Geological resources and environmental carrying capacity evaluation review, theory, and practice in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Evaluations of resources and environmental carrying capacities (GRECC) are the premise of land space planning and use control. Resource allocations and environmental capacity are the basic conditions that restrict development in a region. In this paper, based on a systematic review of China’s geological environment, groundwater resources, mineral resources, other geological resources and the environmental carrying capacity research status, the relationship between the natural resource environmental system and the socio-economic system is studied. Then a “coordination theory of resources and environmental carrying” is proposed. Next, on the basis of an evaluation experiment performed at different scales and for different types of regions, the technical methods for an evaluation of the geological resources and environmental carrying capacity at the regional (inter-provincial) and provincial scales in China are established for the first time. This paper presents a standardized method based on technical ideas, evaluation methods, and index systems for geological resource and environmental carrying capacity evaluation. Finally, an evaluation of the groundwater resource carrying capacity in China is used as an example for the demonstration of the groundwater resource background and use of state evaluation methods.