Comparison of land surface scheme simulations with field observations versus atmospheric model output as forcing

ABSTRACT

The low density of meteorological stations in parts of Canada necessitates using numerical weather prediction (NWP)/assimilation output for hydrological modelling. In this study, comparisons are made of simulated land surface variables when using field observations versus NWP output as forcing for two well-instrumented sites: the mountainous and forested Marmot Creek Basin (MCRB) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and a prairie cropland/grassland site (Kenaston). The Canadian Land Surface Scheme 3.6 (CLASS) was used for modelling. The Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model with Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) was also used as forcing. There was good agreement between observed meteorology and GEM/CaPA, though some deficiencies in GEM/CaPA were identified: the effects of sub-grid topography on incoming radiation and wind speed were not accounted for at MCRB, and CaPA did not capture some convective rainfall events at Kenaston. CLASS simulations using both sets of forcing showed difficulties in simulating snow depth, soil moisture and evapotranspiration; certain difficulties were linked to GEM/CaPA deficiencies and/or CLASS. Both sets of forcing tended to overestimate the duration of snow cover at MCRB, but during different years. With GEM/CaPA as forcing, CLASS overestimated the duration of frozen soils. The GEM/CaPA precipitation difficulties at Kenaston degraded soil moisture simulations.

EDITOR A. Castellarin; ASSOCIATE EDITOR E. Volpi     

Hydrogeochemical evolution of Ordovician limestone groundwater in Yanzhou,North China

Major‐ion compositions of groundwater are employed in this study of the water–rock interactions and hydrogeochemical evolution within a carbonate aquifer system. The groundwater samples were collected from boreholes or underground tunnels in the Ordovician limestone of Yanzhou Coalfield where catastrophic groundwater inflows can be hazardous to mining and impact use of the groundwater as a water supply. The concentration of total dissolved solid (TDS) ranged from 961 to 3555 mg/l and indicates moderately to highly mineralized water. The main water‐type of the middle Ordovician limestone groundwater is Ca‐Mg‐SO₄, with SO₄^2‐ ranging from 537 to 2297 mg/l, and average values of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ of 455.7 and 116.6 mg/l, respectively. The water samples were supersaturated with respect to calcite and dolomite and undersaturated or saturated with respect to gypsum. Along the general flow direction, deduced from increases of TDS and Cl^‐, the main water–rock interactions that caused hydrogeochemical evolution of the groundwater within the aquifer were the dissolution of gypsum, the precipitation of calcite, the dissolution or precipitation of dolomite, and ion exchange. Ion exchange is the major cause for the lower mole concentration of Ca²⁺ than that of SO₄^2‐. The groundwater level of Ordovician aquifer is much higher than that of C‐P coal‐bearing aquifers, so the potential flow direction is upward, and the pyrite in coal is not a possible source of sulfate; additional data on the stable sulfur and oxygen isotopic composition of the sulfate may be helpful to identify its origin. Although ion exchange probably accounts for the higher mole concentration of Na⁺ than that of Cl^‐, the dissolution of aluminosilicate cannot be ruled out. The data evaluation methods and results of this study could be useful in other areas to understand flow paths in aquifers and to provide information needed to identify the origin of groundwater. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

塔河油田五区奥陶系碳酸盐岩岩溶地层测井响应特征

溶蚀孔洞是塔河油田奥陶系碳酸盐岩的主要储渗空间,因此研究碳酸盐岩岩溶测井响应特征以弄清其发育规律具有重要意义.在分析研究区内的岩溶地质特征之后,根据钻井揭示的岩溶型储集层,对岩心、测井特征进行了对比和归纳梳理,进而提炼了奥陶系岩溶发育带的测井响应特征.结合前人对岩溶风化壳发育的控制因素和分布特征的研究,依托岩心和成像测井资料刻度的岩溶带常规测井响应特征,在垂向上将岩溶层划分为表生岩溶带、垂直渗流岩溶带和水平潜流岩溶带,并对其分布规律进行了研究.结果表明:研究区地表岩溶带较发育,且基本属于未充填-半充填,是有利储集层发育的层位;潜流岩溶带不甚发育,基本被充填.总体上看,自东南向西北,溶洞发育带的分布密度逐渐增大,表明古岩溶作用的强度向西北方向逐渐增强.     

Effects of geological structures on rainfall-runoff responses in headwater catchments in a sedimentary rock mountain

Clarifying rainfall-runoff responses in mountainous areas is essential for disaster prediction as well as water resource management. Although runoff is considered to be significantly affected by topography, some previous studies have reported that geological structures also have significant effects on rainfall-runoff characteristics. Particularly in headwater catchments located in sedimentary rock mountains, dips and strikes may significantly affect rainwater discharge. In this study, the effects of geological structures on rainfall-runoff characteristics were investigated based on observed discharge hydrographs from 12 catchments, which lie radially from the summit of a sedimentary rock mountain. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Even though the topographic wetness index (TWI) distributions of the 12 catchments were similar, there were significant differences in their runoff characteristics; (2) Catchments with average flow direction oriented towards the strike direction (strike-oriented catchments) are characterized by large baseflows; (3) Catchments with average flow direction oriented towards the opposite dip direction (opposite dip-oriented catchments) are steep, and this results in quick storm runoff generation; (4) Catchments with average flow direction oriented toward the dip direction (dip-oriented catchments) are gentle, and this results in delayed storm runoff generation. It was presumed that in strike-oriented catchments, large quantities of groundwater flowing along the bedding planes owing to hydraulic anisotropy, exfiltrate and sustain the large amount of the observed baseflow, that is, in strike-oriented catchments, runoff is directly controlled by geological structures. Conversely, in opposite dip-oriented and dip-oriented catchments, runoff is indirectly controlled by geological structures, that is, geological structures affect slope gradients, which result in differences in storm runoff generation. Thus, this study clearly illustrates that geological structures significantly affect rainfall-runoff responses in headwater catchments located in sedimentary rock mountains.     

Using periodic hydrologic and geochemical sampling with limited continuous monitoring to characterize remote karst aquifers in the Kaweah River Basin,California, USA

Hydrogeologic field work in remote settings is often challenging: assessing spring behaviour and aquifer characteristics can be expensive in both time commitment and resources needed to assess these systems. In this study, we document the hydrology and geochemistry of 47 perennial karst springs in the Kaweah River, a mountain river basin in the Sierra Nevada, California. After preliminary hydrogeochemical characterization and grouping, selected springs were continuously monitored to further assess aquifer characteristics in each group. Later, in areas without previous dye‐tracing work, traces were conducted to establish connections between large sinking streams and springs. The springs have a wide range of inter‐spring and intra‐spring variability in discharge and geochemistry. We assessed this variability by performing statistical comparisons with spring chemistry and principal components analysis of all measured variables. Results show that springs can be divided into two distinct groups: high elevation springs of the Mineral King Valley and lower elevation springs throughout the rest of the basin. Continuous discharge, temperature and specific conductivity data from four springs (two from each group) were then used to characterize the hydrograph recession behaviour of springs in each group. Both groups showed statistically similar baseflow recession slopes, suggesting that both groups contain baseflow storage compartments with similar hydrogeologic properties. The biggest difference between each group is the variability in amount of water remaining in the aquifer during baseflow conditions. High elevation springs have lower baseflow discharges, relative to peak flow, than lower elevation springs, despite the fact that more precipitation falls at higher elevation. This is likely caused by differences in the amount of soil and epikarst storage, which are related to recent geomorphic events: high elevation aquifers were glaciated as recent as 41 thousand years ago (kya), while there is no evidence that low elevation aquifers were glaciated. As a result, lower elevations have developed thicker soils, weathered bedrock and epikarst. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial Variability of Surface Soil Moisture in a Depression Area of Karst Region

An understanding of soil moisture variability is necessary to characterize the linkages between a region's hydrology, ecology, and physiography. In subtropical karst region, the spatial variability of surface soil moisture is still unclear for the rocky ecological environment and intensive land uses. The purpose of this study was to characterize the variation and patterns of soil moisture content at depth of 0–16 cm and to investigate their influencing factors in a karst depression area of southwest China. Soil moisture content was measured at 20 m intervals by intensive sampling on March 11 (dry season) and August 30 (rainy season) in 2005, respectively. Surface soil moisture presented a moderate variability in the depression area at the sampling times. The variability was relatively higher in dry season with lower mean soil moisture, but lower in rainy season with higher mean soil moisture after heavy rain event. Similar results were also obtained from the mosaic patterns of soil moisture generated by ordinary Kriging interpolation with low standard deviations. This suggested that more soil samples might be required and the sampling interval should be shortened in dry season compared with rainy season. The dominant influencing factors on the variability of surface soil moisture were rainfall and land use types. However, altitude, bare‐rock ratio, and soil organic carbon were also important factors, and exerted jointly to control and redistribute the surface soil moisture either in dry or rainy season in the depression area. Such information provided some insights for the study on eco‐hydrological processes of vegetation restoration in the karst degraded ecosystem of southwest China.     

Trace elements in ferromanganese concretions,gibbsite spots,and the surrounding terra rossa overlying dolomite: Their mobilization,redistribution and fractionation

The mobilization, redistribution and fractionation of trace elements during chemical weathering processes have been investigated on a 4.05 m thick terra rossa profile overlying dolomite on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, in Southwest China. In this in situ weathering profile, the ferromanganese concretions and the gibbsite spots coexist in the terra rossa saprolite. The mass-balance evaluation reveals that titanium, Nb and Hf in the terra rossa matrix are conservative elements during chemical weathering compared to Zr. The elements of Li, Sc, V, Cr, Fe, Ga, As, Mo, Cs, Ce, Ta, Tl, Pb and Th in the terra rossa matrix include additions from external sources. Beryllium, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Rb, Ba and La are depleted in the shallow parts of the terra rossa profile and enriched in the deep parts. The elements of Zn, Sr, Y, Cd, Sn and U in the terra rossa profile are lost during weathering. Compared to the terra rossa matrix, the ferromanganese concretions are significantly enriched in most trace elements, especially Mn, Co, Cd, Ce, Tl and Pb. In contrast, the gibbsite spots are depleted in all trace elements, except for U. The results regarding specific inter-element relationships indicate that most trace elements have different inter-element relationships in the ferromanganese concretions, the gibbsite spots and the terra rossa matrix. This suggests that the behavior of many trace elements during mobilization and redistribution differs from their behavior during incorporation into secondary mineral phases, especially the Mn and Fe oxides and/or oxyhydroxides in the ferromanganese concretions. It is worthy to note that the fractionation between Ce and Mn occurs under intensive chemical weathering conditions. Correspondingly, beryllium exhibits a similar geochemical behavior as that of rare earth elements (except for Ce) and Y during surface weathering.     

基于活塞-指数混合模型的地下水可更新性研究

在分析研究区域水文地质条件的基础上,论述活塞-指数模型的适用条件,同时利用环境同位素氚的特征,将氚作为地下水系统输入和输出讯息.研究结果表明:活塞-指数模型适用于该区,计算得该区地下水滞留时间为36年,且相对传统方法具有方便、及时、可靠等特征.     

岩溶含水层渗漏污染弥散类型分析——以贵州废渣堆场污染为例

在贵州岩溶地区,由于废渣堆场产生渗漏,使强酸强碱性废水污染了岩溶含水层,直接影响了岩溶水资源的开发利用.通过10个工业废渣堆场的岩溶含水层介质特征及污染质运移特征的分析,划分出4种岩溶渗漏污染的水动力弥散类型,为岩溶含水层污染预测评价及渗漏污染治理提供了依据.     

塔里木盆地哈拉哈塘地区碳酸盐岩油气地质特征与富集成藏研究

塔里木盆地塔北隆起哈拉哈塘地区奥陶系由于现今构造位置低,埋深在6500~8000m,长期以来一直将其作为塔北隆起的一个次级凹陷单元,并认为是一个海相油气的生烃凹陷,制约了哈拉哈塘的油气勘探。本文通过对哈拉哈塘构造解析和沉降演化过程恢复,发现哈拉哈塘地区是从石炭纪才开始转为负向构造单元,加里东-早海西期,它属于轮南大型古潜山的西斜坡部位;奥陶系鹰山组-一间房组碳酸盐岩经历了多期岩溶的叠加改造,风化岩溶缝洞体储层发育。通过最新钻井资料及油气地球化学分析数据,证实哈拉哈塘奥陶系沉积时期不是生烃凹陷,不发育烃源岩,哈拉哈塘及其以北地区的油气是来自南部满西地区的中、上奥陶统烃源岩。油气藏解剖表明,哈拉哈塘地区在晚海西期成藏;三叠系沉积前北部构造抬升,导致奥陶系油藏遭受局部破坏和降解。自三叠纪沉积以来,奥陶系油藏一直处于持续深埋过程,盖层不断加厚,油藏基本保持了晚海西期成藏时的形态,因此,哈拉哈塘地区是一个古老的油气系统。油气成藏条件分析表明,哈拉哈塘地区油气成藏条件优越,生储盖条件配置良好,奥陶系碳酸盐岩岩溶储层广泛分布,并处在油气向古隆起高部位运移的有利路径上,具有大面积、准层状富集油气的特征。