Xianfang Song

Long-standing wastewater and reclaimed water irrigation systems degrade groundwater quality and thus pose great risks to local soils and even to human health. In this study, seasonal variations in hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater were assessed to determine possible processes that induce groundwater degradation. Beijing was used as the focus area. A total of 82 wells at the southeast irrigation region of Beijing were investigated in 2014. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, Piper diagram, and saturation indices were used to distinguish seasonal variations in hydrochemistry in shallow and deep groundwater and possible reclaimed water irrigation effects. The main natural controlling processes include mineral precipitation and dissolution, cation exchange reactions, and dilution effects in shallow and deep groundwater. However, cation exchange reactions are considered to be intense in deeper aquifer. Additionally, shallow groundwater sites subjected to salinization...

Groundwater is increasingly exploited for energy production in arid regions, which necessitates a deeper insight into the impact of the enhanced human pressure on the groundwater. This study applied an integrated method (statistical analysis, water table fluctuation method, hydrograph analysis and remote sensing) to identify the impact of Energy Base Water Project on the groundwater in the Subei Lake basin. Groundwater levels in eight observation wells at 30 min intervals during the 2013–2014 period were monitored using automatic groundwater monitoring data loggers. Results showed that precipitation infiltration, irrigation return flow, groundwater pumping and evapotranspiration controlled the hydrodynamics of unconfined groundwater. The average evapotranspiration rates in the Quaternary phreatic aquifer and the Cretaceous phreatic aquifer were 6.15 and 12.48 mm/d. The unusual hourly hydrographs fall into three patterns (mutational, irregular and gradual hydrographs). Different reco...

The utilization of reclaimed water could be an efficient tool to alleviate water scarcity, especially for dry river augmentation. However, it is crucial to monitor water quality to ensure safety to human health and to avoid negative effects on the environment. Reclaimed water samples were collected bimonthly from May to November in 2010 in Chaobai River, and the physiochemical parameters were determined. The main results are as follows: The parameters exceeding the threshold value of the water guidelines are mainly nutrition related to nitrogen and phosphorus, which are known to increase the risk of eutrophication in surface waters. Additionally, nitrite and nitrate can be detrimental to human health. The majority of the parameters have a peaking concentration in May, whereas others either show significant temporal variation over the entire period or remain relatively constant in all four months. Correlation analysis shows that some parameters (pH, T and B) have no significant correlation with others, whereas significant positive correlation was found for Sr with EC and TDS, for Cl with TDS, for SiO2 with TP and for NO3–N with TN and a significant negative correlation between SO4 and Ba. According to principal component analysis, 60.108% of the total data is represented by dominant solutes, and the second principal component with a percentage of 31.876 comprises parameters related to nitrogen. Subsequent cluster analysis of parameters identified four groups, which represent different compositions, and samples in May differ from others.

Abstract: Reclaimed water was successfully used to recover the landscape of dry Chaobai River in Northern China, but groundwater may be polluted by reclaimed water. To assess this risk and to ensure groundwater protection, it is therefore critical to identify the governing factors of groundwater chemistry. Samples of reclaimed water, river and groundwater were collected monthly at Chaobai River from January to September in 2010. Fifteen physical and chemical parameters were analysed. Multivariate methods, including cluster and principal ...

The study of neo-tectonic movement and its impact on alluvial river can deepen the understanding of the complex response theory in a geomorphic system and the complex hypothesis of multi- cycle deposition, and investigate thoroughly the relationship between sedimentary sequence and basin depositing processes, which can be widely applied to earth science, water engineering, traffic transportation, communications, oil and gas exploration and development, etc. In this paper, it is mainly reviewed the research progress of the influence of neo-tectonic movement in alluvial rivers, and neo-tectonic movement is described very briefly.In the embryonic period of the neo- tectonic movement, the study of the drainage pattern in a basin and the river towards controlled by the neo- tectonic movement, had been increasingly popular as a new discipline, but mainly focused on the geologic interpretation. Since the 1970 s,research on the neo-tectonic stress field can help us understand the neo-tecton...

Groundwater is of utmost significance to socioeconomic development and ecological recovery for the Loess Plateau. However, studies regarding the mechanism governing groundwater recharge over this area appear to be inadequate. This study is to examine the spatio-temporal variations of dH and dO in precipitation and shallow groundwater. On the basis of this, the mechanisms governing shallow groundwater recharge were explored. Precipitation and groundwater were sampled monthly from May to October during the period 2004–2006 at 13 sites in the Chabagou Catchment (187 km). In the Caopingxigou Experimental Watershed (0.1 km), meteorological variables were observed and rainfall larger than 5 mm was sampled immediately after each rain event. Across the area, 90% of the precipitation occurred from May to September primarily in the form of heavy rains or rainstorms with great spatial variability. There were about 30 localized rains in each year. It was indicated that there existed notable sea...

Reclaimed water (RW) has been widely used as an alternative water resource to recharge rivers in mega-city Beijing. At the same time, the RW also recharges the ambient aquifers through riverbank filtration, and modifies the subsurface hydrodynamic system and hydrochemical characteristics. To assess the impact of RW recharge on the unconfined groundwater system, we conducted a 3D groundwater flow and solute transport model based on 10 years of sequenced groundwater monitoring data to analyze the changes of the groundwater table, Cl- loads, and NO3-N loads in the shallow aquifer after RW recharge to the river channel. The results show that the groundwater table around the river channel elevated by about 3~4 m quickly after RW recharge from Dec. 2007 to Dec. 2009, and then remained stable due to the continuous RW infiltration. However, the unconfined groundwater storage still declined overall from 2007 to 2014 due to groundwater exploitation. The storage began to recover after groundwa...

Abstract Seawater intrusion (SWI) is becoming one of the major environmental issues in more and more coastal areas around the world. Understanding the current SWI situation and forming research consensus are of great significance for further studies and coastal water resources management. In this study, we analyzed the SWI-associated literature available from the Science of Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) bibliographic database by using CiteSpace to further excavate existing research achievement. We explored a new method for identifying global geographic distributions of 501 coastal cities where SWI has been reported. It can be found that SWI is more likely to occur in well-recharged major basins (recharge rate 100-300 mm/a) or local shallow aquifers with high population density. According to current reports, about 32% of the coastal metropolitan cities (population > 1 million within 150 km from coastline) have been threatened. There was a 20-fold increase rate in the number of papers related to SWI compared to that in general science and technology. The United States of America, China, Australia were the top 3 contributors in SWI scope, contributed 46.4% of the total number of articles. More than 600 researches were supported by Chinese funds, which made China become the second contributor. But the number of citations per Chinese article was the lowest among the top 10 contributors. By co-citation analysis, we identified top 5% articles, and elaborated the background knowledge by taking Top 10 co-cited articles as example. A series of keywords with high co-occurrence were identified. Their meanings and relations were stated and graphically illustrated. As a keyword, SWI frequently appears in the following five research directions: analysis of the location or morphology of fresh and salt water interface, the prediction of groundwater quality, the geothermal circulation and tectonic activities, the coastal mangrove wetlands protection, and the management of water resources in coastal zones. We critically evaluated the bibliometric results and reviewed future opportunities and challenges for this field. With the development of new technology and the accumulation, the improvement of coastal environment will certainly benefit from the study of SWI.

Water quality is of great concern under the threats of an abandoned Pb-Zn mine within a vulnerable karst area. This study focuses on tracing the sources, migration and relevant geochemical controls of heavy metals along with surface- and groundwater flow, and assessing their hazards posed to the environment by indexes of heavy metal pollution (HPI) and ecological risks (ERI). We analyzed the concentrations of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) in filtered and digested surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) samples. Whilst sulfate concentrations, δ34SSO4 isotope, and other physical-chemical parameters were measured in filtered SW and GW. Clearly elevated concentrations of Zn and Cd have been observed in the upstream of the Sidi River (max. 1540.3/1676.7, and 19.9/19.4 μg/L, for filtered/digested contents, respectively), and that of digested Pb and Cu (max. 17.8 and 114.6 μg/L, respectively) in the downstream karst groundwater. Zn and Cd are likely introduced by the Sidi River which is found mostly in the dissolved phase. While Pb and Cu are sourced from the remobilization of upper lying polluted soil which mostly existed in the particulate phase. Zn and Cd concentrations in the karst groundwater peak at the losing section while Pb and Cu in the river peaks at the gaining section as a result of metals transport with SW-GW exchange. Dilution significantly decreases total metals concentration in the non-karst area. Due to the buffer effect caused by carbonates dissolution and bacterial sulfate reduction, a steady neutral pH can reduce the concentrations of the dissolved metals in the karst area. The ERI and HPI assessments show an acceptable level for surface- and groundwater. A long-term observation on the contents of undissolved metals needs to be conducted in karst areas which are threatened by metal(s) mines.

Studies of evapotranspiration on remote tropical coral islands are important to explore and sustain scarce freshwater resources. However, there is a significant knowledge gap between research to evaluate evapotranspiration based on remote sensing methods and the influences of different land use types on water dynamics on reclaimed coral islands. This study applied the remote-sensing-based Vegetation Interfaces Processes (VIP-RS) model to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) on Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island in the South China Sea from 2016 to 2019. The results showed that the average annual ETa of Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island was 685 mm, 530 mm, and 210 mm, respectively. Annual transpiration (Ec) and soil evaporation (Es) exhibited similar patterns on the natural islands; however, Es controlled the water consumption on the reclaimed islands. Water dynamics exhibited seasonal fluctuations due to the uneven distribution of precipitation ...

Overexploitation of groundwater has resulted in seawater intrusion in many semiarid and arid coastal areas. This study illustrates the origin of groundwater salinity and assesses seawater intrusion/extrusion process in the Yang-Dai River plain aquifer, by analyzing hydrochemical and stable isotopic compositions of surface water, groundwater, geothermal water, and seawater. A cone of depression in groundwater is caused by intensive groundwater pumping formed in the late 1980s in the alluvial Yang-Dai River plain. In the northern part, groundwater exploitation has caused seawater intrusion identified by Ca-Cl type water. However, the widely distributed silty clay prevented the seawater intrusion in the southern part, evidenced by Ca-HCO 3 type water with depleted δ 2 H (−60 to −46‰) and δ 18 O (−8.9 to −4.7‰). Anthropogenic pollution also plays a significant role in groundwater salinization. The positive correlation between Cl and NO 3 - for most groundwater and the extremely high nitrate concentrations (up to 652.7 mg/L) indicate that fertilizer from agricultural activities has greatly influenced groundwater quality. Irrigation return flow evaporation during agricultural activities also accounts for groundwater salinity. Besides the intensive fertilizer usage, seawater intrusion and the established anti-tide dams reduced the surface water and groundwater discharge to the sea and then resulted in the extremely high nitrate concentration. This study may improve the understanding of the groundwater salinization processes in a complex coastal aquifer, which is greatly influenced by anthropogenic activities.

Long-term wastewater and reclaimed water irrigation systems constitute the major processes in local water circulation, which concomitantly introduce plenty of undesirable substances that can threaten water quality, ecosystem functions and human health. At the Southeast Reclaimed Water Irrigation Region (SRWIR) of Beijing, wastewater irrigation was adopted from 1969 to 2002, and second-treated effluents (reclaimed water) has been used thereafter. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were the most ubiquitously detected contaminant in wastewater and reclaimed water and are reported to be carcinogenic. Hence, we measured the concentrations of dissolved sixteen United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) priority PAHs in surface water and groundwater at the SRWIR to characterize their spatial and temporal variations, and to clarify the role of reclaimed water to natural water. The concentration of 16 individual PAHs in reclaimed water, rivers and groundwater varied from 339....

The increase in atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations has been the most important environmental change experienced by agricultural systems. It is still uncertain whether grain yield of the global food crop of maize will remain unchanged under a future elevated CO2 (eCO2) environment. A coupled device with climate chamber and weighing lysimeters was developed to explore the water-related yield responses of maize to eCO2. Two experiments were conducted via this device under eCO2 (700 ppm) and current CO2 (400 ppm) concentrations. Seasonal changes in multiple growth indicators and related hydrological processes were compared between these two experiments. The results showed that the eCO2 effects were not significant on several indicators, i.e., the leaf carbon (C) content, nitrogen (N) content, chlorophyll content, C/N ratio, net photosynthesis rate, and leaf area index over the entire growing season (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, the transpiration rate (Tr) significantly reduced during the seedling to filling stages but notably increased at the maturity stage due to eCO2 (p < 0.05). Significant reduction in crop height (mean of 15.9%, p < 0.05) associated with notable increases in stem diameter (mean of 14.9%, p < 0.05) were found throughout the growing season. Dry matter per corncob at the final harvest decreased slightly under eCO2 (mean of 7.7 g, p > 0.05). Soil water storage was not significantly conserved by the decline of Tr except during the filling stage. Soil evaporation was likely promoted by eCO2 that the total evapotranspiration changed little (1.2%) over the entire growing season. Although the leaf water use efficiency increased significantly at every growth stage (mean of 27.3%, p < 0.05), the grain yield and water productivity were not improved noticeably by eCO2. This study could provide significant insight into predicting future crop yield and hydrological changes under climate change.

Understanding the hydrologic and hydrochemistry processes in the riparian area is of great importance for managing and protecting riparian water resources. This paper took a highly disturbed and polluted Shaying River Basin (SRB) of China as the study area. In this research, environmental tracers (hydrochemical and isotopic data of222Rn, δ18O, and δD) and corresponding models (two-component mixing model and 222Rn mass balance model) were employed to investigate the hydrologic and associated hydro-chemical process of riparian groundwater. The results indicated that rivers received groundwater discharge located at Xihua (J8), Zhoukou (Y1), Luohe (S2), and Shenqiu (SY2), and the mixing extent with groundwater was greater in wet seasons than in dry seasons. The 222Rn mass balance model showed that the flux of river water leakage was 3.27 × 10−4 m3/(s·m) at the front of Zhoukou sluice while groundwater discharge was 3.50 × 10−3 m3/(s·m) at the front of Shenqiu sluice during the sampling ...

<p>The collapse of a tailings dam of a Pb-Zn mine, caused by a storm in 1978, resulted in severe heavy metals contamination in the valley downstream the mine, located in the Guangxi Province, southwest of China. The metals still pose a risk to the adjacent fragile karst environment. Especially, the potential for leaching of the heavy metals to the adjacent environment is of concern due to the high average annual precipitation of >1500 mm in the subtropical climate. Previous studies have classified areas of the valley as slightly (SP), moderately (MP) or heavily polluted (HP) based on heavy metals content (Pb, Cd, As, Cu, Zn) of the upper 20 cm of the soils. We analysed soil and sediment profiles up to 2 m deep, obtained in areas of the three pollutions levels, for basic chemical and physical parameters including pH, total organic carbon (TOC), soil moisture, particle size, total metals concentrations (Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu), and δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>2</sup>H of soil moisture. Further, we measured the δ<sup>34</sup>S of soil extractable sulphate, and the content of chromium-reducible sulphur (CRS) and soluble sulphates (SS), to investigate the link between sulphur cycling and heavy metals mobilization. Today, four decades after the dam collapse, heavy metal concentrations are still highly elevated in the valley. In the HP profile concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn range between 800–8120, 8–132, 156–616, and 2647–12250 mg/kg, respectively, between surface and 2 m depth. Concentrations of CRS in the HP profile of 287–5530 mg/kg were observed, while no CRS could be extracted from the SP and MP soil profiles. The δ<sup>34</sup>S-SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2-</sup> of the HP profile (0.4‰–16.0‰) matches values previously measured in the original tailing. The matching…

Stable isotopes in precipitation are useful tracers to strengthen understanding of climate change and hydrological processes. In this study, the moisture sources of 190 precipitation events in Beijing were analysed using the Hybrid Single-particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model, based on which we studied the relation between variations in precipitation O-18 and dynamics in moisture sources and atmospheric circulation in seasonal and interannual timescales. Categorization of 7 groups of moisture sources was performed, among which oceanic moisture sources presented lower O-18 in precipitation than continental moisture sources. The results show that seasonal variations of precipitation O-18 were caused by changes of moisture sources. In summer, moisture from proximal oceans dominated vapour transport to Beijing due to increasing monsoon strength and resulted in a relatively small variation of precipitation O-18. At the interannual timescale, the variations of O-18 in summer precipitation were related to dynamics in oceanic moistures, showing depleted values when the contribution of oceanic moistures, especially the proportion of long-distance oceanic moisture, was high. Further analysis indicated that changes of oceanic moisture sources were controlled by the strength of summer monsoons. These findings address the complexity of moisture sources in midlatitude monsoon areas and suggest that isotopic signals in precipitation have the potential to deduce changes in moisture sources and atmospheric circulation and can therefore serve for palaeoclimate reconstruction.

Dissolved trace element concentrations (Ba, Fe, Mn, Si, Sr, and Zn) were investigated in the Haicheng River near to the Liaodong Bay in Northeast China during 2010. Dissolved Ba, Fe, Mn, and Sr showed significant spatial variation, whereas dissolved Fe, Mn, and Zn displayed seasonal variations. Conditions such as water temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen were found to have an important impact on redox reactions involving dissolved Ba, Fe, and Zn. Dissolved Fe and Mn concentrations were regulated by adsorption or desorption of Fe/Mn oxyhydroxides and the effects of organic carbon complexation on dissolved Ba and Sr were found to be significant. The sources of dissolved trace elements were found to be mainly from domestic sewage, industrial waste, agricultural surface runoff, and natural origin, with estimated seasonal and annual river fluxes established as important inputs of dissolved trace elements from the Haicheng River into the Liaodong Bay or Bohai Sea.

Using multivariate statistical analysis, the study evaluated anthropogenic sources of river water contamination and their relationships with river water quality in the Haicheng River basin near to the Liaodong Bay in Northeast China. The results showed that nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) were identified as the main pollutants in the river water by factor analysis. Human population and elevational gradient were all significantly correlated with N, P, and other water quality variables in correlation analysis and explained chemical oxygen demand (COD), N, and P variables from 23.9% (TN) to 53.1% (NH3+-N) of the total variances in regression analysis, indicating that population and its distribution were all responsible for river contaminations, especially for COD, N, and P contaminations. The excessive applications of fertilizers and pesticides were all positively correlated with nitrogen variables and nitrogen pollution factor in correlation analysis, suggesting that agricultural activities were contributed to the river nitrogen pollution. Due to inadequate or lack wastewater treatment facilities, huge amounts of domestic sewage and industrial effluents were released into the river, becoming the predominant anthropogenic sources for the river water deterioration of COD, N, and P. Multivariate statistical analysis provided useful tools to correlate sources of contamination with water quality data. This approach will provide a better management for river pollution control in a human-driven river ecosystem.

Irrigation and fertilization both affect the water cycle in agricultural ecosystems. It is difficult to quantify root water uptake (RWU) which varies with crop development and seasons. In this study, a Bayesian mixing model (MixSIAR) coupling with dual stable isotopes (D and 18O) was used to quantify RWU patterns for winter wheat under different irrigation and fertilization treatments between 2014 and 2015 in Beijing, China. The main RWU depth during the greening-jointing, jointing-heading, heading-filling, and filling-harvest stages was 0–20 cm, 20–70 cm, 0–20 cm, and 20–70 cm, respectively, which showed water uptake proportions of 67.0%, 42.0%, 38.7%, and 34.9%, respectively. Significant differences in RWU patterns appeared between the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The main RWU depth increased gradually from 0–20 cm at the greening-jointing stage to 20–70 cm at the jointing-heading stage and 70–150 cm during the heading to harvest period in 2014. However, winter wheat primarily took up s...

The stable isotopic compositions (δD and δ18O) of precipitation were firstly investigated from May 2012 to November 2013 in the Jinshui River basin of the South Qinling Mts., China. The local meteoric water lines (LMWLs) based on all daily and monthly precipitation-weighted data were defined as δD = 8.32 δ18O + 12.57 (r 2 = 0.957, n = 47, p < 0.001) and δD = 8.11 δ18O + 11.59 (r 2 = 0.946, n = 15, p < 0.001), respectively. The fluctuations of daily deuterium excess (d-excess) values indicated the mixing moisture sources from the monsoon circulation during the rainy season and the local moisture recycling during the dry season in the river basin. The monthly precipitation-weighted values of d-excess confirmed the moisture sources and determined the temporal variations in moisture supply for the river basin. The precipitation amount and temperature effects were found to be significant, with amount gradient of - 0.06‰/mm for daily δ18O variability and temperature gradients of - 1...

Groundwater chemistry is diverse and complicated and is regulated by both natural hydrogeochemical and anthropogenic processes. Determining the governing processes and their influence on groundwater chemistry is very important to understand groundwater quality evolution and establish reasonable water management strategies. Main cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, and Sr2+), anions (Cl−, SO2−4, HCO−3, NO−3, and F−), and SiO2 and UV254 of 50 shallow groundwater samples were treated and analyzed. Factor analysis combined with ionic ratio and correlation analysis was used to identify the major hydrogeochemical processes responsible for the variation of hydrochemical components. Approximately 76% of the total variance of the data set can be explained by the four factors identified. Composing of Sr2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and electrical conductivity (EC), Factor 1 accounted for 25.67% of the total variances, and represented groundwater formation background and fundamental water–soil/rock interaction. Fa...