Effect of maize sowing area changes on agricultural water consumption from 2000 to 2010 in the West Liaohe Plain, China

The West Liaohe Plain is located in the eastern Inner Mongolia, known as the golden maize belt in China, where maize acreage has continued to rise in recent years. Water is the main limiting factor for maize production in the region, therefore, this study calculated the effect of maize sowing area changes on agricultural water consumption in the West Liaohe Plain in 2000, 2005 and 2010, based on remote sensing and meteorological data. Maize remote sensing classification was con- structed based on moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer, normalized difference vegatation index （MODIS NDVI） data. Then the maize sown area and water requirement and irrigation water resources were investigated. Finally, the effect of the maize sowing area changes on agricultural water consumption in the West Liaohe Plain was systematically analyzed in 2000, 2005, and 2010. The results showed that maize sown areas rose from 2000 to 2010 and were concentrated in the center of the West Liaohe Plain. Average per unit maize water deficit amount also increased in an uneven distribution, increasing from the south, east and north to the center and west of the West Liaohe Plain. The per unit area maize water deficit increased from 2000 to 2010, and reached 266 mm in 2000, 272 mm in 2005 and 273 mm in 2010, respectively. and the study concluded that water deficit during the whole growth period of maize in the West Liaohe Plain was defined by a single peak curve. The maize water requirements increased with maize sowing area changes from 2000 to 2010, and the maize water requirements increased from 0.89 billion m3 in 2000 to 1.19 billion m3 in 2005, and 1.21 billion m3 in 2010.

Evaluation and Hotspots Identification of Shallow Groundwater Contamination Risk in the Lower Reaches of the Liaohe River Plain

As a prerequisite for groundwater protection and contamination control, evaluation of groundwater con- tamination risk was the extension of groundwater vulnerability assessment. Based on disaster theory and using shallow groundwater of the lower reaches of Liaohe River Plain as the study area, we built an evaluation index system and a contamination index model for groundwater contamination risks from the perspectives of intrinsic vulnerability, external stresses, and functional value. We used data acquisition technology （remote sensing） and spatial analysis technology （GIS） to calculate the value of groundwater contamination risks. The spatial distribution of hotspots was obtained by calculating G index. Results show that groundwater contamination is above a mid-level risk in most of the study area. Areas with extreme high risk account for 37.86%, areas with high risk 32.47%, areas with moderate risk 12.07%, areas with light risk 3.17%, and areas with slight risk 14.43%. Hotspots areas are mainly located in central Shenyang City, northwest of Xinmin City, Beizhen City and Liaozhong County. Coldspots are mainly in Panjin City, Yingkou City, Dashiqiao City, Dawa County and Panshan County. The results reflect the spatial distribution and mechanism of groundwater contamination risk in the study area and provide relative references for land use planning and groundwater resource protection in the lower reaches of the Liaohe River Plain.