Isotope and chemistry study for genetic types of geothermal water in Gushi depression, Shaanxi Province, NW China

Abstract

Sedimentary environment and possible origins of geothermal water in the Gushi depression, Shaanxi Province, NW China are discussed in this paper based on the isotope and hydrochemistry characteristics of the geothermal water. The results illustrate that isotope and hydrochemistry characteristics in different parts of the study area show obvious differences, which indicate their different storage environments, recharge resources, and genetic types. The study expound for the first time that genetic types of geothermal water are various and the main genetic types of geothermal water include: (1) modern circulating water which host on an opener thermal environment; (2) residual connate water that may exist in a closed geothermal reservoir; and (3) the mixed water between 1 and 2.

Keywords:

• Gushi depression
• Isotope and hydrochemistry characteristics
• Sedimentary environment
• Connate water

Acknowledgments

The author is greatly indebted to his supervisor Prof. Zhiyuan Ma for his invaluable advice and warm encouragement. The accomplishment of this paper was full of his labor and sweat during the selection of his essay subject, experimental guidance and paper modification. And he would like to express his gratitude to the staff – especially Senior Engineer Linping Xi in the lab, who gave him so much aid to ensure that the experiment apparatus was running normally. Besides, he also wants to thank his classmate under the same supervisor for his understanding and support. The paper was funded by the key projects of National Natural Science Foundation (41172211).