Suitable Scale of an Oasis in Different Scenarios in an Arid Region of China: A Case Study of the Ejina Oasis

Zhaoxia Ye, Aihong Fu, Shuhua Zhang and Yuhai Yang
Additional contact information
Zhaoxia Ye: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Aihong Fu: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Shuhua Zhang: Colloge of Geomatic, Xi’an Univiersity of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China
Yuhai Yang: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: The main objective of this work is to calculate the suitable scale of the Ejina Oasis in different scenarios (high-, normal-, and low-flow years), assess the stability of the Ejina Oasis, and, finally, accurately determine if an artificial oasis area and total oasis area need to be reduced or increased. Using the water balance method, we calculated the suitable scale of the artificial Ejina Oasis as 767.80, 624.00, and 451.33 km 2 in high-, normal-, and low-flow years, respectively. By utilizing the water-heat balance method combined with an assessment of the present stability of the Ejina Oasis, the results showed that in high-flow years, the suitable scale of the Ejina Oasis is 1174–1762 km 2 , and the stability index of the current oasis is 0.55. In normal-flow years, the suitable scale of the Ejina Oasis is found to be 915–1373 km 2 , and the stability index of the current oasis is 0.43. In low-flow years, the suitable scale of the Ejina Oasis is 590–885 km 2 , and the stability index of the current oasis decreases to 0.27. In order to further improve the stability of oases, it remains necessary to control the scale of oases to cope with water resource shortages that result from water resource instability under climate change. The present study’s findings will enable optimal water-use planning decisions that take social, economic, and ecological issues into account, and provide the foundation for optimal decision-making for regional administrative departments to effectively coordinate regional economic development, farmland protection, environmental protection, and water resource protection.

Keywords: suitable scale of an oasis; Heihe River Basin; water balance; water-heat balance; stability index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2583/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2583/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2583-:d:336689

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().