Abstract
Measures of soil and water conservation (SWC) could affect the hydrological process. The impacts of typical measures on groundwater recharge, levels and flow were analyzed based on simulated rainfall experiments and a groundwater model. The three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) was calibrated and verified for bare slope, grassland and straw mulching scenarios based on the experiments. The results of the verification in groundwater balance, levels, runoff and flow field all showed that MODFLOW could be applied to study the impact of SWC measures on groundwater. Meanwhile, the results showed the recharge rate (α) and specific yield of the three soil layers (Sy1, Sy2 and Sy3) were the most sensitive parameters to the change in the underlying surface. Then, the impacts of the SWC measures’ construction and destruction on the groundwater regime were studied. The results indicated the measures could strengthen groundwater recharge. The amounts of groundwater recharge, runoff and level were on the order of straw mulching > grassland > bare slope. When the underlying surface was converted from grass and mulching to bare slope, the recharge decreased by 42.2% and 39.1%. It was concluded that SWC measure construction would increase groundwater recharge and the measure destruction would decrease recharge.
Highlights
It is well recognized that land cover and land use change have significant effects on hydrological processes such as evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture and groundwater recharge [1,2]
Studied the effects of land cover on the water table, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge through water level measurements that were collected from two monitoring wells that were situated in the central portion of the Walnut Creek watershed at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County, Iowa
The simulation morphology and the flow directions of the groundwater flow field were consistent with the measured flow field
Summary
It is well recognized that land cover and land use change have significant effects on hydrological processes such as evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture and groundwater recharge [1,2]. Increasing or decreasing measures of soil and water conservation changes both the land cover and land use, which could alter the hydrologic cycle and affect the quantity of water that is available for runoff, streamflow and ground water flow. Huang [11] simulated rainfall events to study the effects of various factors on the soil moisture increase after rainfall and found that vegetation cover yieldd a greater soil moisture increase than did bare land and was the most important factor in determining the recharge coefficient
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