Environ Earth Sci (2014) 72:3901–3913 DOI 10.1007/s12665-014-3279-5 ORIGINAL ARTICLE A study of the interrelation between surface water and groundwater using isotopes and chlorofluorocarbons in Sanjiang plain, Northeast China Bing Zhang • Xianfang Song • Yinghua Zhang • Dongmei Han • Changyuan Tang • Lihu Yang • Zhongliang Wang • Tingyi Liu Received: 14 June 2013 / Accepted: 7 April 2014 / Published online: 27 April 2014 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Surface water and groundwater are the main recharged from Songhua river. The combination of stable water resources used for drinking and production. Assess- isotopes, tritium, and CFCs was an effectively method to ments of the relationship between surface water and study the groundwater ages and interrelation between sur- groundwater provide information for water resource man- face water and groundwater. Practically, the farmlands near agement in Sanjiang plain, Northeast China. The surface the river and under foot of the mountain could be culti- water (river, lake, and wetland) and groundwater were vated, but the farmlands in the central plain should be sampled and analyzed for stable isotopic (dD, d18O) controlled. composition, tritium, and chlorofluorocarbons concentra- tions. The local meteoric water line is dD = 7.3d18O–6.7. Keywords Hydrogen and oxygen isotopes Á The tritium (T) and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) contents in Chlorofluorocarbons Á Surface water Á Groundwater Á groundwater were analyzed to determine the groundwater Sanjiang plain ages. Most groundwater were modern water with the ages \50 years. The groundwaters in mountain area and near rivers were younger than in the central plain. The oxygen Introduction isotope (d18O) was used to quantify the relationship between surface water and groundwater. The Songhua, Surface water (river, lake) and groundwater are important Heilongjiang, and Wusuli rivers were gaining rivers, but water resources for life, agriculture, and industry. Assess- the shallow groundwater recharged from rivers at the ments of the interrelation between surface water and confluence area of rivers. At the confluence of Songhua and groundwater provide information for water resource man- Heilongjiang rivers, 88 % of the shallow groundwater agement. The three basic relationships between surface water (river) and groundwater are: (1) rivers gaining water from groundwater; (2) rivers losing water to groundwater; B. Zhang Á Z. Wang Á T. Liu (3) rivers gaining in some reaches and losing in other Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, reaches (Winter et al. 1998; Woessner 2000; Banks et al. Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China 2011). Not only the hydrogeological conditions, but also e-mail: [email protected] the human activities, such as agricultural irrigation, influ- B. Zhang Á X. Song (&) Á Y. Zhang Á D. Han Á L. Yang ence the relationship between surface water and ground- Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface water (Sophocleous 2002; Anderson 2005). Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural The application of environmental isotopes, especially Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China the hydrogen and oxygen, was used to study the interre- e-mail: [email protected] lation between surface water and groundwater widely and efficiently (Criss and Davisson 1996; Clark and Fritz 1997; C. Tang Hunt et al. 2005; Baskaran et al. 2009; Banks et al. 2011). Departments of Environmental Science and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Horticulture, Chiba University, The stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes were applied to Chiba, Japan assess the relationship and water exchange between surface 123 3902 Environ Earth Sci (2014) 72:3901–3913 water and groundwater. The estimation of groundwater age dramatically reduced by agricultural development during was the key factor to identify the time scale of the water the past 60 years (Zhou and Liu 2005; Song et al. 2008; exchange. The tritium (3H or T) and chlorofluorocarbon Zhang et al. 2009; Huang et al. 2010b) Most wetland (CFCs) concentrations in groundwater were measured to wasconverted to paddy field to ensure food security. The estimate the groundwater age (Oster et al. 1996; Szabo 79 % area of the paddy field is using irrigation system. et al. 1996; Boronina et al. 2005). Furthermore, about 67 % of the irrigation area is only using Among the many chemical components in groundwater, groundwater as the irrigation water resource (Fig. 1b). The tritium concentrations allow differentiation between use of water, especially groundwater, for agricultural pro- groundwater of different mobility (Seiler and Lindner duction caused the decline of water table. The innovative 1995). Tritium is probably the most commonly employed and sustainable research and technologies of water radioisotope used to identify modern recharge. It is a short- resource and quality are required to ensure agricultural lived isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of 12.43 years. production in Sanjiang plain (Pereira et al. 2002; Wang and The atmospheric testing of nuclear devices between 1952 Tian 2003). and 1962 generated a tremendous quantity of atmospheric The agricultural development affects the interrelation tritium. The final year of megaton tests generated a huge between surface water and groundwater, especially the peak, which appeared in the spring of 1963. The curve surface water and groundwater irrigation system (Winter from the input function for tritium will have a peak cor- et al. 1998). Groundwater is the main water resource for responding to that time. Using this peak, one can get the irrigation in Sanjiang plain, but the groundwater replen- mean residence time and infiltration rate of water (Lu et al. ishment analysis and the relationship between surface 2008). As the atmospheric concentration of tritium water and groundwater were seldom studied. The envi- declined, its use for quantifying recharge by estimating the ronmental isotopes (stable hydrogen and oxygen, tritium) age of groundwater became less reliable (International in water were analyzed to assess the interrelation between Atomic Energy Agency 2006). surface water and groundwater. The purposes of this study The CFCs are used to date groundwater comparing with were (1) to characterize the field measurement indicators the tritium dating technique (Clark and Fritz 1997). CFCs (EC, pH, and water temperature), stable isotopic compo- are the unwanted contaminants in our atmosphere, sition (d18O, dD), tritium contents, and CFC concentrations including CFC-11 (CCl3F), CFC-12 (CCl2F2), and CFC- in water; (2) to assess the groundwater ages using tritium 113 (C2Cl3F3). They were widespread used commercially contents and chlorofluorocarbons concentrations, and (3) to and industrially during the second half of the twentieth describe the relationship between surface water and century (Hurtley 2011). These compounds are resistant to groundwater. The conclusions were drawn for maintaining degradation, making them a useful marker for modern agricultural development and sustainable water groundwater. CFCs are detectable in groundwater that has management. been recharged since about 1940 or in mixtures of older water with post-1940 water (Szabo et al. 1996). The use of CFC concentrations in natural waters as a potential dating Study area tool was recognized (Thompson and Hayes 1979). Mea- surement of the concentrations of a number of CFCs pro- Regional hydrogeology vides a complementary tool groundwater dating based on isotope data. The Sanjiang plain (129°1102000–135°0501000E, 43°4905500– Sanjiang plain is one of the nine grain production bases 48°2704000N) is a vast area of alluvial floodplains in in China. The cultivated lands in Sanjiang plain are well northeast Heilongjiang province, China, with a total area of known for producing large quantities of high-quality beans 108,900 km2. The Wanda Mountain separated the plain and rice in recent decades. The irrigated rice or upland into two parts. The north of Wanda Mountain is the San- crops are planted with one harvest per year after marshland jiang low plain, which is deposited by the Heilongjiang, conversion. The majority of upland crops are wheat, corn, Songhua, and Wusuli rivers. The south is the Muling- and soybean. The crop grows from May to September. The Xingkai plain, located in the north shore of the Xingkai average grain yields of rice, wheat, corn, and soybean from (Khanka) lake. There are 23 counties, 52 state-owned 1978 to 2008 were 5.23, 2.81, 4.36, and 1.82 t/ha, farms, and eight forest industry bureaus in the plain; the respectively (Fig. 1a) (Heilongjiang Land Reclamation population is 8.1 million (1990) (He 2000). The Hei- Bureau 2009). The grain production is dependent on ade- longjiang river is the international boundary between quate water supply of the usable quality and large area of Russia (northern side) and China (southern side). The fertile farmland. There is the largest area of wetlands until Wusuli river also forms the boundary between China recently in Sanjiang plain. These wetlands have been (western side) and Russia (eastern side). The Xingkai lake 123 Environ Earth Sci (2014) 72:3901–3913 3903 (a) 1.0x107 (b) 250 Rice 6 8.0x10 Wheat ) 2 200 Corn m Jowar 8 6.0x106 Millet Soybean 150 Cultivation area Irrigation area 4.0x106 Surface water irrigation 100 Groundwater irrigation Sprinkler irrigation Grain output (Million t) 6 2.0x10 50 Cultivation and Irrigation area (10 0.0 0 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 Year Year Fig. 1 The increase of grain production from 1950 to 2008 (a) and irrigation area from 1990 to 2008 (b). Data from the Statistical yearbook of Heilongjiang reclamation area (Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Bureau 2009) is also the international lake; the northern part belongs to sandstone, and gravel. The thickness of the unconfined China, and the southern part belongs to Russia (Fig. 2a). aquifer is about 100–200 m in the Sanjiang low plain, The lengths of the Heilongjiang, Songhua, and Wusuli while it is about 40–80 m in the Muling-Xingkai plain rivers in Sanjiang plain are 406, 357, and 478 km, (Fig.