Long-term response of groundwater system to sudden decrease of recharge in arid Dunhuang Basin, China

The change of recharge sources will has important influence on the groundwater system in arid regions. This paper took the arid Dunhuang Basin as an example to illustrate the long-term response of water table under the impact of sudden decreased recharge sources. By introducing the background of Dunhuang basin and the fact that water table changes much differently at the south and north plain, this paper proposed a one-dimensional simplified model and the model was solved analytically by using the method of separation of variables. The solution then was applied to the study area and the results demonstrated the groundwater system would experience a long time to finish the response to the sudden decrement of recharge.