Evaluating performance of soil water movement and groundwater recharge
in an irrigated agricultural area of Yinchuan Plain, China
Lihu Yang1,211∗Correspondence to: Lihu Yang, Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and
Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and
Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, , Datun Road,
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
Email:yanglihu@igsnrr.ac.cn,
Xianfang Song1,2
Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes,
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, , Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
100101, People’s Republic of China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, People’s
Republic of China
Abstract:Surface irrigation has
been predominantly used for field crops in agriculture area to boost
agricultural yields and outputs, however, this may also raise
groundwater tables, salinize soils and reduce water quality due to poor
irrigation management. Therefore, it is essential for requiring a better
understanding of the hydrologic mechanisms related to soil water fluxes
(e.g., evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, deep percolation and
groundwater capillary rise) by surface irrigation. This study
investigated the impact of surface irrigation on soil water movement and
recharge to groundwater in the Yellow River irrigation area of Yinchuan
Plain, China. Combining comprehensive filed observation and stable
isotopic techniques, we described the soil water mechanism under two
land covers (bare ground or maize) in 2019 and 2020. The soil depths
affected by precipitation infiltration and evaporation were mainly 0-50
cm, while the soil influenced by irrigation was the entire profile in
the mode of piston flow. According to soil water potential variation
from 70 to 100 cm, we conclude that the maize root took up the soil
water up to the depth of 100 cm during the tasseling period. The
infiltration and capillary rise in 2020 were similar with those in 2019.
However, the total deep percolation was 156.6 mm in 2020 which was
smaller than that in 2019 because of the maize root water uptake. The
leakage of ditch was the major recharge resource of groundwater for the
fast water table rise. This study is critical for agricultural water
management to improve irrigation efficiency and water use efficiency in
arid regions.
Key words: Soil water movement, Groundwater recharge, Comprehensive
filed observation, Stable isotopes, Irrigated agricultural area