Evaluation of spatial interpolation methods for groundwater level in an arid inland oasis, northwest China

The Wuwei oasis, situated in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River basin in the arid inland of northwest China, is intensively cultivated using both groundwater and irrigation water originating from the Qilian Mountains. Groundwater levels are declining due to overuse of irrigation water. To estima...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2014-02, Vol.71 (4), p.1911-1924
Main Authors: Yao, Liqiang, Huo, Zailin, Feng, Shaoyuan, Mao, Xiaomin, Kang, Shaozhong, Chen, Jin, Xu, Jijun, Steenhuis, Tammo S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aridity
Biogeosciences
China
correlation
Correlation coefficient
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Environmental Science and Engineering
Exact sciences and technology
Geochemistry
Geology
Groundwater
Groundwater flow
Groundwater irrigation
Groundwater levels
Hydrogeology
Hydrology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
Hydrology/Water Resources
Interpolation
Irrigation
Irrigation water
Kriging
Mountains
Northwest
oases
Original Article
River basins
Sea level
Terrestrial Pollution
water table
watersheds
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Summary:The Wuwei oasis, situated in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River basin in the arid inland of northwest China, is intensively cultivated using both groundwater and irrigation water originating from the Qilian Mountains. Groundwater levels are declining due to overuse of irrigation water. To estimate the decline over the entire Wuwei oasis, eight different interpolation methods were used for interpolating groundwater levels over 3 years, i.e. starting in 1983, followed by 1988 and ending with 1992. Cross-validation and orthogonal-validation were applied to evaluate the accuracy of the different methods. Root mean squared error and the correlation coefficient (R ²) were calculated for each of the interpolation methods and years. Three kriging methods (simply, ordinary, and universal) gave the best fit. Modified ordinary kriging was found better than simple and universal kriging methods with a smaller number of points having large differences (>50 m) between estimated and predicted values. Based on the groundwater surfaces determined by the ordinary kriging as modified by Yamamoto, the groundwater decline was found from 1983 to 1992 to be a modest 2.1 m in average.
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-013-2595-5