A novel soil water-heat-salt coupling model for freezing-thawing period in farmland with shallow groundwater

Study region: Hetao Irrigation District (Hetao) is the second-largest irrigation district in the Yellow River basin. It is located in a seasonally frozen soil area with shallow groundwater and salinization. These conditions significantly influence the freeze-thaw processes in the soil. Study focus:...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pu Wang, Zhongyi Liu, Chaozi Wang, Chenglong Zhang, Weishu Wang, Xianghao Wang, Juan Han, Zailin Huo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581824004488
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Summary:Study region: Hetao Irrigation District (Hetao) is the second-largest irrigation district in the Yellow River basin. It is located in a seasonally frozen soil area with shallow groundwater and salinization. These conditions significantly influence the freeze-thaw processes in the soil. Study focus: In this study, a novel water-heat-salt coupling model was developed. An improved soil freezing characteristic curve (SFCC) was proposed to evaluate the effect of salt content on the water-ice phase transition. Additionally, an equilibrium state assumption for the unfrozen soil layers was adopted to describe soil water distribution influenced by shallow groundwater. New hydrological insights for the region: The model effectively captured the spatiotemporal dynamics of water, heat, and salt driven by soil freeze-thaw processes. Besides, it accurately estimated the total water content in the 0–40 cm soil layer, which is the main crop root zone (RMSE < 0.05 cm³/cm³, R² > 0.49). Note that the developed model could accurately simulate soil temperature dynamics, with R² > 0.85 and NSE > 0.77. This study developed a high-efficiency freeze-thaw model for regions like Hetao, with shallow groundwater and severe soil salinization. Compared to complex numerical models, the proposed model has greater potential for regional application.
ISSN:2214-5818