Groundwater dynamics under water-saving irrigation and implications for sustainable water management in an oasis: Tarim River basin of western China

Zhang, Z.; Hu, H.; Tian, F.; Yao, X.; Sivapalan, M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3951-2014

Articles | Volume 18, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3951-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Predictions under change: water, earth, and biota in the anthropocene...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3951-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 10

Research article

|

07 Oct 2014

Research article |

| 07 Oct 2014

Groundwater dynamics under water-saving irrigation and implications for sustainable water management in an oasis: Tarim River basin of western China

Z. Zhang, H. Hu, F. Tian, X. Yao, and M. Sivapalan

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Final revised paper (published on 07 Oct 2014)
Preprint (discussion started on 10 Feb 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

SC C465: 'Referee comments', Tess Russo, 14 Mar 2014
- AC C1463: 'Responses to SC C465', Zhi Zhang, 19 May 2014
RC C515: 'Review Comments', Tess Russo, 18 Mar 2014
- AC C1459: 'Responses to RC C515', Zhi Zhang, 19 May 2014
RC C820: 'Review of manuscript “Groundwater Dynamics under Water Saving Irrigation and Implications for Sustainable Water Management in an Oasis: Tarim River Basin of Western China” by Zhang et al., 2014', Anonymous Referee #2, 07 Apr 2014
- AC C1460: 'Responses to RC C820', Zhi Zhang, 19 May 2014
RC C858: 'Comments', Anonymous Referee #3, 08 Apr 2014
- AC C1461: 'Responses to RC C858', Zhi Zhang, 19 May 2014
RC C881: 'comments', Anonymous Referee #4, 10 Apr 2014
- AC C1462: 'Responses to RC C881', Zhi Zhang, 19 May 2014

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (03 Jun 2014) by Tara J. Troy

AR by Zhi Zhang on behalf of the Authors (11 Jun 2014) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (03 Jul 2014) by Tara J. Troy

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (14 Jul 2014)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (19 Jul 2014)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The authors have satisfied the major comments from their previous draft. The paper is greatly improved, with a clearer objective and logically presented findings.

Specifically, the authors clarified the subsurface water balance variables and equations. Sections that did not directly support the objective of the paper were removed, and the socio-hydrology section was integrated with the findings.

Minor corrections:
P15, Ln9. This discussion of groundwater dynamics in the field is fine, but the inclusion of snow, forest, and desert regions in Figure 8 seems unnecessary. The study did not monitor groundwater behavior in those regions, therefore the figure just shows those regions as stationary through each stage. Because no information is provided for those regions, they are best omitted from the figure.

Fig 4) This figure shows the data, while the caption states that it shows the variation. If the variation is the objective, the figure would be benefit from a moving average line and perhaps a shaded area showing 1 std dev -- or something comparable that makes the variation of the values more easily interpreted.

Fig 7) Add text to the caption to correlate direction and sign of EF, something like "Negative EF indicates flow downward (out of the control volume)." This may seem redundant, but it will help tie the results and method equations together conceptually.

Lastly, this study provides a good foundation for future more detailed work. In the previous review I recommended a limitations section. I suggest this again, and it could be presented as "limitations and next steps", allowing the authors to identify future research opportunities. The authors do mention that the flush stage should be optimized in future studies (P21 Ln18-19), and others could include a more detailed salinity balance study, GW dynamics under other crops, a detailed study of the influence on the natural vegetation mentioned in the study, etc.

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RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (07 Aug 2014)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (23 Aug 2014) by Tara J. Troy

AR by Zhi Zhang on behalf of the Authors (01 Sep 2014) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (05 Sep 2014) by Tara J. Troy