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Correspondence to Tianming Huang.

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Huang, T., Yang, S., Liu, J. et al. How much information can soil solute profiles reveal about groundwater recharge?. Geosci J 20, 495–502 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-015-0069-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-015-0069-3

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