Spatial distribution characteristics of irrigation water quality assessment in the Central-Western Guanzhong Basin, China

Abstract

Abstract Groundwater plays an important role for agricultural irrigation in the Guanzhong Basin. In order to investigate its spatial distribution characteristics of groundwater suitability for irrigation in the central-western Guanzhong Basin, total 97 groundwater samples were collected and analysed. Four indicators, including sodium percentage (Na%), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH), and potential salinity (PS), were selected to evaluate the groundwater for irrigation use. The results show that the groundwater in the southern and western areas is more suitable for irrigation than that in the northern and central areas of the basin. Besides, the consistent evaluation results are obtained based on these four indicators, which indicates that they are applicable for the assessment of groundwater irrigation use in study area. Furthermore, the findings of this study would provide guidance for spatial management decision of irrigation groundwater in the central-western Guanzhong Basin.