Hydrochemical and Isotopic Insights Into Source, Controlling Processes, and Quality of River Water and Groundwater in an Arid Agricultural Area, Qaidam Basin, Northwest China.

Authors

Nuan Yang, Kuixue He, Xinming Song, Liang Guo, Chuntao Zhao, Guangcai Wang, Yong Xiao, Dingyi Di, Yuanling Zhang, Wanjun Jiang

Published in

Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation. Volume 98. Issue 6. Pages e70455.

Abstract

Water source and quality is the most important factor for region sustainable development, especially in the water-scarce arid agricultural regions. In the agricultural area of arid Qaidam Basin, water quality remains inadequately studied. Focusing on the Xiangride River Watershed in the southeastern Qaidam Basin, this research explores the recharge sources, hydrogeochemical evolution, and quality of river water and groundwater integrating correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and inverse geochemical modeling. Stable isotopic analysis indicates that river water and groundwater are derived from mountainous precipitation, and groundwater is recharged by lateral runoff and river seepage in the plain area. Most river water and groundwater samples exhibit relatively low TDS values of < 1000 mg/L, and groundwater exhibits more complex hydrochemistry compared with river water. Along the flow path, the hydrochemical types are marked by the HCO₃·Cl·SO₄-Na·Mg type for river water, which groundwater shows an evolution from Cl·HCO₃-Na·Mg to Cl·HCO₃·SO₄-Na·Ca·Mg and ultimately to HCO₃·Cl·SO₄-Na·Ca·Mg. The comprehensive analysis by PCA, major ions relationships and inverse geochemical modeling identifies that water-rock interactions including dissolution and precipitation of evaporites, carbonates, and silicates, together with cation exchange and mixing control the hydrochemical compositions. Water quality assessment based on EQWI, SAR, and Na% values classifies most river water and groundwater as "good" without obvious spatial variation, indicating that the overall water quality is adequate for domestic and agricultural uses. The attention needs to be made in certain area with relatively elevated groundwater NO₃ ^-. These findings provide a basis for the sustainable management of water resource in arid agricultural zones.

PMID:
42322057
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 20 Jun 2026.

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