ABSTRACT
This chapter improves the understanding of interactions between groundwater and surface water in the semi-arid Hailiutu catchment in Erdos Plateau, Northwest China. The interactions of groundwater and surface water was intensively investigated by means of multiple field measurements for an investigation period of one year in the Bulang sub-catchment, which indicates that groundwater recharge and discharges dominate the hydrological process. A multi-disciplinary approach was adopted to quantify interactions between groundwater and surface water in the Hailiutu River catchment. The flow regime of the Hailiutu River has been changed dramatically from natural to overstressed status before 2000 and has slightly recovered since 2001. While analysing the regime shifts in the Hailiutu River with the historical discharge observations, two flow peaks were found in the summer and winter before 1968. The generation mechanism, behaviour, and implications of interactions between groundwater and surface water of winter flow peak should be investigated by intensive groundwater level monitoring in the basin during the winter.
