Estimation of rainfall inputs and direct recharge to the deep unsaturated zone of southern Niger using the chloride profile method
TL;DR: In this paper, an estimate of direct groundwater recharge below a region of natural woodland (tiger bush) has been made in south-west Niger using the solute profile technique, which has been collected from a 77 m deep well drug within the study area covered by HAPEX-Sahel (Hydrological and Atmospheric Pilot Experiment), an international large-scale energy, water and carbon balance experiment carried out during the summer of 1992.
About: This article is published in Journal of Hydrology.The article was published on 1997-02-01. It has received 67 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Groundwater recharge & Water content.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the use of the chloride profile method in conjunction with the water balance method to estimate the annual groundwater recharge in both natural and irrigation sites in Luanjing Irrigation Area, Inner Mongolia.
Abstract: A study was carried out to investigate the use of the chloride profile method in conjunction with the water balance method to estimate the annual groundwater recharge in both natural and irrigation sites in Luanjing Irrigation Area, Inner Mongolia. Groundwater recharge from precipitation, estimated by the chloride profile method, is less than 0.1 mm year−1 which accounts for just 0.06% of the long-term average annual rainfall, indicating that rainfall presently plays a minor role in the groundwater recharge. It appears that recharge events only occurred after heavy rain or sustained rainfall events. In the cropped area, the chloride profile method indicated that the average annual recharge is 268 mm year−1 with an infiltration rate of 32.5%, which is reasonably consistent with the 33.1% obtained by the water balance method in 2007. The study shows that about one third of that water is discharged back to the groundwater.
9 citations
01 Sep 2010
TL;DR: The traditional development of water resources in arid areas has relied heavily on the use of groundwater as discussed by the authors, which uses natural storage, is spatially distributed and provides protection from the high evaporation losses experienced by surface-water systems.
Abstract: GROUNDWATER RESOURCES, GROUNDWATER MODELLING AND THE QUANTIFICATION OF RECHARGE The traditional development of water resources in arid areas has relied heavily on the use of groundwater. Groundwater uses natural storage, is spatially distributed and, in climates where potential evaporation rates can be of the order of metres per year, provides protection from the high evaporation losses experienced by surface-water systems. Traditional methods for the exploitation of groundwater have been varied, including the use of very shallow groundwater in seasonally replenished riverbed aquifers (as in the sand rivers of Botswana), the channelling of unconfined alluvial groundwater in afalaj (or qanats) in Oman and Iran, and the use of hand-dug wells. Historically, abstraction rates were limited by the available technology, and rates of development were low, so that exploitation was generally sustainable. However, in recent decades, pump capacities have dramatically increased and hence agricultural use of water has grown rapidly, while the increasing concentration of populations in urban areas has meant that large-scale well fields have been developed for urban water supply. A common picture in arid areas is that groundwater levels are in rapid decline; in many instances this is accompanied by decreasing water quality, particularly in coastal aquifers where saline intrusion is a threat. Associated with population growth, economic development and increased agricultural intensification, pollution has also become an increasing problem. The integrated assessment and management of groundwater resources is essential so that aquifer systems can be protected from pollution and over-exploitation.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a fast-filter approach based on empirical orthogonal function analysis was proposed for the delineation of groundwater recharge zones in a synthetic case study and to Taiwan's Yilan Plain.
8 citations
01 Jan 2015
8 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, a portion of the Gambier plain underlain by an unconfined aquifer with readily definable hydrologic boundaries has been divided into a number of areas within which soil types have similar hydrological properties, and mean annual recharge has been estimated for each area using both the tritium concentration and the chloride concentration of water within the soil profile.
Abstract: A portion of the Gambier Plain underlain by an unconfined aquifer with readily definable hydrologic boundaries has been divided into a number of areas within which soil types have similar hydrologic properties. Mean annual recharge has been estimated for each area using both the tritium concentration and the chloride concentration of water within the soil profile. Good agreement was obtained between the two methods with local recharge varying between 50 and 250 mm year-1. Total mean annual recharge for the area has been estimated to be 2.4 ± 0.3 x 108 m3 year-1, and this compares favourably with an estimated discharge of 2.5 ± 0.3 x 108 m3 year-1.
361 citations
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: A review of some of the physical, chemical and isotopic techniques available for estimating groundwater recharge can be found in this article, where the authors propose a model for estimating ground water recharge in arid and semi-arid regions.
Abstract: Groundwater recharge concepts.- Groundwater recharge concepts.- An unexpected factor affecting recharge from ephemeral river flow in SWA/Namibia.- On the continuity of aquifer systems on the crystalline basement of Burkina Faso.- Groundwater recharge estimation (Part 1): physical/chemical methods.- A review of some of the physical, chemical and isotopic techniques available for estimating groundwater recharge.- Evaporation in arid and semi-arid regions.- Satellite remote sensing and energy balance modeling for water balance assessment in (semi-)arid regions.- A proposed study of recharge processes in fracture aquifers of semi-arid Botswana.- Estimation of natural groundwater recharge under Saudi Arabian arid climatic conditions.- Solute profile techniques for recharge estimation in semi-arid and arid terrain.- Recharge estimation from the depth-distribution of environmental chloride in the unsaturated zone - Western Australian examples.- Natural recharge measurements in the hard rock regions of semi-arid India using tritium injection - a review.- Comparison of recharge estimates from injected tritium technique and regional hydrological modelling in the case of a granitic basin in semi-arid India.- Studies on natural recharge to the groundwater by isotope techniques in arid Western Rajasthan, India.- Groundwater recharge estimation (Part 2): numerical modelling techniques.- Numerical and conceptual models for recharge estimation in arid and semi-arid zones.- Methods for estimation of natural groundwater recharge directly from precipitation - comparative studies in sandy till.- The principles of inverse modelling for estimation of recharge from hydraulic head.- Estimating natural recharge of ground water by moisture accounting and convolution.- Natural ground water recharge estimation methodologies in India.- BALSEQ - a model for the estimation of water balances, including aquifer recharges, requiring scarce hydrologic data.- Applications and case studies.- Quantification of groundwater recharge in arid regions: a practical view for resource development and management.- Groundwater recharge studies in semi-arid Botswana - a review.- Rainfall-runoff-recharge relationships in the basement rocks of Zimbabwe.- Recharge characteristics of aquifers of Jeddah-Makkah Taif region.- Groundwater recharge and subsurface flow in the Comodoro Rivadavia area, Chubut Province, Argentina. Isotopic and hydrochemical study.- Groundwater recharge over Western Saudi Arabia.- Natural recharge of karst aquifers in Western Taurus region (southwestern Turkey).- Estimation of recharge of sand aquifer of the Island of Mannar Sri Lanka.- Groundwater recharge from three cheap and independent methods in the small watersheds of the rainforest belt of Nigeria.- Quantitative estimation of ground-water recharge in dolomite.- Quantitative estimation of ground-water recharge in the Pretoria-Rietondale area.- Analysis of long-duration piezometric records from Burkina Faso used to determine aquifer recharge.- Humid zone recharge: a comparative analysis.- Humid and arid zone groundwater recharge - a comparative analysis.- List of participants.
200 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a more general use of the filter-paper method for measuring soil-water potential over a very wide range of values is advocated, both for in situ and laboratory situations.
188 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the causes of crust formation and its effect on the infiltration rate are discussed on untilled soils, and the presence of a crust is a permanent feature on these soils.
Abstract: Sandy soils of the Sahel area in West Africa, mainly cropped to millet (Pennisetum typhoides) are very sensitive to crust formation Crusts strongly reduce infiltration capacity In this area most fields are gently sloping (1–3%) and hence runoff is a widespread phenomenon; on the average 25% of the rain (mainly in the form of a few large storms during the rainy season) is lost by runoff The causes of crust formation and its effect on the infiltration rate are discussed On untilled soils the presence of a crust is a permanent feature Rainfall characteristics play a key role in crust formation Major rainfall characteristics of the Sahel differ significantly from those of other semi-arid areas
166 citations
158 citations