Storage Environments And Exploration Methods Of Groundwater In Western Baoding Mountainous Region

Western Baoding Mountainous region is located in the north-eastern part of Taihang Mountain Range, covering 11,500 square kilometers, where both the surface water and the groundwater are distributed unevenly. For economic and technical reasons, surface water is difficult to be used and groundwater is the only option as drinking water source in most of the towns and villages. The dydrogeological conditions are so complicated that much of the groundwater exploration projects are not successful and local people have to suffer from serious drinking water shortage, same as their forefathers.This research incorporated existing achievements and conducted supplementary survey projects, such as field investigation, RS, geophysical exploration and drilling. Based on these works, different types of storage environments and optimal combination of groundwater exploration methods have been systematically studied and summarized.According to water-bearing media, storage environments of groundwater can be divided into weathered crust, clastic structural fracture, karst structural fracture, and unconsolidated formation.TM/ETM (1:50,000) and IKONOS (1:10000) data are selected as RS data sources, from which the structural, lithological and hydrogeological information can be extracted through multifunctional image processing, such as amplification and wave filtering.Electromagnetic depth sounding method is applied mainly for prospecting the strata structure and the degree of karst development. Audiomagnetotelluric method is often firstly applied to prospect the structure zones, then the induced electrical sounding method are applied to judge the water yield property of these zones. Under adverse grounding circumstances, transient electromagnetical depth sounding method is adopted to prospect the spatial distribution of structure zones.Pneumatic hammer is applied in prospect drilling, which can enhance drilling efficiency and overcome the difficulty of water supply during the operation.The optimal combination plan follows a step-by-step approach i.e. hydrogeological analysis→RS geological survey→geophysical prospecting→drilling.This research firstly proposed typical storage patterns of groundwater in Western Baoding Mountain Region, and provide a series of corresponding technique combination plans, which can guide the exploration of groundwater in Taihang Mountain Range, and then help to solve the problems of drinking water shortage for local people and livestocks.