Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:17:42.216Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of climatic conditions on the permeability and hydraulic properties of the L5–S5 layers in the Loess Plateau, North Qinling Mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2020

Yao CHEN Open the ORCID record for Yao CHEN [Opens in a new window] ,
Hui QIAN  and
Kai HOU
Yao CHEN*
Affiliation:
Electric Power Research Institute, State Grid Fujian Electric Power Company Limited School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, China
Hui QIAN
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, China
Kai HOU
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: chenyao3715@chd.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A better understanding of the role of Quaternary-era climate change in the development of regional hydrology in the Loess Plateau and the impact on regional ecosystems is needed. In particular, a thorough examination of the permeability and recharge under different conditions in the fifth loess–palaeosol layer is required. The fifth loess–palaeosol layer is located at the southern edge of the Jinghe River in the Guanzhong Basin, and was examined to better understand these conditions. A constant head permeability test was conducted at 11 points that covered different stratum of loess–palaeosol, and 55 corresponding undisturbed soil samples were analysed for porosity, magnetic susceptibility, and grain size. Results showed that: (1) with an increase in hydraulic gradient, the permeability coefficient of the upper part of the loess and the lower part of the palaeosol showed contrasting characteristics – this phenomenon was closely related to climatic conditions during the sedimentary period, post-sedimentary microbial activity, and to certain properties relating to permeability in the strata under similar monsoon effects; (2) the Loess Plateau, alternately dominated by the East Asian summer and winter monsoons, exhibited different grain-size compositions in the sedimentary layer, which, in turn, made the permeability in the loess noticeably more stable than that in the palaeosol; and (3) different aquifer characteristics and recharge conditions between the loess–palaeosol layers can be primarily explained by the intensity of the pedogenesis, which depended on extreme dry-old glacial climates and relatively humid-warm interglacial climates. These findings show that climate change played an important role in influencing hydrological systems in the loess–palaeosol sequence.

Keywords

climate changeloess–palaeosolpermeation lawregional hydrology
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 235 - 245
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

6. References

Allen, J. R. M., Brandt, U., Brauer, A., Hubberten, H. W., Huntley, B., Keller, J., Kraml, M., Mackensen, A., Mingram, J., Negendank, J. F. W., Nowaczyk, N. R., Oberhänsli, H., Watts, W. A., Wulf, S. & Zolitschka, B. 1999. Rapid environmental changes in Southern Europe during the last glacial period. Nature 400, 740–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An, Z., Wu, G., Li, J., Sun, Y., Lu, Y., Zhou, W., Cai, Y., Duan, A., Li, L., Mao, J., Cheng, H., Shi, Z., Tan, L., Yan, H., Ao, H., Chang, H. & Feng, J. 2015. Global monsoon dynamics and climate change. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 43, 29–77.Google Scholar
Balsam, W., Ji, J. & Chen, J. 2004. Climatic interpretation of the Luochuan and Lingtai loess sections, China, based on changing iron oxide mineralogy and magnetic susceptibility. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 223, 335–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J., Wu, H. & Qian, H. 2016. Groundwater nitrate contamination and associated health risk for the rural communities in an agricultural area of Ningxia, northwest China. Exposure and Health Volume 8, 349–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J., Qian, H. & Wu, H. 2017. Nitrogen contamination in groundwater in an agricultural region along the New Silk Road, northwest China: distribution and factors controlling its fate. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 24, 13154–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J. & Qian, H. 2017. Characterizing replenishment water, lake water and groundwater interactions by numerical modeling in arid region a case study of Shahu Lake. Hydrological Sciences Journal 62, 104–13.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Li, X., Han, Z. & Yang, S. 2008. Chemical weathering intensity and element migration features of the Xiashu loess profile in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. Journal of Geosciences 18, 341–52.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Huo, W. X., Qian, H. & Li, B. C. 2020a. Research on Holocene loess erosion associated to climate evolution in China. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 1, 409–17.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Qian, H., Hou, K., Zhang, Q. Y. & Zhang, Y. T. 2020b. Vertical distribution characteristics of soil moisture with different strata in deep profile in Guanzhong Basin, China. Environmental Earth Sciences 79, 103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalai, T. K., Krishnaswami, S. & Sarin, M. M. 2002. Major ion chemistry in the headwaters of the Yamuna river system: chemical weathering, its temperature dependence and CO2 consumption in the Himalaya. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66, 3397–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, Q., Hong, H., Zhao, L., Furnes, H., Lu, H., Han, W., Liu, Y., Jia, Z., Wang, C., Yin, K. & Algeo, T. J. 2017. Tectonic uplift-influenced monsoonal changes promoted hominin occupation of the Luonan Basin: insights from a loess-paleosol sequence, eastern Qinling Mountains, central China. Quaternary Science Reviews 169, 312–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, C. F., Bian, Z. H., Xi, J. J. & Zhao, J. B. 2018. Spatial distribution characteristics of soil moisture in different types of sand dune in the Mu Us Sandy Land, adjacent to north of Chinese Loess Plateau. Environmental Earth Sciences 77, 151.1–151.12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorbarenko, S. A., Goldberg, E. L. V., Kashgarian, M., Velivetskaya, T. Y. A., Zakharkov, S. P., Pechnikov, V. S., Bosin, A. A. E., Psheneva, O. Y. E. & Ivanova, E. D. 2007. Millenniumm scale environment changes of the Okhotsk Sea during last 80 kyr and their phase relationship with global climate changes. Journal of Oceanography 63, 609–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, Z., Biscaye, P., Wei, L., Chen, X., Peng, S. & Liu, T. 2000. Summer monsoon variations over the last 1.2 Ma from the weathering of loess-soil sequences in China. Geophysical Research Letters 27, 1751–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C. C., Pang, J., Su, H., Li, S. & Ge, B. 2009. Holocene environmental change inferred from the loess-palaeosol sequences adjacent to the floodplain of the Yellow River, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 2633–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, T., Pang, Z. & Edmunds, W. M. 2013. Soil profile evolution following land-use change: implications for groundwater quantity and quality. Hydrological Processes 27, 1238–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, H., Guo, G., Cai, X., Thompson, J. A., Xu, H. & Zhong, N. 2016. Geochemical evidence of windblown origin of the Late Cenozoic lacustrine sediments in Beijing and implications for weathering and climate change. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 446, 32–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G., Heller, F., Liu, X. M., Xu, T. C., Liu, T. S. & An, Z. S. 1998. Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility. Geology 16, 811–14.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. & An, Z. S. 1989. Loess stratigraphy in central China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 72, 203–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, P. Y., Qian, H., Wu, J. H., Zhang, Y. Q. & Zhang, H. B. 2013a. Major ion chemistry of shallow groundwater in the Dongsheng Coalfield, Ordos Basin, China. Mine Water and the Environment 32, 195–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, P. Y., Wu, J. H. & Qian, H. 2013b. Assessment of groundwater quality for irrigation purposes and identification of hydrogeochemical evolution mechanisms in Pengyang County, China. Environmental Earth Sciences 69, 2211–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Q. S., Jin, C. S., Hu, P. X., Jiang, Z. X., Ge, K. P. & Andrew, P. R. 2015. Magneto stratigraphy of Chinese loess-paleosol sequences. Earth-Science Reviews 150, 139–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, T. S. & Ding, Z. L. 1998. Chinese Loess and the paleomonsoon. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 26, 111–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X. 2015. The response of infiltration depth, evaporation, and soil water replenishment to rainfall in mobile dunes in the Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China. Environmental Earth Sciences 73, 8699–708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, L. Q., Fang, X. M., Lu, H. Y., Han, Y. X., Yang, S. L., Li, J. J. & An, Z. S. 2004. Millennial-scale climate change since the last glaciation recorded by grain sizes of loess deposits on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Chinese Science Bulletin 49, 1157–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, Y. X., Wang, X. P., Zhang, Y. F. & Rui, H. 2015. Spatio-temporal variability of root zone soil moisture in artificially revegetated and natural ecosystems at an arid desert area, NW China. Ecological Engineering 79, 100–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, S. Z., Hao, Q. Z., Frank, O. & Guo, Z. T. 2014. Release of iron from chlorite weathering and links to magnetic enhancement in Chinese loess deposits. Catena 117, 43–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, H. & Li, P. Y. 2011. Hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater in Yinchuan plain and their control factors. Asian Journal of Chemistry 23, 2927–38.Google Scholar
Rao, Z., Chen, F., Cheng, H., Liu, W., Wang, G. A., Lai, Z. & Bloemendal, J. 2013. High- resolution summer precipitation variations in the western Chinese Loess Plateau during the last glacial. Scientific Reports 3, e2785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reyaz, A. D., Rakesh, C., Shakil, A. R. & Nazia, K. 2015. Micromor-phological investigations of the Late Quaternary loess-paleosol sequences of the Kashmir Valley, India. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 111, 328–38.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W. F., Raymo, M. F., Martinson, D. G., Clement, B. M. & Backman, J. 1989. Pleistocene evolution: northern hemisphere ice sheet and Northern Atlantic Ocean. Paleoceanography 4, 353–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, A. K., Mondal, G. C., Kumar, S., Singh, T. B., Tewary, B. K. & Amalendu, S. 2008. Major ion chemistry, weathering processes and water quality assessment in upper catchment of Damodar River basin, India. Environmental Geography 54, 745–58.Google Scholar
Song, Y. G., Chen, X. L., Qian, L. B., Li, C. X., Li, Y., Li, X. X., Chang, H. & An, Z. S. 2014. Distribution and composition of loess sediments in the Ili Basin, Central Asia. Quaternary International 334, 61–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T., Thomas, D. S. G., Armitage, S. J., Lunn, H. R. & Lu, H . 2007. Reinterpreting climate proxy records from late Quaternary Chinese Loess Plateau. Qualitative Research 64, 234–41.Google Scholar
Torrent, J., Liu, Q., Bloemendal, J. & Barron, V. 2007. Magnetic enhancement and iron oxides in the upper Luochuan loess-paleosol sequence, Chinese Loess Plateau. Soil Science Society of America Journal 71, 1570–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, L. P., Huang, T. T., Yang, G. P., Lu, C.Y., Dong, F.L., Li, Y.L., & Guan, W. S. 2019a. The precursor-guided hydrothermal synthesis of CuBi2O4/WO3 heterostructure with enhanced photoactivity under simulated solar light irradiation and mechanism insight. Journal of Hazardous Materials 381, 120956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, L. P., Yang, G. P., Wang, D., Lu, C.Y., Guan, W.S., Li, Y.L., Deng, J. & John, C. 2019b. Fabrication of the flower-flake-like CuBi2O4/Bi2WO6 heterostructure as efficient visible-light driven photocatalysts: performance, kinetics and mechanism insight. Applied Surface Science 495, 143521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, S. J. 2005. Perspectives on hominid behaviour and settlement patterns: a study of the lower Paleolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, China. BAR International Series, 1406. Archaeopress, Oxford, 248 pp.Google Scholar
Wang, W. W., Sun Q, Y., Zhang, M., Qiang, Y. & Liu, M. 2018. Spatial variation of saturated hydraulic conductivity of a loess slope in the South Jingyang Plateau, China. Engineering Geology 236, 70–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Z., Wang, L., Liu, L. & Zheng, Q. 2007. Preliminary study on the spatiotemporal distribution of moisture content in sand dunes in the southern marginal zone of the Mu Us Desert. Arid Zone Research 24, 61–65. [In Chinese.]Google Scholar
Wu, H., Li, X. & Qian, H. 2018. Detection of anomalies and changes of rainfall in the Yellow River Basin, China, through two graphical methods. Water 10, 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, H., Li, X., Qian, H. & Chen, J. 2019. Improved partial trend method to detect rainfall trends in Hainan Island. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 137, 2539–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, H. & Qian, H. 2016. Innovative trend analysis of annual and seasonal rainfall and extreme values in Shaanxi, China, since the 1950s. International Journal of Climatology 37, 2582–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Q. X. & Zhao, J. B. 2002. The change characteristic of moisture content of loess stratum in the Xi'an area. Geoscience 4, 435–38. [In Chinese.]Google Scholar
Yang, Z., Qiao, J., Uchimura, T., Wang, L., Lei, X. & Huang, D. 2017. Unsaturated hydro- mechanical behaviour of rainfall-induced mass remobilization in post- earthquake landslides. Engineering Geology 222, 102–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeede, C., Hambach, U., Veres, D., Fitzsimmons, K., Obreht, I., Bösken, J. & Lehmkuhl, F. 2017. Millennial scale climate oscillations recorded in the Lower Danube loess over the last glacial period. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2016, S0031018216309051.Google Scholar
Zhang, F., Jin, Z. & Li, F. 2013. The dominance of loess weathering on water and sediment chemistry within the Daihai Lake catchment, northeastern Chinese Loess Plateau. Applied Geochemistry 35, 51–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J. B., Cao, J. J., Shao, T. J., Liu, R., Yue, Y. L. & Du, J. 2012a. The discovery and study of silver sulfate mineral in S5 from the eastern suburb of Xi'an. Science China Earth Sciences 55, 456–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J. B., Long, T. W., Wang, C. Y. & Zhang, Y. 2012b. How the Quaternary climatic change affects present hydrogeological system on the Chinese Loess Plateau: a case study into vertical variation of permeability of the loess-palaeosol sequence. Catena 92, 179–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J. B., Ma, Y. D., Cao, J. J., Wei, J. P. & Shao, T. J. 2015. Effect of Quaternary climatic change on modern hydrological systems in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau. Catena 73, 1161–67.Google Scholar
Zhao, J. B., Ma, Y. D., Luo, X. Q., Yue, D. P., Shao, T. J. & Dong, Z. B. 2017. The discovery of surface runoff in the megadunes of Badain Jaran Desert, China, and its significance. Science China Earth Sciences 60, 707–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar