A Study Of Groundwater In The Affected Zone Along The Yellow River And Its Reasonable Development

The Yellow River has a close relation with groundwater in the affected zone of the river in Henan Province. This paper focuses on the relationship between the Yellow River and groundwater.In this paper, a review of groundwater modeling is first given, which includes the history of numerical simulation models, the development of software of the models and the application of numerical simulation models and methods of environmental isotopes to groundwater studies. Secondly, the relationship between the Yellow River and groundwater along the river is studied. The zone affected by the Yellow River and cycling depth of the Yellow River water along the river is examined by means of the analysis of hydrogeologic conditions, groundwater hydraulics and environmental isotopes (D, 3H and 180) in the phreatic aquifer and the confined aquifer and the river water. The third part of this paper deals with groundwater modeling. Based on a conceptual model in the area, a 3-dimensional groundwater flow model is developed and calibrated by FEFLOW. Then the recharge resources, allowable withdrawal and potential capacity of groundwater are estimated by using the model. In the end, the distribution of groundwater table under groundwater development plans in this area is predicted with the model. The change in seepage from the Yellow River to the aquifers is calculated and the influence of the building of cutoff walls on groundwater is also discussed based on the model.The emphasis in this paper is on the groundwater resource evaluation under the conditions of groundwater wellfields and the cutoff walls. The results show that the depression cones of groundwater levels appear and contour lines of the water table change only around wellfields after the wellfield operated. The water table will tend to be stable in 10 years and the increased seepage from the Yellow River accounts for more than 65% of the exploitation capacity of the wellfields. The contour lines of the water table within 10 kilometers will be altered after the building of the cutoff walls. If the depth is 20 m and 45 m, the seepage from the Yellow River will decrease by 0.179× 108 m3/a and 0.254 × 108m3/a, respectively.