Recharge sources and hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in the coal-mining district of Jiaozuo, China

Abstract

Investigations in the Jiaozuo coal-mining district (China) aim to link water-inrush aquifers with the sources of groundwater recharge. Concentrations of TDS, HCO3–, Cl– and Na+ in the groundwater samples gradually decrease with increasing depth; in contrast, the factor 1 value of the Q-mode analysis gradually increases, which indicates that the deep groundwater may upflow, recharging the aquifers near the faulted zone. Some groundwater samples (above the local meteoric water line and ‘evaporation line 1’) may originate from recharge by infiltrating local rainfall. Spring and river samples are symmetrically distributed on the regression line of the Ordovician and Carboniferous limestone aquifer groundwater (δ2H = 3.76 × δ18O – 31.77) and may, therefore, originate from groundwater recharge in the northern Taihang mountains. This mechanism is supported by the observation that groundwater levels change with rainfall. According to radiocarbon residence-time estimates, two groundwater sample sites may have been recharged during the late glacial stage.