Asian Transboundary Aquifers Inventory and Mapping

Transboundary aquifer (TBA) is an aquifer system that exists in more than one state. As an important component of the groundwater system, proper management and rational utilization in trans-boundary aquifers are significantly important for promoting sustainable development and good-neighbor relationships. The Transboundary Aquifers will not implicate by the country’s political boundary as it follows the natural boundary lines. Within the frame work of the UNESCO''s International Hydrological Programme (IHP-VI & VII) activities for the International Shared Aquifer Resource Management (ISARM), the inventory on TBA in Asia both preliminary and detail has accomplished. Those TBAs are classified in to two types: regional and local grade. A of Asian Transboundary Aquifers Map has advanced. The updated map provides the situation of the regional TBAs identify as the actual shape. Countries with the TBAs should strengthen cooperation for coordination and joint management of groundwater resources in order to achieve sustainable use     

Study on the Climatic Change Features of Hebei Plain

Precipitation and groundwater are essential to water circulation and they mutually influence. Groundwater is the main water supply source in Hebei Plain. On the other hand, atmospheric precipitation infiltration recharge is the main supply source of the groundwater in this area. Therefore, the studies on Hebei Plain climatic change features are of great significance to further analyze the influences of climatic changes on groundwater resources. This paper selected 10 ground climatological stations in Hebei Plain in terms of daily precipitation and temperature data from 1961 to 2010 and analyzed the spatial-temporal evolution features of temperature and precipitation. The results showed that the minimum temperature of Hebei Plain in recent 50 years increased significantly; the maximum temperature basically is stable; and the mean temperature presents an obviously increasing trend. In the spatial distribution, it gradually decreases from southwest to northeast on the whole and gradually tends to increase from the coastal to inland. The precipitation in recent 50 years owns obvious interannual change features and spatial distribution features, with a trend of overall periodic decrease and significant decrease of extreme precipitation. The annual mean precipitation intensity and annual mean extreme precipitation intensity gradually increased from piedmont plain to coastal plain. Hebei Plain has a warming and drying development trend on the whole. In space, piedmont plain belongs to the high-temperature and few-water area; coastal plain lies in low-temperature and much-water area; and central plain is in transitional zone. The climatic change and human activities are two influential factors of groundwater resources. Further revealing of the climatic change features of different geomorphic types and measuring and distinguishing of the influences of climatic change and human activities on groundwater remain to be further explored.     

人类活动对别拉洪河流域水文情势的影响研究

为了研究人类活动对水文情势的影响,以别拉洪河流域1957～2004年水文、气象数据为基础,详细分析了降水量、蒸发量及径流量等要素的变化特征;利用累积滤波法、Kendal秩次相关法、径流量年内分配的不均匀系数和径流量的变差系数对径流量的变化及其趋势进行了分析;利用降水-径流双累积曲线法和Mann-Kendall法对径流量序列进行了突变检验;定量研究了人类活动对径流量的影响。结果表明,1957～2004年别拉洪河流域年径流量显著减少,1966年年径流量发生减少突变;人类活动对年径流量减少总量的影响率大于60％,是导致该流域水文循环要素发生变化的主导因素,其次才是年降水量。     

Understanding the origin and fate of nitrate in groundwater of semi-arid environments

Though nitrate enrichment in groundwater is a worldwide phenomenon and mainly related to human impact, processes leading to nitrate enrichment in scarcely inhabited semi-arid regions are not yet well understood. In those regions, elevated nitrate concentrations put additional pressure on the scarce water resources, as they pose a serious health risk. This study applies a multidisciplinary approach (hydrogeology, isotope hydrology, and geochemistry) to understand the origin and fate of nitrate in groundwater of the semi-arid Kalahari of Botswana. Our investigations suggest that nitrate in groundwater of the study area is of natural origin, leached from a pool in the unsaturated zone that was actively involved in the soil nitrogen cycle. The presence of active (minor) recharge was found, showing that nitrate may be transported into the groundwater under the present conditions. Yet, slow travel times of replenishing water and the low recharge amounts render the thick unsaturated zone into a long-term reservoir for nitrate. Being only little influenced by reactive processes, nitrate has a high persistency in the observed groundwater system. Concentration increases induced by the present land-use do not yet appear to affect the groundwater quality but may within decades.     

Development and decay of a lithalsa in Northern Québec: A geomorphological history

The complete life cycle of a permafrost mound is reconstructed from its growth until its degradation. The study site is a lithalsa, which is the subject of a long-term monitoring that includes geocryological observations, measurements of permafrost properties on cores, ground temperature measurements, and observations of landform changes. The landform likely grew as a palsa under cold climatic conditions in the past. The peat cover was subsequently eroded. Early stages of degradation are witnessed since 2003 as a new thermokarst pond is starting to form though mound collapse. Settlement of the structure has been observed, and a rim ridge has begun to form. Ultimately, the lithalsa shall disappear and be replaced by a circular thermokarst pond surrounded by a rampart, similar to many other ones in the study area. The monitoring of the thermal regime of the lithalsa illustrates the pattern of internal warming and points to the causes of its degradation.     

Modelling the time course of shade,temperature, and wood recovery in streams with riparian forest restoration

Action is increasingly being taken in New Zealand and elsewhere to restore ecological function to streams through planting of riparian zones. We used simulation modelling to explore the relative performance of three strategies to restore the riparian zone of a pastoral stream to native forest by: (1) passive regeneration; (2) planting then abandonment of a Pinus radiata plantation; and (3) active restoration by planting selected native trees. We linked the forest model LINKNZ with a shade and temperature model (sWAIORA), and a wood model (OSU_STREAMWOOD) to simulate recovery trajectories for key forest stream attributes in hypothetical streams (1.3–14.0 m channel width) in the central North Island, New Zealand. Both active restoration strategies outperformed passive regeneration in shade, temperature and stream wood volume for most of the simulation time (800 years). Although the abandoned pine plantation provided greatest shade initially (<100 years), active native planting provided the greatest benefits overall. In general, recovery of stream shade (and temperature) is expected within decades, is accelerated by deliberate planting, and is fastest in small streams in which thermal stress from sunlight exposure is greatest. However, full recovery of stream and riparian function may take centuries, being dependent on large trees providing wood to structure the channel.     

Groundwater control on the suspended sediment load in the Na Borges River, Mallorca, Spain

Groundwater dominance has important effects on the hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of river systems. Low suspended sediment concentrations and high water clarity are expected because significant inputs of sediment-free spring water dilute the suspended sediment generated by storms. However, in many Mediterranean rivers, groundwater dominance is characterised by seasonal alternations of influent and effluent discharge involving significant variability on the sediment transport regimes. Such areas are often subject to soil and water conservation practices over the centuries that have reduced the sediment contribution from agricultural fields and favour subsurface flow to rivers. Moreover, urbanisation during the twentieth century has changed the catchment hydrology and altered basic river processes due to its ‘flashy’ regime. In this context, we monitored suspended sediment fluxes during a two-year period in the Na Borges River, a lowland agricultural catchment (319 km²) on the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands). The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) was lower when the base flow index (i.e., relative proportion of baseflow compared to stormflow, BFI) was higher. Therefore, strong seasonal contrasts explain the high SSC coefficient of variation, which is clearly related to dilution effects associated with different groundwater and surface water seasonal interactions. A lack of correlation in the Q-SSC rating curves shows that factors other than discharge control sediment transport. As a result, at the event scale, multiple regressions illustrate that groundwater and surface water interactions are involved in the sedimentary response of flood events. In the winter, the stability of baseflow driven by groundwater contributions and agricultural and urban spills causes hydraulic variables (i.e., maximum discharge) to exert the most important control on events, whereas in the summer, it is necessary to accumulate important volumes of rainfall, creating a minimum of wet conditions in the catchment to activate hydrological pathways and deliver sediment to the drainage network. The BFI is also related to sediment delivery processes, as the loads are higher with lower BFI, corroborating the fact that most sediment movement is caused by stormflow and its related factors. Overall, suspended sediment yields were very low (i.e., < 1 t km^− 2 yr^− 1) at all measuring sites. Such values are the consequence of the limited sediment delivery attributable to soil conservation practices, low surface runoff coefficients and specific geomorphic features of groundwater-dominated rivers, such as low drainage density, low gradient, steep valley walls and flat valley floors.     

“集中降雨”与浅层承压井水位及区域地震活动关系的初步研究

以陕西省宝鸡市凤翔井为例,统计分析了2001-2006年降雨与地下水位之间的关系,发现"集中降雨"对浅井水位的影响较为明显,并在一定降雨量范围内呈指数关系.讨论了降雨通过荷载、进入断层面及改变地下水位埋深三个方面的作用改变了断层的有效应力,这种区域构造应力场的调整可能对区域中强地震活动具有触发作用.     

广东省两次流体宏观异常的落实

从外界干扰因素排除、区域构造活动异常鉴别、地下流体动力学等方面对广东省内出现的两次流体宏观异常进行了分析．讨论了引起异常的原因,从而排除了地震前兆的可能,对汶川地震后老百姓的“恐震”心理起到了安定作用。     

塔里木盆地现今地热特征

地温梯度和大地热流是揭示盆地现今热状态的重要参数,它们对理解盆地的构造-热演化过程及油气资源评价等方面均具有重要意义.利用塔里木盆地约470口井的地层测试温度资料和941块岩石热导率数据,本文计算了塔里木盆地38个新的大地热流数据,进而揭示了该盆地现今地热分布特征.研究表明,塔里木盆地现今地温梯度变化范围为17～32 ℃/km,平均为22.6±3.0 ℃/km;大地热流变化范围为26.2～65.4 mW/m²,平均为43.0±8.5 mW/m².与我国其他大中型沉积盆地相比,它表现为低地温、低大地热流的冷盆的热状态,但仍具有与世界上典型克拉通盆地相似的地热背景.整体而言,盆地隆起区地温梯度和热流相对较高,坳陷区地温梯度和热流则偏低.此外,我们还发现塔里木盆地现有的油气田区一般位于高地温梯度区域,这可能与下部热流体的向上运移和聚集有关.影响塔里木盆地现今地热特征的因素包括盆地深部结构、构造演化、岩石热物理性质、盆地基底构造形态和烃类聚集等.