Travertine deposited around the Niangziguan karst springs was used as a new type of paleoclimate record in this study. Five stages of climate change in northern China from 200± ka to 36± ka before the present (B. P.) were reconstructed using the 18O and 13C isotope record of the travertine. Tendency of the change was towards a more arid climate. Coupling the temporal-spatial evolution of the springs with climate change, the hydrogeological evolution could be divided into four major periods since middle Pleistocene: (1)No spring period; (2)The initial period of spring outcropping as the predominant way of discharge; (3)The culmination period of spring development; and (4)The spring discharge attenuation period. The attenuation is partly related to the decrease of recharge as a result of the dry climate after 90±kaBP.
This paper reports our work on the strontium hydrogeochemistry of thermal groundwa-ters in the Baikal Rift System (BRS) in Russia and Mongolia and the Xinzhou basin of the Shanxi Rift System (SRS) in northern China. Though similar in geological background, groundwaters from the BRS and the Xinzhou basin have different strontium isotope compositions. Both the strontium contents and the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of thermal water samples from Xinzhou are higher than those of most samples from Baikal. The major reason is the difference in hostrock geochemistry. The hos-trocks of the Xinzhou waters are Archaean metamorphic rocks, while those of the Baikal waters except the Kejielikov spring are Proterozoic or younger rocks. In the study areas, cold groundwaters usually show lower 87Sr/86Sr ratio due to shorter water-rock interaction history and lower equilibration degree. Strontium hydrogeochemistry often provides important information about mixing processes. Ca/Sr ratio can be used as an important hydrogeochemical parameter. Case studies at Xinzhou show that thermal waters with lowest Ca/Sr ratios are most weakly affected by mixing with shallow groundwaters, as supported by our hydrochemical and sulfur isotope studies.
