Abstract
AbstractGroundwater is an important source for maintaining desert ecological processes in arid areas. With the increasing intensity of climate change and human activities, the rivers in Tarim Basin are severely dried-up. Aiming at the dried-up river, vegetation degradation and oasis maintenance in the middle and lower reaches of dried-up river basin, groundwater recharge and groundwater-surface water interaction have become hotspots, but are not well known. We examined spatial distributions and controlling factors of groundwater stable isotopes and recharge at oasis scale using data from 247 samples surveyed in the four headwaters in the northern Tarim Basin. Stable isotopes of surface water and groundwater were different from each other, and varied among sampling sites. Surface water and groundwater isotopes generally became enriched towards the east throughout the study area, while surface water isotopes showed enrichment towards the upstream direction within each catchment, mainly due to cultivated area expansion. Surface water mainly originated from precipitation, groundwater, and meltwater, while shallow groundwater derived from lateral groundwater flow, river and irrigated water infiltration, and little precipitation. The mainstream water was directly recharged by the headwaters. The results could provide a new insight into groundwater cycling in oases of dried-up river basins, which is helpful for regional groundwater management.
Highlights
In arid climates, oases are the habitat of human life and the centers of economic development (Gonçalvès et al )
Water samples of surface water and groundwater were collected during the period between July and November 2018 from 207 sites in the oasis areas of northern Tarim Basin (Dina River, Weigan-Kuqa River, Akesu River, Yarkand River, and the mainstream of Tarim River), which falls in the growing season and the non-growing season, respectively (Zhou et al )
Based on basin-scale surface water and groundwater samples, this study examined the spatial distributions and influence factors of groundwater stable isotopes and the sources of groundwater in the desert oases of four headwaters in the northern Tarim Basin
Summary
Oases are the habitat of human life and the centers of economic development (Gonçalvès et al ). Groundwater in arid regions has depleted across the world (Rodell et al ; Wada et al ; Zhang et al b; Shakya et al ), and could be exacerbated by climate warming and anthropogenic activities (Jiao et al ; Liu et al ; Bibi et al ; de Graaf et al ). Increasing population, expanding irrigated farmland, and increasing farming activity in recent decades have resulted in overexploitation and utilization of groundwater for irrigation in oasis regions of the Tarim Basin (Chen et al a, b; Zhang et al b; Guo et al a). It is essential to improve our understanding of groundwater sources and recharge mechanisms to uniformly regulate water resources in the arid oasis region of the Tarim Basin, focusing on water resources preservation, ecosystem restoration and sustainable economic development (Pang et al ; Steward & Allen )
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