Hydrochemical characteristics and mixing behavior of thermal springs along the Bijiang River in the Lanping basin of China

Abstract

The Lanping–Simao basin characterized by the occurrence of hydrothermal activities in the northern part of the basin is the largest depression basin in western Yunnan Province. Hot springs outcrop in the semi-drought red layers (TDS, 0.644–8.17 g/L). Mixing with shallow cold water in the flow system is the dominant hydrogeological process leading to the decrease in thermal water temperature and complex hydrochemical compositions with water types ranging from HCO3–Ca·Mg to Cl–Na type. According to the silicon concentration and enthalpy evaluation, the geothermal reservoir temperatures are estimated between 118 and 204 °C, and the mixing ratio between cold and thermal groundwater is 0.76 on the average. The high concentrations of Na and Cl indicate that there is some well-mineralized cold water in the flow system circulating to the upward migration path accompanied with intense water–rock reactions in the fault developed basin. Ca and SO4 originate from progressively longer flow path owing to the poor solubility of gypsum, anhydrite and Ca–montmorillonite. Hierarchical clustering and multivariate statistical methods recognized three hot springs groups and four parameters groups which classified the reservoir environment into two situations, one is in the high-pressure environment with intense degassing, and the other is in the lower pressure with weak minerals migration.