Groundwater level response to hydrogeological factors in a semi-arid basin of Beijing, China

In this study, the mode of groundwater level fluctuations is analyzed by statistical approaches for 51 monitoring wells located in a semi-arid basin in Beijing from 1998 to 2013. Firstly, a geostatistical method was performed to characterize the spatial and temporal behaviors of data sets and analyze the responding mechanism of groundwater level to hydrologic features using the Geostatistics Module of ArcGIS software. Secondly, multiple statistical methods were applied to classify groundwater hydrographs with similar fluctuation patterns. The results show that the spatial distribution of groundwater level is affected by natural factors (rainfall and temperature) as well as human activities. Combined with the method of principal component analysis, the hydrologic features of groundwater level can be classified into three groups and the dynamic characteristics of each group under different hydrogeology conditions are also different. Furthermore, a crosscorrelation analysis was applied to investigate the groundwater level response to natural processes and human activities. This study provides a series of effective methods for evaluating the long-term series fluctuation features of groundwater level and its response to hydrological factors, as well as the scientific basis for the reasonable configuration and utilization of groundwater resources in arid and semi-arid regions.