Application of Heat and Flow Modeling to Study the Groundwater Circulation Patterns of the Ordos Plateau

Abstract

There are abundant mineral resources within the Ordos Plateau, such as coal, natural gas, petroleum and halite etc., which makes it to be one of the largest energy production zones in China. With the development of mineral resources, groundwater demand will increase dramatically. Due to limited understanding of the groundwater circulation patterns, groundwater development lacks solid basis. Cross-sectional simulations provide a tool for addressing some key issues of groundwater circulation and lay a solid basis for rational groundwater development programs. Based on the previous study, this paper carried out numerical modeling of head transport, aiming to study groundwater circulation patterns.
The No.2 cross section is located in the middle of the Ordos Plateau and is 240 km long. Simulation was performed using the HST3D of USGS and the model was calibrated to the observed data. The simulation shows that groundwater temperature protrudes downward in the Sishili Ridge, indicating cool water infiltration in the area. And in the Disitu River and Wusheng County, groundwater temperature protrudes upward, indicating groundwater with high temperature moves upward. This indication has a good agreement with the existing conclusions. The simulation shows that in the Dusidu River, groundwater temperature exceeds 30oC, which can be used to delineate zones with abundant geothermal resources.