Abstract
Groundwater is a significant component of the hydrological cycle in arid and semi-arid areas. Its evapotranspiration is an important part of the water budget because many plants are groundwater-dependent. To restore the degraded ecosystems, the need is pressing to further our understanding of the groundwater evapotranspiration (ETg) in arid and semi-arid areas. This study employed the White method to estimate ETg at four sites in the Mu Us Sandy Land in northern China, and the four sites are covered by Salix psammophila (SP site), Artemisia ordosica (AO site), Poplar alba (PA site), and Carex enervis (CE site), respectively. The depth of groundwater table and the duration of drainage were taken into account in calculating the specific yield (Sy) to improve the accuracy of the ETg estimats. Our results showed that from late May to early November 2013 the ETg were 361.87 (SP site), 372.53 (AO site), 597.86 (PA site) and 700.76 mm (CE site), respectively. The estimated ETg rate was also species-dependent and the descending order of the ETg rate for the four vegetation was: C. enervis, P. alba, A. ordosica, and S. psammophila. In addition, the depth of groundwater table has an obvious effect on the ETg rate and the effect varied with the vegetation types. Furthermore, the evapotranspiration for the vegetation solely relying on the water supply from unsaturated layers above the groundwater table was much less than that for the vegetation heavily relying on the water supply from shallow aquifers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brooks R H, Corey A T. 1964. Hydraulic Properties of Porous Media. Hydrology Paper No.3. Fort Collins Colorado: Colorado State University.
Butler J J, Kluitenberg G J, Whittemore D O, et al. 2007. A field investigation of phreatophyte-induced fluctuations in the water table. Water Resources Research, 43(2): W02404, doi: 10.1029/2005WR004627.
Cheng D H, Wang W K, Chen X H, et al. 2011. A model for evaluating the influence of water and salt on vegetation in a semi-arid desert region, northern China. Environmental Earth Sciences, 64(2): 337–346.
Cheng D H, Li Y, Chen X H, et al. 2013. Estimation of groundwater evapotranspiration using diurnal water table fluctuations in the Mu Us Desert, northern China. Journal of Hydrology, 490: 106–113.
Cooper D J, Sanderson J S, Stannard D I, et al. 2006. Effects of long-term water table drawdown on evapotranspiration and vegetation in an arid region phreatophyte community. Journal of Hydrology, 325(1–4): 21–34.
Duke H R. 1972. Capillary properties of soils-influence upon specific yield. Transactions of the ASAE, 15(4): 688–691.
Fang Y, Mu Z Z, Wang Y H, et al. 2006. Transpiration characteristics and its influencing factors of sixteen polar clones. Journal of Shandong University, 41(6): 168–172. (in Chinese)
Feng Q, Peng J Z, Li J G, et al. 2012. Using the concept of ecological groundwater level to evaluate shallow groundwater resources in hyperarid desert regions. Journal of Arid Land, 4(4): 378–389.
Freeze R, Cherry J. 1979. Groundwater. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Gatewood J S, Robinson T W, Colby B R, et al. 1950. Use of Water by Bottom-Land Vegetation in Lower Safford Valley Arizona. US Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1103. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Gerla P J. 1992. The relationship of water-table changes to the capillary fringe, evapotranspiration, and precipitation in intermittent wetlands. Wetlands, 12(2): 91–98.
Loheide S P, Butler J J, Gorelick S M. 2005. Estimation of groundwater consumption by phreatophytes using diurnal water table fluctuations: a saturated-unsaturated flow assessment. Water Resources Research, 41(7): W07030.
Nachabe M H. 2002. Analytical expressions for transient specific yield and shallow water table drainage. Water Resources Research, 38(10): 11-1–11-7.
Rosenberry D O, Winter T C. 1997. Dynamics of water-table fluctuations in an upland between two prairie-pothole wetlands in North Dakota. Journal of Hydrology, 191(1–4): 266–289.
Tromble J M. 1997. Water requirements for mesquite (Prosopis juliflora). Journal of Hydrology, 34(1–2): 171–179.
Troxell H C. 1936. The diurnal fluctuation in the ground-water and flow of the Santa Ana river and its meaning. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 17(2): 496–504.
White W N. 1932. A method of estimating ground-water supplies based on discharge by plants and evaporation from soil: results of investigations in Escalante valley, Utah. In: US Geological Survey, Water-Supply Paper 659-A, U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey.
Xu H F, Jin Y M, Liu X T, et al. 2008. The diurnal variation of transpiration and its relation to environmental factors for Carex meyeriana with varied pH. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage, 27(3): 112–115. (in Chinese)
Yan F, Wu B, Wang Y J. 2013. Estimating aboveground biomass in Mu Us Sandy Land using Landsat spectral derived vegetation indices over the past 30 years. Journal of Arid Land, 5(4): 521–530.
Yang Y Q, Xu H F, Jin Y M, et al. 2005. Diurnal variation of transpiration rate of Carex meyeriana and its relationship with environmental factors under different water conditions. Journal of Northeast Forestry University, 33(6): 52–54. (in Chinese)
Zhang C X, Zhang Q L, Chang J B. 2007. Diurnal variations of moisture physiology characteristic of a few plants in Hobq Desert. Journal of Nanjing Forestry University (Natural Sciences Edition), 31(4): 81–84. (in Chinese)
Zhang W J, Sun B P, Zhao T N, et al. 2004. A preliminary study on the transpiration rate hydrograph of Aneurolepidium dasystachys (Trin.) in its procreate period in the southern border of Mu Us Sandy Land. Research of Soil and Water Conservation, 11(3): 37–40. (in Chinese)
Zhang Z S, Li X R, Wang X P, et al. 2005. Evaporation and transpiration in re-vegetated desert area. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 25(10): 2484–2490. (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41072184, 41472220) and the Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Central Colleges, Chang’an University (310829162015). The authors thank WANG Yuhong, REN Lu, YU Xin and CHENG Yijie for performing partial field work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Deceased
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cheng, D., Duan, J., Qian, K. et al. Groundwater evapotranspiration under psammophilous vegetation covers in the Mu Us Sandy Land, northern China. J. Arid Land 9, 98–108 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0095-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0095-7