Looking for water in Sanmenxia of the Yellow River

According to the hydrological data of Sanmenxia Hydrological Station 1953, the annual maximum discharge of the Yellow River is 12000m3/s, and the minimum discharge is 278m3/s, with an average of 1 146m3/s, which varies greatly during the year. Although the Yellow River is rich in water resources and excellent in water quality, its sediment concentration is too high, which is the highest in the world. In the same year, the data of hydrological department showed that the sediment concentration was 323kg/m3. The water is khaki, turbid and opaque, and the chromaticity and turbidity indexes can't meet the drinking water standard in China and the water requirements for dam construction. If you want to use it, you need to go through coagulation, sedimentation and filtration, which requires a lot of investment. This is the so-called embarrassing situation of guarding the Yellow River without water. In order to solve this problem, Sanmenxia Engineering Bureau requires the Corps to look for high-quality groundwater or other available surface water sources in the dam site area.

In order to find groundwater and surface water resources, the corps assigned the task to the dam site engineering geological team. Under the leadership of Chief Engineer Jia Fuhai and Engineer Xia Qifa, we organized young geologists who just left school to collect hydrological, meteorological and geological data in Sanmenxia area, and combined with the drilling data of the dam site to conduct comprehensive analysis and research. Finally, it is decided to find groundwater as the main attack direction, investigate Yuejiahe River basin as the secondary attack direction, and draw up the Yellow River water as the backup plan.

1. Looking for underground karst water

Jia Gong and Xia Gong organized a comprehensive study of the geological, structural and hydrogeological conditions in this area. It is considered that water can hardly be found in Quaternary loess, Tertiary red beds, diorite porphyrite and Carboniferous-Permian coal measures. However, a large area of Majiagou limestone stratum of Middle Ordovician is exposed in the downstream of the dam site and at Qiligou mouth along the Yellow River, with developed karst fractures and karst landform characteristics, and the stratum is thick and inclined to the upstream. It is speculated that there is limestone karst fissure aquifer underground in the dam site area, and the groundwater resources are abundant. Finally, Jia Gong made a decision to confirm the exploration of limestone karst fissure aquifer. 1in the spring of 956, Jiagong issued the first water supply exploration hole No.69, which was located in Sanmengou, the third terrace on the right bank of the Yellow River, 50m upstream of the dam site. The fracture zone of diorite porphyrite fault is exposed here, which can not only find the fracture water of diorite porphyrite fault, but also test the buried depth of limestone aquifer and its hydrogeological conditions, and provide hydrogeological basis for further water supply exploration.

No.69 hole was constructed by an advanced unit led by Captain Xu of the dam site engineering geological team. Because this cave is located in the barren hills and valleys of the Loess Plateau, the height difference from the bottom of the Yellow River embankment is 100m, and the slope is steep and there is no road. Under the leadership of captain Xu, a winding service road was built, and the diesel engine, drilling rig, water pump and generator were dragged side by side and moved to the well site with difficulty. In the early spring of 1950s, due to poor cold protection equipment, winter construction was particularly hard. Ice and snow, biting wind, dripping into ice. Sometimes when lifting the drill, the A drill freezes and cannot be twisted, so it has to be baked with a blowtorch. If you are not careful, your hand is often caught by the drill pipe and hurt. Geologists at the construction site also use frozen hands to identify cores piece by piece, so as to grasp the geological conditions of drilling holes in time. After ten days and nights of hard work, one difficulty after another was overcome. Young geologists and drillers found fissure water in the fracture zone of diorite porphyrite fault with great enthusiasm, which was used to build dams, but the water quantity was too small to supply water. At this time, Jia Gong and Xia Gong arrived at the scene. After analysis and research, they decided to continue drilling through the Carboniferous coal measures. When limestone is exposed, there is a lot of water leakage in the cave. After timely coring and identification, the limestone karst fissure aquifer was finally found, and the groundwater level rose slowly. According to the measurement, the groundwater level is 270 meters, which is about 65,438+05 meters higher than the limestone aquifer roof. Excited, the people present shouted "found water" and "found water" in unison, and ran to the phone to report the good news to the team leaders. Jia Gong and Xia Gong immediately rushed to the scene to express their condolences to the employees, and checked the core, geology and drilling records to confirm the success of drilling. They made it clear that the limestone karst fissure aquifer is confined water, with abundant water and excellent water quality, which can be used for dam construction, and pointed out the direction for further water supply exploration. However, because the aperture is too small and the water level is buried too deep, it is not easy to pump water up without this pumping equipment, so it is decided to adopt the construction scheme of combining exploration and mining in the next step, and arrange the drilling hole in the shallow limestone buried area on the bank of the Yellow River, which is more conducive to future mining.

According to the exploration data of No.69 hole, Jiagong arranged No.74 exploration-production combined hole in May 1956, which is located at the front of Laoyagou slope deposit on the right bank of the Yellow River downstream of the dam site 100m. Borehole design is slope excavation with 16 inch protective tube; The diameter of coal measures stratum is 14 inch, and the limestone stratum is 12 inch. Hole depth 150m, completely coring. After the assignment, the drilling crew thought the diameter was too large. At that time, there was neither large-diameter equipment nor construction experience in the team. What should I do? You can only learn by doing and "cross the river by feeling the stones". Because in the early 1950s, China's hydrogeological drilling just started, and the drilling equipment and professional technology could not keep up with the demand. In order to complete the task of finding water, Zhang Jianxin, chief of the drilling section of the Corps, led the drilling technicians to the front line to discuss the construction scheme with everyone, and Qi Xin cooperated in technological innovation. Choose 650 hydraulic drilling rig made in Soviet Union, and drill large diameter holes with small drilling rig. At that time, everyone called it "carrying forward the spirit of ants gnawing bones"! The construction is difficult, the drilling rig is small, the drill bit is large, and it is difficult to trip; Improve the problem of drilling rig fixing, and fix the drilling rig on the slideway; In order to ensure the perpendicularity of drilling holes and prevent well deviation, the core pipe is lengthened from 3m to 6m, and a guide pipe is installed on the drill pipe. Improve the core recovery rate, change the coring method, and select a spring bit in the core tube to prevent core loss; After coring is completed, twist and core continuously, and saw the steel bar into small pieces with a saw instead of steel sand coring. Grasp the changes of geological and hydrogeological conditions in the hole in time, strengthen the close cooperation between drilling and geological personnel, and geological technicians will serve the front line all day. When there is a problem on the rig floor, they will be on standby at the scene to solve the problem in time and sum up the experience and lessons. Under the guidance of Jia Gong and Xia Gong, with the support and help of employees, we young geological technicians have gradually grown up in practice. When the drilling depth reaches 30m, limestone stratum is exposed, and a large amount of water leaks in the hole, and the confined water of limestone karst fissure aquifer is found. We are very happy to report to Jia Gong, who told the former Soviet Union experts living in Sanmenxia to congratulate us on our achievements in finding water. At the same time, it is pointed out that Sanmenxia dam is a big project, and it is necessary to demonstrate the reliability of confined water resources in karst fractured aquifer and find out the reserves and recharge sources. Therefore, the No.74 hole needs long-term pumping, and the stability time of three drops is 10 days, 10 days and 30 days respectively, setting a historical record of large-scale pumping test in China at that time. The technical requirements and equipment construction scheme of pumping test are as follows: 6 pumping air compressors: 1 set 14 cubic meter, 2 9 cubic meters and 3 3 cubic meters; Two generator sets; The machine is placed in the wheat field of Sanmen Village, the third terrace on the upper right of Cave 74. Air compressors are used in series. Send the air to the air storage tank first, and then let the air pass through? 127m/m steel pipe (gas transmission pipe) sent gas to hole 74, and the pumping test was carried out for more than two months. The pumping test results show that the water depth is 5.46m, the water inflow of a single well is 48.08L/s, the water temperature is 22℃, the water quality is clear and sweet, the hydrochemical types are sulfate, bicarbonate, calcium and magnesium, the water quality is excellent, and the hardness is 40 Degrees, so it is not suitable for drinking, but it is suitable for dam construction. With the extension of pumping time, the hardness content gradually decreased to 25 Degrees, indicating that the "ancient water" in the karst fractured aquifer was pumped out and the new water source was constantly replenished, which was the result of dilution. At the same time, it is found that the groundwater level has a certain hydraulic relationship with the Yellow River water. At the same time of pumping test, the water level of hole 69 was observed, and it was found that there was a close hydraulic connection between the two holes, which should belong to the same aquifer.

In order to meet the construction water demand on the left bank of the dam site, in June, boreholes 1956, 10, 2 12 and 2 13 were arranged at Zhaihou, downstream of the dam site on the left bank, where limestone was exposed on the bank of the Yellow River. Groundwater is taken from hole 2 13. When the water level in the hole drops by 24m, the flow rate is 8. 16L/s, and the unit water inflow is 0.35L/s. It can be seen that although the water level is almost the same as that of No.74, the water volume is quite different, which may be related to the development of cracks and caves.

Up to now, although the water volume of No.213 and No.74 has reached 60L/s, it can meet the construction water demand of the first phase of the dam temporarily. But it is still far from the peak of water consumption for dam construction. Subsequently, in September of 1957, No.373 drilling hole was arranged near the original No.8 hole on the right bank of the dam site, with a hole depth of 150m and a hole depth of 120m. According to the pumping test, when the water level drops by 2.02m, the water inflow is 73.7L/s, the unit water inflow is 36.49L/s, and the total water flow is 130L/s, which can meet the water demand of dam construction in peak period.

In the pumping test, a large amount of river sand is pumped out, which indicates that there is communication between the karst fissure aquifer and the Yellow River water. From the hydrogeological data analysis of the above four boreholes, we think that the confined water of limestone karst fissure aquifer in Sanmenxia area is replenished by the Yellow River; Based on the analysis of water supply exploration and geological mapping data of 1: 10000 in the periphery of dam site, if karst fractures are well developed and have good water storage structures, it can provide theoretical basis and guiding significance for finding confined water in karst fractured aquifers in North China in the future.

2. Xue Rui explores Yuejiahe.

1957 on the eve of the spring festival, there was heavy snow in Sanmenxia area, and the mountains were covered with snow. During the Spring Festival, the sun is shining, and the snow on the ridges on both sides of the Yellow River gradually melts. Although the field is very cold, the air is very fresh. In order to find out the water situation and water source of Yuejiahe River basin, I still took the time to investigate the whole basin. Jia Gong decided that Xia Gong would lead the team, and Yan Ruxun and I teamed up to go to Zhongtiao Mountain, the birthplace of Yuejiahe. On the fifth day of the lunar new year, the weather is sunny. The three of us, wrapped in cotton-padded clothes and hiking shoes, took a geological hammer in one hand, a compass and a topographic map in the other, carried geological bags and dry food, crossed three iron cable bridges on the Yellow River, turned over one loess slope after another and boarded the loess tableland of five terraces. At present, there is a piece of white snow, and Zhongtiao Mountain is still in the world of silver bags closed by heavy snow. At that time, we had only two choices. One is to move on and cross Zhongtiao Mountain. One is to go back down the mountain and come back another day. After discussion, Xiagong decided to move on and win. Due to the Chinese New Year, the snow closed the mountain, and the fellow villagers spent the New Year at home, and there was no guide. The three of us, guided by the topographic map and compass in our hands, walked along the ridge trail. Because the snow on the ground is very thick, one foot high and one foot low, and when the mountain is steep and slippery, sometimes it falls, so we pull each other to shake the snow and be careful. Sometimes when I touch the trunk, the ice and snow on the tree fall on my head and body. It's been a difficult journey, but I've always insisted. At noon, two rows of footprints suddenly appeared in the snow. Look carefully, it's a wild animal's foot. Summer Palace reminds everyone to pay attention to the surrounding situation and prevent wild animals from hurting people. At that time, although we were a little scared, we were not afraid, because we had geological hammers as weapons, and the three of us were United enough to defend ourselves and guard against it. We are still brave, full of laughter, full of vigor, put into work, hungry, eat hard and cold steamed bread to satisfy our hunger, hold a handful of snow or drink cold water to quench our thirst. We worked nervously in Zhongtiaoshan for a day, sometimes measuring the water level and quantity of the river and recording the situation around the basin. Sometimes I track the source of the spring, climb up and down, and I am very busy. At night, we haven't found the campsite yet. At this time, three people turned over the topographic map to find the village and looked around. Finally, we found a sign of a hut in front of us on the topographic map, and we accelerated our pace through the dense Woods. We couldn't tell how happy we were when we saw a beam of light coming out of the front cabin. Finally have a place to live. After knocking at the door, a middle-aged man came out of the room. After the Summer Palace explained its purpose to him, the host warmly let us in. It turned out that this was a mountain supply and marketing store, so we bought some cakes in the store to satisfy our hunger, and the three of us slept in the haystack all night wrapped in cotton-padded clothes. Early the next morning, we continued on the road and finally found the source of Yuejia 'an, which was originally a trickle flowing from many hillside accumulation layers and merged into the source of Yuejia 'an. The length of the river is short, the basin area is small, the water quantity is limited, and it is also the drinking and irrigation water source for farmers on both sides of the ditch, so it is impossible to supply construction and domestic water to Sanmenxia. This investigation at the source of Yuejiahe River suffered a lot, but it also honed my will, gained knowledge and deeply realized the hardships and pride of geologists.

February 4, 2006, Shanghai