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MAIK “Nauka

/Interperiodica”0365

Water Resources, Vol. 30, No. 4, 2003, pp. 365–369. Translated from Vodnye Resursy, Vol. 30, No. 4, 2003, pp. 404–408.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2003 by Ostrovskii.

The latitudinal landscape and climatic zonality isknown to be among the fundamental laws of nature. Itembraces the entire landscape envelope of the Earth,including the upper part of subsurface hydrosphere.Hereinafter, the latitudinal hydrogeological zonality isunderstood as the zonality of groundwater, which isdetermined by the site latitude that controls the amountof solar energy (and, to a great extent, moisture) reach-ing the land surface. The latitudinal hydrogeologicalzonality has been studied by a number of researchersmainly in the European part of the USSR [3, 5]. Thenotion of latitudinal zonality has been used in variousbranches of hydrogeological science (studying ground-water resources and regime, hydrogeochemistry, andothers) [5].

The present-day notion of the latitudinal hydrogeo-logical zonality can be formulated as follows:

The latitudinal zonality of groundwater is a varietyof landscape–climate zonality. There exists a close cor-relation between the distribution of landscape–climateand latitudinal hydrogeological zones;

This type of zonality commonly forms in the zone offree water exchange; however, in some regions andhydrogeological structures, zonal climatic features canbe detected in deeper horizons of the subsurface hydro-sphere;

This zonality is observed universally, including theareas where the so-called azonal waters occur (basinsof karst and fissure waters, large submeridional rivervalleys, and so on) [4].

The zonal features of groundwater formation maymanifest themselves to a variable extent, because thelatitudinal zonality is just one of the factors known tocontrol the processes of groundwater formation anddistribution in the zone of free water exchange. Theseprocesses are also strongly affected by azonal factors,first of all, tectonic and the relief associated with it. It isthe competition between the zonality and azonality,surface and deep (endogenous) factors that determines

the peculiarities of the groundwater formation process.The latitudinal zonality is most distinct under the con-ditions of flat relief. The influence of zonal–climate fac-tors on groundwater notably decreases within the areasof mountain uplifts. Elevation-controlled belts ofgroundwater are observed in such zones, where relief isthe main formation factor.

The thesis about the correspondence between latitu-dinal hydrogeological and landscape–climate zones isstill among the fundamental principles of the theory ofgroundwater zonality. This thesis is based, however, onthe results of studies conducted only in the Europeanpart of the USSR—East European Plain. The latitudinalzonality of groundwater in other Russian regions is farless known, so the extrapolation of regularitiesobserved in the East European plain to other areas issometimes unjustified.

The relationship between the landscape–climaticzonality and the processes of mass and energyexchange on the land surface was first established byM.I. Budyko and A.A. Grigor’ev [1]. They found thatthe distribution of geographic zones is controlled by thevalues of net radiation

R

and its relationship with theamount of precipitation

z

, i.e., the radiation index ofdryness

R

/

Lz

(

L

is the latent heat of water evaporation).The optimal conditions for the development of physio-graphic processes exist when

R

/

Lz

~ 1 and a sufficientamount of heat is available. These conditions are asso-ciated with the highest plant production, which can beregarded as the main indicator to the rate of mass andenergy exchange in the landscape envelope. Budykoand Grigor’ev [1] formulated the law of geographiczonality establishing the relationship between the dis-tribution of

R

and

R

/

Lz

on the land surface and the land-scape zones.

There exists a dependence between the zonality ofsubsurface (water and dissolved solids) runoff on

R

and

R

/

Lz

[7]. At a global scale, other conditions being thesame, the maximum values of subsurface runoff are

On the Relationship between the Latitudinal Hydrologicaland Landscape Zones

V. N. Ostrovskii

All-Russia Institute of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology, pos. Zelenyi, Noginskii raion, Moscow oblast, 142452 Russia

Received September 21, 2001

Abstract

—The closest correspondence between latitudinal hydrogeological and landscape zones is found toexist when the relationship between the heat and moisture received by the land surface is optimal. The lack ofheat or moisture eliminates the correlation between the latitudinal hydrogeological and landscape zones. In thiscase, the major factors that control the area distribution of groundwater are neotectonics, hydrogeological zon-ality, and permafrost.

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OSTROVSKII

typical of the zones of mixed forest in medium lati-tudes, forest-steppe, and the zone of rainforests, where

R

> 800 mJ/(m

2

year) and

R

/

Lz

= 1.0–2.0.

The areas with minimal subsurface runoff are con-fined to the cryolitozone (

R

< 250 mJ/(m

2

year) and

R

/

Lz

> 2.0) and the arid zone (

R

> 800 mJ/(m

2

year) and

R/L

> 2.0). In this zone, the relationships between thelandscape–climatic and latitudinal zonalities are notvalid.

Let us consider the relationships between the land-scape–climatic and latitudinal zonalities in the aridzone and cryolitozone using data on Kazakhstan andthe Central Siberian Plateau.

A series of landscape zones and subzones with suf-ficiently differentiated moistening conditions can berecognized within the Kazakhstan territory (from mod-erately damp forest steppe to southern desert). Theamount of atmospheric precipitation decreases from330 to 100 mm/year from the north to south. However,as seen from Fig. 1, the relationship between the land-scape subzones, the distribution of which is controlledby

R

and

R

/

Lz

, and the values of the average specificgroundwater discharge

M

av

is not stable. Thus, in thesubzone of moderately dry steppe,

M

av

= 0.35 l/(s km

2

)at

z

= 295 mm. In the medium desert landscapes, wherethe precipitation is only half of that (

z

= 135 mm),

M

av

=0.70 l/(s km

2

), i.e., it is twice as large as that in the pre-vious zone. This can be attributed to the predominanceof low-permeability collectors in Northern Kazakhstan,as well as to the fact that the desert zone of Kazakhstanadjoins the mountain–folded structures of Tien Shan—a powerful source of allochthonous groundwater runoff[6], which forms at the expense of infiltration losses ofwater from rivers flowing into the plain from moun-tains.

The main cause of formation of allochthonousgroundwater runoff in Southern Kazakhstan is the neo-

tectonic formation of Tien Shan mountain–folded beltwith higher water abundance.

Similar regularities are typical of the subsurface dis-solved solids runoff. Thus, in landscape subzones frommoderately damp forest-steppe to desert steppe inNorthern Kazakhstan, the subsurface dissolved solidsdischarge amounts to 0.88, whereas the respectivevalue in the south, in semidesert and desert zones,equals 2.21 g/(s km

2

) [6]. Clearly, corrections to theerrors in evaluating subsurface dissolved solids runoffare to be introduced. However, the conclusion can bemade that the area distribution of subsurface dissolvedsolids runoff under arid conditions is to a greater extentcontrolled by azonal than zonal factors.

The Central Siberian Plateau belongs to the ground-water permafrost province. A considerable portion ofthis province is composed of a thick bed of Triassic vul-canites of trappean formation. The amount of atmo-spheric precipitation varies mainly from the west toeast from 1000 (Putorana Plateau) to 500 mm and lessin accordance with the general drop in the land surfaceelevation. The groundwater runoff decreases in thesame direction [2]. The relationship between ground-water runoff and landscape zones [7] is shown in Fig. 2.The groundwater runoff in the most of the region variesnot in latitudinal direction, as one would expect basedon the law of geographic zonality, but in meridionaldirection, i.e., from the west to east. This fact disagreeswith the character of groundwater runoff variations inthe West Siberian Plain.

Similar regularities appear to be typical of the distribu-tion of subsurface dissolved solids runoff, since ground-water salinity increases eastward from 0.05 to 0.5 g/l.

The anomalous area distribution of groundwaterrunoff in the Central Siberian Plateau can be attributedto the following causes:

Eastward drop in the land surface elevation, whichcauses deterioration of water exchange conditions inthe same direction;

Sector phenomenon, which is associated with thepredominance of west-to-east transport of air massesand moisture over the major portion of Russia’s terri-tory [8]. Under the influence of orographic effect, aconsiderable portion of moisture contained in Atlanticair masses falls in the form of precipitation onto thewestern slopes of the Central Siberian Plateau, with theresult of air masses becoming drier in the directionfrom the west to east;

Permafrost, which dramatically reduces the thick-ness of the free water exchange zone and has a strongereffect on groundwater runoff than on the heat and mois-ture balance.

It seems likely that

R

and

R

/

Lz

have an influence onthe character of the relationship between the long-termvariations in groundwater level and other hydrologicalcharacteristics, on the one hand, and solar activity, onthe other. A correlation between the hydrological pro-

400

200

0

z

, mm1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

M

av

, l/(s km

2

)

Fig. 1.

Weighted mean specific groundwater runoff values(curve) in different landscape subzones of Kazakhstan cor-related with atmospheric precipitation (shaded columns).I and II are moderately damp and koloch forest-steppe,respectively; III–VII are moderately arid, arid, moderatelydry, dry, desert steppe, respectively; VIII–X are northern,medium, and southern desert, respectively.

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ON THE RELATIONSHIP 367

Fig. 2.

Relationship between subsurface runoff depth and latitudinal hydrogeological zonality in the Tungus hydrogeological sector.(

1–11

) Subsurface runoff. <10; 10–20; 20–30; 40–50; 30–60; 50–100; 80–100; 100–150; 100–200; 150–200; 200–300 mm. Landscapezones: (I) tundra; (II) forest–tundra; (III–V) northern, middle, southern taiga, respectively; (VI) deciduous forests; (VII) mountain areaswith vertical landscape belts.

Krasnoyarsk

Lake Baikal

Khatan

ga R

.

Norilsk

Lower R. Tunguska R.

Yenisey R. Podkamennaya Tunguska R.

Angara R.

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VII

VII

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

VII

III

368

WA

TE

R R

ESO

UR

CE

S

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No. 4

2003

OST

RO

VSK

II

60° 80° 20° 40° 80° 120° 160° 180° 80°

180°

60°

160°

40°

60° 80°

1

2

40°

40°

20°

Fig. 3.

Correlation between long-term variations in the mean annual groundwater levels and solar activity in the territory of the former USSR [3]. (

1, 2

) The positive and negativecorrelations, respectively.

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ON THE RELATIONSHIP 369

cesses and solar activity were established as early as thefirst half of the XIX century.

An important feature of this correlation is the asyn-chronous character of the trends in long-term variationsin hydrogeological characteristics and solar activity:these trends coincide in some areas, and they haveopposite direction in other areas, as can be seen fromFig. 3 [3]. The reasons for this difference are still to beunderstood. As seen from Fig. 3, the areas with the pos-itive correlation are confined mainly to the humid zone.This enables us to assume that the direction of correla-tion between hydrogeological processes and solaractivity is to a certain extent determined by the relation-ship between the heat and moisture budgets on the landsurface. Although the mechanism of this correlationremains unclear, this fact is to be taken into account inthe future studies. In should be emphasized that, whenthere is no balance in the amounts of heat and moisture(cryolitozone and arid zone), the landscapes demon-strate instability and inability to withstand external,especially anthropogenic, impacts. Under these condi-tions, the effect of azonal factors on groundwater for-mation becomes more significant.

CONCLUSIONSThe latitudinal hydrogeological zonality is to a great

extent controlled by the distribution of heat and mois-ture on the Earth. The closest correspondence betweenthe latitudinal hydrogeological and landscape–climaticzones is observed when the amounts of heat and mois-ture arriving to the land surface are balanced (

R

/

Lz

~ 1).In the landscape zones where

R

/

Lz

> 2 or

R

/

Lz

< 2(arid zone, cryolitozone), the correlation between thehydrogeological and climatic zones significantlydecreases. In these zones, the dominating effect on the

area distribution of groundwater is due to the azonalfactors, such as recent tectonics, hydrogeological sec-tors, and permafrost.

The heat–moisture relationship on the land surfaceappears to have an influence on the sign of the correla-tion between the long-term regime of groundwater andthe solar activity.

REFERENCES

1. Budyko M.I.,

Klimat i zhizn’

(Climate and Life), Lenin-grad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1971.

2.

Karta estestvennykh resursov podzemnykh vod (podzem-nogo stoka zony intensivnogo vodoobmena)

(Map ofNatural Resources of Groundwater (Groundwater Run-off in the Zone of Intense Water Exchange)), Zektser, I.S.and Popov, O.B., Eds., Moscow: Gosud. Upravl. Geod.Kartograf., 1984.

3. Kovalevskii, V.S.,

Mnogoletnie kolebaniya urovneipodzemnykh vod i podzemnogo stoka

(Long-Term Vari-ations in Groundwater Level and Runoff), Moscow:Nauka, 1976.

4. Konoplyantsev, A.A., Zonality and Azonality of SubsoilWater,

Sov. Geol.

, 1960, no. 12, pp. 24–31.5.

Osnovy gidrogeologii. Obshchaya gidrogeologiya

(Prin-ciples of Hydrogeology. General Hydrogeology), Pin-neker, E.V., Ed., Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1980.

6. Ostrovskii, V.N.,

Formirovanie podzemnykh vod arid-nykh raionov Kazakhstana

(Formation of Groundwaterin Arid Zones in Kazakhstan), Leningrad: Gidrometeoiz-dat, 1976.

7. Ostrovskii, V.N.,

Podzemnye vody pustyn’ i ekosistemy

(Desert Groundwater and Ecosystems), Moscow: Nedra,1991.

8. Ostrovskii, V.N. and Ostrovskii, A.V., On Hydrogeolog-ical Sectors in the Russia’s Territory,

Otech. Geol.

, no. 4,pp. 57–61.