scholarly journals Depth-Dependent Seasonal Variation of Soil Water in a Thick Vadose Zone in the Badain Jaran Desert, China

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyi Zhou ◽  
Xu-Sheng Wang ◽  
Peng-Fei Han
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuation ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Badain Jaran Desert ◽  
Depth To Water Table ◽  
Different Seasons ◽  
Zone Depth

In a vadose zone the soil water content can change seasonally, driven by seasonal variations of meteorological factors. This dynamic behavior is depth-dependent, which controls the groundwater recharge from infiltration, and plays an essential role in the environments in arid and semi-arid regions. In particular, the depth-dependent seasonal variations of soil water were investigated in the Badain Jaran Desert (BJD), China, where the vadose zone is thick. The monitoring results showed that the amplitudes of temperature and soil moisture content in the shallow vadose zone (depth < 3 m) significantly decrease with depth. For the deep vadose zone (depth >3 m), the depth-dependent dynamic was synthetically estimated with both numerical and analytical models. Results show that the penetration depth of seasonal fluctuation is about 47 m, below which the infiltration flux stabilizes at a level of 30.7 ± 4 mm/yr. The depth to water table in the BJD is generally larger than 50 m, up to 480 m. As a consequence, groundwater recharge from infiltration in this area almost does not change in different seasons.

scholarly journals Diurnal pattern of the drying front in the desert and its application for determining the effective infiltration

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1021-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zeng ◽  
Z. Su ◽  
L. Wan ◽  
Z. Yang ◽  
T. Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Rainfall Event ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Badain Jaran Desert ◽  
Hydrological Process ◽  
Diurnal Pattern ◽  
Variation Pattern

Abstract. Located in western Inner Mongolia, the Badain Jaran Desert is the second largest desert in China and consists of a regular series of stable megadunes, among which over 70 permanent lakes exist. The unexpected lakes in desert attracted research interests on exploring the hydrological process under this particular landscape; however, a very few literatures exist on the diurnal and spatial variation of the drying front in this area, which is the main issue in the desert hydrological process to characterize the movement of water in soil. In order to understand the drying front in the Badain Jaran Desert, a field campaign was conducted by the observations of soil physical parameters and micrometeorological parameters. With the field data, the performance of a vadose zone soil water balance model, the HYDRUS, was verified and calibrated. Then, the HYDRUS was used to produce the spatial and temporal information of coupled water, water vapour and heat transport in sand to characterize the variation pattern of the drying front before, during and after the rainfall. Finally, the deepest drying front was applied to determine the effective infiltration, which is defined as the amount of soil water captured by the sand beneath the deepest drying front by infiltrating water of an incident rainfall event.

scholarly journals Assessing groundwater recharge and transpiration in a humid northern region dominated by snowmelt using vadose-zone depth profiles

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2315-2329
Author(s):  
Lamine Boumaiza ◽  
Romain Chesnaux ◽  
Julien Walter ◽  
Christine Stumpp
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Depth Profiles ◽  
Zone Depth

scholarly journals Diurnal pattern of the drying front in desert and its application for determining the effective infiltration

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 703-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zeng ◽  
Z. Su ◽  
L. Wan ◽  
Z. Yang ◽  
T. Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Rainfall Event ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Badain Jaran Desert ◽  
Hydrological Process ◽  
Diurnal Pattern ◽  
Variation Pattern

Abstract. Located in western Inner Mongolia, the Badain Jaran Desert is the second largest desert in China and consists of a regular series of stable megadunes, among which over 70 permanent lakes exist. The unexpected lakes in desert attracted research interests on exploring the hydrological process under this particular landscape; however, a very few literatures exist on the diurnal and spatial variation of the drying front in this area, which is the main issue in the desert hydrological process to characterize the movement of water in soil. In order to understand the drying front in the Badain Jaran Desert, a field campaign was conducted by the observations of soil physical parameters and micrometeorological parameters. With the field data, the performance of a vadose zone soil water balance model, the HYDRUS, was verified and calibrated. Then, the HYDRUS was used to produce the spatial and temporal information of coupled water, water vapour and heat transport in sand to characterize the variation pattern of the drying front before, during and after the rainfall. Finally, the deepest drying front was applied to determine the effective infiltration, which is defined as the amount of soil water captured by the sand beneath the deepest drying front by infiltrating water of an incident rainfall event.

Water dynamics and groundwater recharge in a deep vadose zone

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoqiang Ju ◽  
Xiaoxin Li ◽  
Chunsheng Hu
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Water Dynamics ◽  
Soil Water Dynamics ◽  
Pressure Transducers ◽  
The North ◽  
Transient Data

Understanding soil water dynamics and accurately estimating groundwater recharge are essential steps in achieving efficient and sustainable management of groundwater resources in regions with deep vadose zones. The objective of this study was to understand transient data and the dynamics nature of water from deep sections at the thick vadose zone, and to estimate groundwater recharge by applying Darcy's law of unsaturated water fluxes. The study was conducted during year 2009–2013 at Luancheng Agro-ecosystem Experimental Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is located in the North China Plain. The water contents were measured with water probes and matric suctions using pressure transducers at depths of 9 and 11 m and were combined with laboratory measurements of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity to estimate groundwater recharge. The results indicated that the soil water content at 9- and 11-m depths increased following the rainy season and then gradually stabilized. And the intensity and continuity of precipitation events played an important role in soil water changes. The soil water dynamics between different depths (9 and 11 m) indicated a time lag (approximately 5–11 days). The groundwater recharge ranged from 7.60 to 19.75 mm resulting from hysteresis over the study period.

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