174 / 2016-06-04 11:32:20

Research on hydrological similarity of catchments in the northern slope of Qinling Mountain, Xi’an, China

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As the main water source conservation of Xi'an city, Qinling Mountains occupy an important position in the ecological environment and economic sustainable development. Nevertheless, demand for fresh water resources is noticeably increasing as a result of rapid industrialization and population growth. Therefore, quantifying and management of available water resources has become far more critical to fulfil potable water requirements in the area. Due to lack of measured hydrological data in most of the Northern Slope of Qinling Mountain basins, water resources management, development and evaluation of water disaster have been greatly restricted. In this paper, the hydrological similarity evaluation system was established based on hydrological similarity theory and the key attributes factors influencing runoff. Influential thematic layers such as rainfall, average elevation, topographic index, drainage network fractal dimensions, land type and soil type were integrated by using a multiple-indicators comprehensive evaluation method based on rough set and conditional information entropy to hydrological regionalization. With Heiyu, Laoyu, Dayu, Fengyu, Wangchuanyu as a benchmark, the 48 basins in Xi'an Qinling were divided into five similar basin groups, and furthermore the results were analyzed and verified to ensure the rationality of the regionalization. Results of the study revealed high similarity between the ungauged basins and the reference basins. Hence, the results can provide a scientific basis for hydrological parameters transplantation in different basins and quantifying the actuality of water resource in the Northern Slope of Qinling Mountain of Xi’an.