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Study on the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater along the Taklimakan Desert Highway

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Abstract

Groundwater is the only water source of the shelterbelt along the Taklimakan Desert Highway in northwestern China. Understanding the hydrochemical zoning characteristics, material source, and hydrochemical processes of this desert groundwater is important for rational groundwater exploitation. Meanwhile, determining the location of the dividing boundary, which divides the influence ranges of the Tarim river and the Kunlun mountain river system on the desert groundwater, is meaningful for the local desert hydrogeological study. For these objectives, 105 groundwater samples were investigated to obtain analytical data of groundwater chemistry, and ionic relations methods including ratio graphs and Gibbs plots were applied in the chemical analysis for these data. Chemical analysis shows that desert groundwater is characterized by Cl·SO4–Na·Mg and Cl−·SO4–Na types with total dissolved solid (TDS) of 2.80–29.77 g/L. Spatial variation patterns of major ions, TDS, and SO4 2−/Cl− molar ratio reveal clear four hydrochemical zones along the groundwater flow direction on one hand; on the other hand, these variation patterns also indicate that the boundary dividing the influence ranges of the Tarim river and the Kunlun mountain river system is the approximate location of Well 030. Ratio graphs show that the average molar ratios (Na+ + K+)/Cl− (1.05) and (Ca2+ + Mg2+)/SO4 2− (0.93) are approximately equal to 1, and there is an approximately linear correlation between (Na+ + K+) and SO4 2−. These results reveal that the groundwater composition is mainly influenced by dissolution of evaporate (halite, gypsum, and mirabilite). Moreover, ionic relations demonstrate that the dominating hydrochemical processes in the groundwater evolution are evaporation and cations exchange.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the laboratory technician of Institute of Geology and Geophysics for their great help in testing groundwater samples. The authors would like to thank all the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments of our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19 Beitucheng West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Pengpeng Zhou & Jiangyi Zhang

  2. POTEN Environment Group Co., Ltd, 60 Xizhimen North Street, Haidian District, Beijng, 100082, People’s Republic of China

    Zhimin Wang

  3. Chinese Academy of Land & Resource Economics, 689 Jingyu Street, Sanhe, 065201, People’s Republic of China

    Zaixing Yang

  4. China Institute of Geo-Environment Monitoring, 20 Dahuisi Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolei Li

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  1. Pengpeng Zhou
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  2. Zhimin Wang
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  3. Jiangyi Zhang
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  4. Zaixing Yang
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  5. Xiaolei Li
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Correspondence to Zhimin Wang.

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Zhou, P., Wang, Z., Zhang, J. et al. Study on the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater along the Taklimakan Desert Highway. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1378 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-6204-2

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