Effect of Land-Use Change and Artificial Recharge on the Groundwater in an Arid Inland River Basin

The spatial-temporal variability of groundwater in an inland basin is very sensitive to human activity. This study focused on groundwater changes in the Alagan area within the Tarim Basin, China, with the aim of analyzing the effects of land-use change and artificial recharge on the response characteristics of groundwater. The distributed hydrological model MIKE SHE was introduced for modeling the influence of land use and artificial recharge on groundwater. Based on the runoff variation of this area, we selected three periods to simulate and analyze the response of groundwater. The results of land-use change indicated that there were significant changes from 1980 to 2000. The changed region accounted for 11.93 % of the total area, and the low coverage grasslands showed the greatest reduction. The simulation of hydrological processes before artificial recharge showed that the groundwater depths differed greatly with land-use types. Response analysis of groundwater to artificial recharge showed that the regions in which groundwater decreased were mainly distributed in grassland and bare land. Moreover, spatial autocorrelation coefficients indicated positive spatial autocorrelation of groundwater depths, but these began to reverse in 2010. Overall, land use and artificial recharge have a great influence on the time and spatial distribution of groundwater. Artificial recharge has played a positive role in improving groundwater conditions, but did not change the decreasing trend in time and space. The adaptation of environment to the decrease of groundwater presents as degradation. Groundwater conditions could be improved to some extent by the artificial recharge, but its change seems to be an irreversible process. Overall, this response study provides insight into estimations for exploration of water resources in arid areas. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013