The precipitation infiltration and runoff recharging experiment observation in the Taklimakan Desert

This is a certain quantity of available groundwater resources in the form of freshwater lens according to the survey and drilling experiment along the oil-transporting highway in the Taklimakan Desert, which is the second largest moving desert in the world, located in the northwest part of China. As the primary freshwater sources, local precipitation in the heartland of Taklimakan Desert, not only forms the runoff on the clayey ground, but also feeds the groundwater. After the analysis of historic records of the rainfall and the formation of clayey sediments, the precipitation infiltration and runoff recharging experiment was conducted, a natural rainfall-runoff process was observed and recorded. The studied area referred to this paper is located in the middle part of the desert, within 6 km wide and 60 km long along the new oil-transporting highway. This paper reveals that in the center of the desert an event of storm (4 mm) can be considered as the critical value of the runoff produced on the clayey ground. The rainfall infiltration coefficients on the sand dunes are over 0.46 for the erosion side, thus, rainstorms and runoffs as main fresh water sources feed the ground water directly.