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Chloride and the environmental isotopes as the indicators of the groundwater recharge in the Gobi Desert, northwest China

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The long term recharge in Gobi Desert from Hexi Corridor to Inner Mongolia Plateau was estimated to be 1 mm year−1 by using the chloride mass balance method from one unsaturated zone profile, which shows that no effective modern recharge is taking place. A good rainfall database from Zhangye provides definition of the stable isotopic composition of modern rainfall. The signature of groundwater from the late Pleistocene differs markedly from that of the Holocene, shown clearly by the compositions of −10.5‰ δ18O as compared with values of −7‰ at the present day. It is apparent that the groundwaters in the Minqin Basin, Ejina Basin and feeding the lake system of the Badain Jaran are part of a regional flow network related to a wetter past climate as source of recharge. The recharge source in the past and to a limited extent in the more arid conditions of the present day included the foothills of the mountains of the Tibetan Plateau. The tritium age determinations accurate to the year are impossible and of no meaning to groundwater studies. A tritium value in the groundwater means multiple recharge ages in this region.

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Acknowledgements

The research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 40671029), the NSFC Innovation Team Project (No. 40421101) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET). This work also forms part of 111 project (No. B06026) and a wider UK–China collaboration. We thank Xianghu Li and Tianming Huang for the field works and laboratory analysis. Sincere thanks are extended to Prof. Fahu Chen and W.M. Edmunds for collaboration. We also appreciate the contributions of anonymous reviewer(s) for improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    J. Z. Ma & Z. Ding

  2. Oxford Centre for Water Research, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    J. B. Gates

  3. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Y. Su

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  1. J. Z. Ma
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  2. Z. Ding
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  3. J. B. Gates
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  4. Y. Su
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Correspondence to Z. Ding.

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Ma, J.Z., Ding, Z., Gates, J.B. et al. Chloride and the environmental isotopes as the indicators of the groundwater recharge in the Gobi Desert, northwest China. Environ Geol 55, 1407–1419 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1091-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1091-1

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