Arid Zone Research ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (6): 1497-1505.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2021.06.01

• Water Resources and Utilization •     Next Articles

Characteristics and indication of hydrochemistry and environmental isotopes of different water sources in the Ulungur River basin

TIAN Hua(),XIN Tuo,LI Jinfang,YANG Jiayi,XIE Zufeng   

  1. College of Geology and Environment, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, Shaanxi, China
  • Received:2020-12-24 Revised:2021-03-01 Online:2021-11-15 Published:2021-11-29

Abstract:

The hydrochemical and isotopic characteristics of water bodies are important indicators of hydrological processes. To ascertain hydrochemical and isotopic characteristics and reveal the relationship and formation mechanisms of different waters in the Ulungur River Basin, hydrochemistry and isotope datasets in 2018 were analyzed using mathematical statistics, Gibbs diagrams, ion ratios, and Piper diagrams. The results showed that hydrochemical composition of rivers was mainly affected by rock weathering, evaporation, and mixing. The river hydrochemical type was HCO3·SO4-Ca·Na and the lake hydrochemical type was SO4·Cl-Na, which was mainly affected by evaporation. Groundwater was influenced by rock weathering, evaporation, and cation exchange. Phreatic water was HCO3·SO4-Ca·Na or SO4·HCO3-Na·Ca, while confined water was Cl·SO4-Na. The Piper diagram of each water body showed surface water and phreatic water will further evolve toward Cl·SO4-Na. The isotope values of different water bodies showed the following relationship: Ulungur Lake>Jili Lake>Ulungur River>phreatic water>confined water. Samples from the various water sources were scattered on both sides of local meteoric water line (δD = 6.49δ18O-8.63), which indicated isotopic composition was affected by evaporation and precipitation. Influenced by geology, geomorphology, and lithological structure of the strata, phreatic water was closely related to surface water and weakly to confined water. The river was mainly recharged by phreatic water, while local hydraulic connections existed between phreatic water and confined water.

Key words: Ulungur River basin, hydrochemistry, stable isotopes, formation mechanism, interaction relationship