Abstract
Abstract. The behavior of groundwater response to leakage of surface water in the middle reaches area of Heihe River Basin is significantly influenced by a thick vadose zone. The groundwater regime is a result of two recharge events due to leakage of Heihe River and irrigation water with different delay time. A nonlinear leakage model is developed to calculate the monthly leakage of Heihe River in considering changes of streamflow, river stage and agricultural water utilization. Numerical modeling of variable saturated flow is carried out to investigate the general behaviors of leakage-recharge conversion through a thick vadose zone. It is found that the recharge pattern can be approximated by simple reservoir models of leakages under a river and under an irrigation district with different delay-time and recession coefficient. A triple-reservoir model of relationship between surface water, vadose zone and groundwater is developed. It reproduces the groundwater regime during 1989–2006 with variable streamflow of Heihe River and agricultural water utilization. The model is applied to interpret changes of groundwater level during 2007–2008 that observed in the Watershed Airborne Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER).
Highlights
The interaction between groundwater and surface water plays an important role in water balance in most of hydrological basins around the world
Interpretation of groundwater regime observed in Watershed Airborne Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER) in the middle reaches area of Heihe River Basin needs a wellestablished model of groundwater recharge and discharge
Several numerical models of groundwater flow in the middle reaches area of Heihe River Basin developed in the literature can be selected for the purpose
Summary
The interaction between groundwater and surface water plays an important role in water balance in most of hydrological basins around the world. This is due to deep buried groundwater table under fluvial fans and irrigation districts where rivers and channels loss surface water through leakage. In study of the upper river Lys basin and the Origny aquifer with an unsaturated zone (depth of water table is 0–50 m), Besbes and De Marsily (1984) suppose a method in recognizing infiltration-recharge conversion with observed rainfall and groundwater level by using a parametric transfer function. In the middle reaches area of Heihe River Basin, it is noted in WATER that the change of groundwater level under the fluvial fans is not a simplex response to leakage of surface water, i.e., a transfer function is not enough to configure the whole recharge patterns. The model is applied to interpret changes of groundwater level observed in WATER
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