A study on variation mechanism of groundwater flow system in the Hohhot basin and its resources effect analysis

There are significant changes in the groundwater flow system of the Hohhot basin as the consequences of the intensive groundwater extractions during the recent decades. This study summarizes and analyses the procedure of the groundwater evolution pattern in this area based on the integrated analysis of the structural features of aquifers, the groundwater flow field and the dynamic characteristics of groundwater level. This procedure can be simplified into three evolutionary phases, and the groundwater exploitation is the primary factor inducing the changes in groundwater flow system. Groundwater budget approach is applied in this study to evaluate the status of the groundwater. After the comparison between these status and the historical records at the same area, dramatic differences between the recharge and discharge are observed in different evolutionary phases. This kind of differences are indicated extensively by the record of the aquifers which is a highly potential cause of the dramatic variations of the quantity of groundwater resources.Specifically, compared by the historical records, the quantity of the shallow groundwater resources decrease significantly, in contrast, there is slightly increase in the quantity of deep groundwater resources. The overall quantity of groundwater resources is decreasing. In summary, these changes demonstrate that the changes of the groundwater flow system in Hohhot basin have a significant influence on the local groundwater resources.