Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China
, Xiaocheng Zhou 1,*, Lixia Liao 2,*, Jiao Tian 1, Ying Li 1, Zheming Shi 3, Fengli Liu 1 and Shupei Ouyang 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The dataset in this manuscript have some value, it is a common hydrological study. However, there are too many English writing problems in the manuscript. A major revision cannot save the manuscript, the text should be totally changed and written again. Reference formats (journal abbreviations or not ) also need to be uniformed.
For examples:
Line 12-13: The Xianshuihe fault zone (XSHF) is considered to be on the twelve highest risk area with the large earthquakes, 43 hot springs were sampled and tested…..
Line 17: Temperature, which was 8~142℃ to “temperature between 8℃ and 142℃”
Line 19-20: “the degree of water-rock reaction and the depth of hot 19 spring water circulation was higher…” to “the water-rock reaction and the 19 hot spring circulation depth were high…”
Line 26-27 : “It is possible that the study of hydrogeo-chemical anomalies may be useful for earthquake prediction research…” to “Hydrogeo-chemical anomalies could be useful to predict earthquake.”
Line 58: “Based on physicochemical parameters…” to “We analyzed physicochemical parameters…”
Line 65: “Owing to…” to “Due to…”
Line 70-71: “It can be divided into…” to “The XSHF can be divided into…”
Lin 75-76: “The geographical of the XSHF were both high mountains and low valleys. The elevations of the XSHF ranged from 3000 to 7556 m” to “The geographical of the XSHF were high mountains with low valleys. The elevations of the XSHF range from 3000 to 7556 m”.
Line 100: “Repeated groundwater samples…” to “The groundwater samples…”
Line 106: “Four samples of bottles were collected..” to “At each site, four samples were collected”
Line 120: “The standard used was V-SMOW and the 120 accuracies were±0.2% and ±1%…” to “The isotope accuracies of V-SMOW and analyzed water sample were ±0.2% and ±1%, respectively”
……..
Too many English writing problems….A major revision cannot save this manuscript, the text should be totally changed and written again.
Reference format problems:
Line 458: “Journal of Hydrology” to “J. Hydrol.”
Line 464: Where is the journal?
Line 423, 426, 431, 434, 458, 501, 507, 512, 543… should use the abbreviation of Journal.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments from the reviewer about our paper entitled “Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China”. After carefully studying the comments, we have made corresponding revision. Our response to the comments is enclosed at the end of this letter in red font. Due to the hasty revision time and the limited level of the author, there may still be many problems If you have any questions about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely yours
Xiaocheng Zhou
Lixia Liao
Yucong Yan
Response to Reviewer1 Comments
Point 1: The dataset in this manuscript have some value, it is a common hydrological study. However, there are too many English writing problems in the manuscript. A major revision cannot save the manuscript, the text should be totally changed and written again. Reference formats (journal abbreviations or not) also need to be uniformed.
For examples:
Line 12-13: The Xianshuihe fault zone (XSHF) is considered to be on the twelve highest risk area with the large earthquakes, 43 hot springs were sampled and tested…..
Line 17: Temperature, which was 8~142℃ to “temperature between 8℃ and 142℃”
Line 19-20: “the degree of water-rock reaction and the depth of hot 19 spring water circulation was higher…” to “the water-rock reaction and the 19 hot spring circulation depth were high…”
Line 26-27: “It is possible that the study of hydrogeo-chemical anomalies may be useful for earthquake prediction research…” to “Hydrogeo-chemical anomalies could be useful to predict earthquake.”
Line 58: “Based on physicochemical parameters…” to “We analyzed physicochemical parameters…”
Line 65: “Owing to…” to “Due to…”
Line 70-71: “It can be divided into…” to “The XSHF can be divided into…”
Lin 75-76: “The geographical of the XSHF were both high mountains and low valleys. The elevations of the XSHF ranged from 3000 to 7556 m” to “The geographical of the XSHF were high mountains with low valleys. The elevations of the XSHF range from 3000 to 7556 m”.
Line 100: “Repeated groundwater samples…” to “The groundwater samples…”
Line 106: “Four samples of bottles were collected.” to “At each site, four samples were collected”
Line 120: “The standard used was V-SMOW and the 120 accuracies were±0.2% and ±1%…” to “The isotope accuracies of V-SMOW and analyzed water sample were ±0.2% and ±1%, respectively”
Response: Thank you for your valuable comments. Combined with other reviewers' comments, we have carefully considered your comments and have made modifications. The issue has been greatly revised in the whole process of manuscript revision, please see the revised manuscript for details.
Point 2: Reference format problems:
Line 458: “Journal of Hydrology” to “J. Hydrol.”
Line 464: Where is the journal?
Line 423, 426, 431, 434, 458, 501, 507, 512, 543… should use the abbreviation of Journal.
Response: The problems of the Reference format of this manuscript have been revised. please see the revised manuscript for details.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Water
Manuscript Number: 1566836
Title: Hydrogeochemical of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China
Article Type: Research Paper
Keywords: hot spring; isotopes; hydrogeochemistry; earthquake; Xianshuihe fault zone
The purposes of the manuscript WATER-1566836 are to analyze the elemental composition and isotopic characteristics of thermal springs along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, and to explore the relationship between changes of the geochemical concentration in thermal spring water and the occurrence of earthquakes
The paper appears well-structured, however some sections must be improved. Therefore I believe
the manuscript should be published only after major revision.
Comments (R = row#):
After R=85, check the text formatting
Table 2 is not present in the test
R= 105 what paper of Chen and Zhang do you refer to?
Again, R=164 Table 2 is not present in the test
R=175 To evaluate the chemical composition of the water it is not enough to use the Piper diagram because it does not take into account (as proposed by the authors) salinity, I suggest using a TIS salinity diagram, as proposed by:
Apollaro, C.; Vespasiano, G.; De Rosa, R.: Marini L. Use of mean residence time and flowrate of thermal waters to evaluate the volume of reservoir water contributing to the natural discharge and the related geothermal reservoir volume. Application to Northern Thailand hot springs. Geothermics 2015, 58, 62-74
R=200 More specific bibliographic references should be included in this paragraph. see for example:
Kendall, C., & McDonnell, J. J. (Eds.). (2012). Isotope tracers in catchment hydrology. Elsevier.
R=216 change hydro-rock reaction with water roch interaction
R= 244 reference n.45 is not correct. Please, rewrite it
R= 306 change Sable isotope (δD and δ18O) in Stable isotope
R=223 I suggest improving the section with saturation calculation with respect to the specific phases (albite, K-feldspar, chalcedony, Clinochlore, and muscovite) that are the base of the K-Na-Mg geothermometer.
Furthermore, it would be useful to add a table with the comparison between the cited geothermometers and temperatures provided from silica saturation. see for example:
Guidi, M.; Marini, L.; Scandiffio, G.; Cioni, R. Chemical geothermometry in hydrothermal aqueous solutions: The influence of ioncomplexing. Geothermics 1990, 19, 415–441.
Vespasiano, G., Marini, L., Muto, F., Auqué, L.F., Cipriani, M., De Rosa, R., Critelli, S., Gimeno, M.J., Blasco, M., Dotsika, E. and Apollaro, C., 2021. Chemical, isotopic and geotectonic relations of the warm and cold waters of the Cotronei (Ponte Coniglio), Bruciarello and Repole thermal areas,(Calabria-Southern Italy). Geothermics, 96, p.102228.
R=385 the conclusions should be revised taking into account the previous comments
ADD THESE REFERENCES
Apollaro, C.; Vespasiano, G.; De Rosa, R.: Marini L. Use of mean residence time and flowrate of thermal waters to evaluate the volume of reservoir water contributing to the natural discharge and the related geothermal reservoir volume. Application to Northern Thailand hot springs. Geothermics 2015, 58, 62-74
Kendall, C., & McDonnell, J. J. (Eds.). (2012). Isotope tracers in catchment hydrology. Elsevier.
Guidi, M.; Marini, L.; Scandiffio, G.; Cioni, R. Chemical geothermometry in hydrothermal aqueous solutions: The influence of ioncomplexing. Geothermics 1990, 19, 415–441.
Vespasiano, G., Marini, L., Muto, F., Auqué, L.F., Cipriani, M., De Rosa, R., Critelli, S., Gimeno, M.J., Blasco, M., Dotsika, E. and Apollaro, C., 2021. Chemical, isotopic and geotectonic relations of the warm and cold waters of the Cotronei (Ponte Coniglio), Bruciarello and Repole thermal areas,(Calabria-Southern Italy). Geothermics, 96, p.102228.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments from the reviewer about our paper entitled “Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China”. After carefully studying the comments, we have made corresponding revision. Our response to the comments is enclosed at the end of this letter in red font. Due to the hasty revision time and the limited level of the author, there may still be many problems If you have any questions about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely yours
Yucong Yan
Xiaocheng Zhou
Lixia Liao
Response to Reviewer2 Comments
Point 1: After R=85, check the text formatting
Response: Sorry for the error, I've made the change
Point 2: Table 2 is not present in the test
Response: I’m very Sorry, you are confused because of my carelessness, Table 2 is the Supplementary Materials, to distinguish it from the table in this article, I have changed Table 2 to Table S1.
Point 3: R= 105 what paper of Chen and Zhang do you refer to?
Response: Thank you very much for your reminding. The two references here are Chen, Z.; Du, J.; Zhou, X.; Yi, L.; Liu, L.; Xie, C.; Cui, Y.; Li, Y. Hydrochemistry of the hot springs in western Sichuan province related to the Wenchuan MS 8.0 earthquake. ScientificWorldJournal 2014, 2014, 901432, doi:10.1155/2014/901432. and Zhang, L.; Guo, L.; Zhou, X.; Yang, Y.; Shi, D.; Liu, Y. Temporal variations in stable isotopes and synchronous earthquake-related changes in hot springs. Journal of Hydrology 2021, 599, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126316., Respectively.
Point 4: Again, R=164 Table 2 is not present in the test
Response: I’m very Sorry, you are confused because of my carelessness, Table 2 is the Supplementary Materials, in order to distinguish it from the table in this article, I have changed Table 2 to Table S1.
Point 5: R=175 To evaluate the chemical composition of the water it is not enough to use the Piper diagram because it does not take into account (as proposed by the authors) salinity, I suggest using a TIS salinity diagram, as proposed by:
Apollaro, C.; Vespasiano, G.; De Rosa, R.: Marini L. Use of mean residence time and flowrate of thermal waters to evaluate the volume of reservoir water contributing to the natural discharge and the related geothermal reservoir volume. Application to Northern Thailand hot springs. Geothermics 2015, 58, 62-74
Response: Thank you very much for your helpful and insightful comments. We have made corresponding modification. I have explained this in detail in response to your comments as follows. Thank you again.
4.2.1. Origin of Major Elements
The water samples collected from the hot springs were analyzed and the results are shown in the Supplementary Table S1. The ion balances of all samples were less than 5%, indicating that the analytical results for these samples were plausible. Temperatures of springs of water were in the range of 10℃ to 82℃, with a pH ranging from 6.25 to 9.45. Conductivity ranged from 3.67 to 57600.00 μs/cm and TDS values ranged from 80.86 to 2754.01 mg/L. The main cations in hot springs were Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+, while the main anions were HCO3−. The concentrations of Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ranged from 2.75 to 958.23 mg/L, 0.00 to 128.24 mg/L, 0.00 to 440.35 mg/L, and 0.00 to 286.59 mg/L, respectively; the concentrations of Cl−, SO42−, and HCO3− ranged from 0.31 to 871.45 mg/L, 0.00 to 688.86 mg/L, and 37.82 to 2588.79 mg/L, respectively.
The results of chemical analyses of hot spring waters from the study area were given in the Supplementary Table S1. The main chemical compositions of the waters were plotted on the Piper diagram and water samples were plotted in 1,2,4 and 6 blocks (Fig. 3). The type of hydrochemistry of most groundwater from the XSHF were HCO3-Na, apart from some samples which were of the HCO3⋅Cl-Na, HCO3-Ca-Na, HCO3-Na-Ca, HCO3-Na·Mg, HCO3-Ca and HCO3-SO4-Mg type, The correlation graph of Na+ +K+ vs. Ca2+ +Mg2+, in which iso-ionic-salinity lines are drawn for reference (Fig. 4) [38,39]. the hot spring sample have different total salinity (TIS), ranged from 3.7 to 90.9 meq/kg. 24 hot springs which were of the HCO3-Na type. Based on previous studies, HCO3-Na type geothermal water was typical of high-temperature geothermal systems and was generated by chemical reactions between infiltrated meteoric water, dissolved carbon dioxide, and reservoir rocks containing dolomite and microcline as the primary minerals [40]. The total salinity (TIS), ranged from 3.7 to 90.9 meq/kg. The process could be illustrated in the equations of (1)-(2).
However, the hot springs of W31, W32, W34, W35, W37 and W41 were HCO3⋅Cl-Na type. The total salinity (TIS), ranged from 29.5 to 90.3 meq/kg. Interestingly, the primary properties of these six hot springs are high temperature and high Cl- concentrations, which suggests that the parent geothermal fluid was formed by the mixing of snow and juvenile water deep in the subsurface under the influence of magma, with the deep parent geothermal fluid having travelled long distances to get to the surface, where water from different sources participated in the mixing during the ascent. It included three mixed endmembers of the cold water, consisting of local precipitation, river water and snowmelt water [16].
Furthermore, the high Ca2+, Mg2+ and SO42- concentrations of most geothermal waters (W1~W3, W8, W9, W11, W19, W21, W38 and W42) also indicated that the geothermal waters in the study area may not have been influenced by magma indicating that the magma-influenced hydrochemical signature was instead masked by mixing processes. The total salinity (TIS), ranged from 5.2 to 71.8 meq/kg. The process could be illustrated in the equations of (3)-(5).
|
2NaAlSi3O8 + 9H2O + 2H2CO3 → Al2Si2O5(OH)4 + 4H4SiO4 + 2Na+ + 2HCO-3 |
(1) |
|
2KAlSi3O8+3H2O+2CO2→Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4+4SiO2+2K++2HCO-3 |
(2) |
|
CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 → Ca2+ +2HCO-3 |
(3) |
|
MgCO3 + H2O + CO2 → Mg2+ + 2HCO3- |
(4) |
|
CaSO4 · H2O → Ca2+ + SO42−+ H2O |
(5) |
Figure 3. Piper diagram showing major ion chemistry of the sampled points.
Figure 4. Correlation plot of Na+ +K+ vs. Ca2+ +Mg2+ for the spring water samples along XSHF, also showing iso-ionic-salinity lines for reference
Point 6: R=200 More specific bibliographic references should be included in this paragraph. see for example:
Kendall, C., & McDonnell, J. J. (Eds.). (2012). Isotope tracers in catchment hydrology. Elsevier.
Response: Thank you very much for your reminding, I've added some references to this section, please see the revised manuscript for details
Point 7: R=216 change hydro-rock reaction with water roch interaction
Response:Sorry for the error, I've made the change
Point 8: R= 244 reference n.45 is not correct. Please, rewrite it
Response: Sorry for the error, I've made the change
Point 9: R= 306 change Sable isotope (δD and δ18O) in Stable isotope
Response: Sorry for the error, I've made the change
Point 10: R=223 I suggest improving the section with saturation calculation with respect to the specific phases (albite, K-feldspar, chalcedony, Clinochlore, and muscovite) that are the base of the K-Na-Mg geothermometer.Furthermore, it would be useful to add a table with the comparison between the cited geothermometers and temperatures provided from silica saturation. see for example: Guidi, M.; Marini, L.; Scandiffio, G.; Cioni, R. Chemical geothermometry in hydrothermal aqueous solutions: The influence of ioncomplexing. Geothermics 1990, 19, 415–441.
Vespasiano, G., Marini, L., Muto, F., Auqué, L.F., Cipriani, M., De Rosa, R., Critelli, S., Gimeno, M.J., Blasco, M., Dotsika, E. and Apollaro, C., 2021. Chemical, isotopic and geotectonic relations of the warm and cold waters of the Cotronei (Ponte Coniglio), Bruciarello and Repole thermal areas, (Calabria-Southern Italy). Geothermics, 96, p.102228.
Thank you very much for your helpful and insightful comments. We have made corresponding modification. I have explained this in detail in response to your comments as follows. Thank you again.
4.3.2. Mineral Saturation States
Regarding the analysis of hot spring water samples, the mineral saturation index (SI) is calculated by using PHREEQC software. The results of this study are presented in Figure 7: it can be noticed that all spring water samples are saturated (SI > 0) with respect to Calcite, Chalcedony, Dolomite, Quartz, Halite and Aragonite are basically in equilibrium (SI ≈ 0). However, SI with respect to Dolomite varies greatly in each hot spring water. Groundwater samples in W5, W9, W10, W13, W14, W15 and W20 are in a supersaturated state (SI values are 3.18, 4.69, 4.14, 3.93,4.49,3.84 and 3.96, respectively), However, they are unsaturated in W24, W25, W33, W38 and W43(SI values are -1.31, −0.73, −0.71, −0.04 and −2.04, respectively), and the rest is basically in equilibrium (SI ≈ 0). This phenomenon may reflect the difference in the surrounding rock characteristics. The supersaturation indicates high content of these minerals and long residence time in the aquifer system [45]. However, albite, K-feldspar, anorthite, chrysotile and halite are found in an unsaturated state in the majority of spring waters, indicating that they are relatively soluble or have insufficient reaction time with hot water.
Figure 7. Saturation indices values of groundwater samples with respect to minerals.
Table 3. Apparent equilibrium temperatures computed through multi-geothermometers for the samples collected from the thermal springs of XSHF
|
NO. |
SiO2 (℃) |
K-Mg (℃) |
Na-K, (℃) |
Temperature (℃) |
Reservoir Temperature (℃) |
Circulation Depth (km) |
Structural location |
|
W1 |
9.5 |
48.7 |
199.8 |
10.0 |
9.5 |
0.2 |
Zhuwo and Luhuo segment |
|
W2 |
8.3 |
89.3 |
257.2 |
25.0 |
8.3 |
0.1 |
|
|
W3 |
16.1 |
65.7 |
234.0 |
26.2 |
16.1 |
0.5 |
|
|
W4 |
— |
23.5 |
141.5 |
11.0 |
82.5 |
3.7 |
|
|
W5 |
35.3 |
20.6 |
195.3 |
19.7 |
35.3 |
1.4 |
|
|
W6 |
— |
20.9 |
133.1 |
37.5 |
77.0 |
3.5 |
|
|
W7 |
53.4 |
21.9 |
150.1 |
39.9 |
75.2 |
3.4 |
|
|
W8 |
46.4 |
40.1 |
165.6 |
16.5 |
46.4 |
2.0 |
|
|
W9 |
— |
54.9 |
230.9 |
14.3 |
142.9 |
6.7 |
Daofu segment |
|
W10 |
15.9 |
65.5 |
303.2 |
15.3 |
15.9 |
0.5 |
|
|
W11 |
30.5 |
80.4 |
200.8 |
12.6 |
30.5 |
1.2 |
|
|
W12 |
— |
15.1 |
152.0 |
52.0 |
83.5 |
3.8 |
|
|
W13 |
— |
20.4 |
194.3 |
51.5 |
107.4 |
5.0 |
|
|
W14 |
— |
16.5 |
224.1 |
35.4 |
120.3 |
5.6 |
|
|
W15 |
— |
17.8 |
205.5 |
53.0 |
111.7 |
5.2 |
|
|
W16 |
— |
14.6 |
131.0 |
42.8 |
72.8 |
3.3 |
Bamei segment |
|
W17 |
64.4 |
30.4 |
160.9 |
41.0 |
64.4 |
2.8 |
|
|
W18 |
72.5 |
20.9 |
163.1 |
39.6 |
72.5 |
3.2 |
|
|
W19 |
66.4 |
23.0 |
264.3 |
39.6 |
66.4 |
2.9 |
|
|
W20 |
— |
17.8 |
206.8 |
73.0 |
112.3 |
5.2 |
|
|
W21 |
85.8 |
21.5 |
288.2 |
32.0 |
85.8 |
3.9 |
Kangding segment |
|
W22 |
70.3 |
-1.6 |
275.8 |
55.0 |
70.3 |
3.1 |
|
|
W23 |
106.1 |
-6.0 |
216.5 |
72.0 |
106.1 |
4.9 |
|
|
W24 |
95.3 |
9.7 |
211.7 |
39.0 |
95.3 |
4.4 |
|
|
W25 |
— |
9.4 |
119.1 |
35.0 |
64.3 |
2.8 |
|
|
W26 |
98.0 |
4.9 |
237.2 |
52.0 |
98.0 |
4.5 |
|
|
W27 |
122.6 |
0.7 |
217.0 |
74.7 |
122.6 |
5.7 |
|
|
W28 |
110.3 |
4.2 |
228.1 |
56.0 |
110.3 |
5.1 |
|
|
W29 |
103.1 |
8.6 |
229.7 |
55.4 |
103.1 |
4.7 |
|
|
W30 |
63.1 |
18.9 |
275.5 |
40.5 |
63.1 |
2.8 |
|
|
W31 |
93.2 |
3.2 |
237.0 |
72.0 |
93.2 |
4.3 |
|
|
W32 |
— |
-6.0 |
240.7 |
72.0 |
117.4 |
5.4 |
|
|
W34 |
125.0 |
1.4 |
250.7 |
75.8 |
125.0 |
5.8 |
|
|
W35 |
— |
-31.3 |
256.7 |
82.0 |
112.7 |
5.2 |
|
|
W33 |
87.2 |
17.8 |
284.9 |
40.8 |
87.2 |
4.0 |
Moxi segment |
|
W36 |
110.9 |
4.1 |
253.1 |
75.3 |
110.9 |
5.1 |
|
|
W37 |
— |
22.3 |
152.4 |
47.0 |
87.3 |
4.0 |
|
|
W38 |
62.5 |
28.5 |
236.1 |
45.7 |
62.5 |
2.8 |
|
|
W39 |
65.1 |
29.4 |
233.3 |
57.0 |
65.1 |
2.9 |
|
|
W40 |
75.6 |
25.9 |
222.5 |
57.2 |
75.6 |
3.4 |
|
|
W41 |
63.6 |
8.3 |
250.6 |
65.3 |
63.6 |
2.8 |
|
|
W42 |
97.0 |
22.4 |
307.7 |
50.6 |
97.0 |
4.4 |
|
|
W43 |
45.0 |
32.5 |
156.1 |
35.0 |
45.0 |
1.9 |
Point 11: ADD THESE REFERENCES
Apollaro, C.; Vespasiano, G.; De Rosa, R.: Marini L. Use of mean residence time and flowrate of thermal waters to evaluate the volume of reservoir water contributing to the natural discharge and the related geothermal reservoir volume. Application to Northern Thailand hot springs. Geothermics 2015, 58, 62-74
Kendall, C., & McDonnell, J. J. (Eds.). (2012). Isotope tracers in catchment hydrology. Elsevier.
Guidi, M.; Marini, L.; Scandiffio, G.; Cioni, R. Chemical geothermometry in hydrothermal aqueous solutions: The influence of ioncomplexing. Geothermics 1990, 19, 415–441.
Vespasiano, G., Marini, L., Muto, F., Auqué, L.F., Cipriani, M., De Rosa, R., Critelli, S., Gimeno, M.J., Blasco, M., Dotsika, E. and Apollaro, C., 2021. Chemical, isotopic and geotectonic relations of the warm and cold waters of the Cotronei (Ponte Coniglio), Bruciarello and Repole thermal areas,(Calabria-Southern Italy). Geothermics, 96, p.102228.
Response: Special thanks to you for your good comments. According to your helpful advice,
I have explained this in detail in response to your comments.Please refer to the revised version of the article for details of changes
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors, this text is very interesting but I still suggest improving it a bit.
1) No data is given for the age of the fault.
2) Whether it is one fault or a whole series (the text says three) but there is no information about the ratio of these faults to each other.
- the authors describe the geology (it is not clear if it is a surface or some unspecified slice of the lithosphere) but at the same time they write that the fault cuts the whole lithosphere, so probably in the fault zone, there are also older rocks. Maybe it is worth mentioning here that only aquifers are considered, as it was stated in conclusions?
4) Sampling information is important but in the context of the title it would be more useful to indicate dates before and after the earthquake, e.g. month, week, day, etc.
5) Line 143: "the high ratios of rock to water" is this text is not clear to me, please edit it more clearly.
- chapter 4 has a bad division.
The reader reading the geochemical characterization of the sources has the impression that it refers to these sources in general and only below he learns that it was a characterization of these sources in a normal situation (section 4.1) before the earthquake and then the changes resulting after the earthquake were considered (section 4.2 as it is now 4.5).
Please do not take my opinion wrong, but the text needs to be more readable.
7 Fig. 2. It shows the data but there is basically no description of it in the text. It would be useful to refer to the isotopic data before and after the earthquake.
8. the same applies to the information on the ion content.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments from the reviewer about our paper entitled “Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China”. After carefully studying the comments, we have made corresponding revision. Our response to the comments is enclosed at the end of this letter in red font. Due to the hasty revision time and the limited level of the author, there may still be many problems If you have any questions about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely yours
Yucong Yan
Xiaocheng Zhou
Lixia Liao
Response to Reviewer3 Comments
Point 1: No data is given for the age of the fault.
Response: I’m very Sorry, you are confused because of my carelessness. I modified this problem in the second part of geological background. Thank you again. “The activation of the XSHF began in the Early Permian, and during the Permian-Late Triassic, a large number of mixed rock systems, large-scale basal magmatic overflows and deep-sea tensional rift deposits represented by radiolarian siliciclastic rocks developed within the fault zone, marking the formation of the initial oceanic crust [22]”
Point 2: Whether it is one fault or a whole series (the text says three) but there is no information about the ratio of these faults to each other.
Response: Thank you very much for your helpful and insightful comments. We have made corresponding modification. I have explained this in detail in response to your comments as follows. Thank you again. “The XFZ is composed of northwestern, middle, and southeastern segments. The northwestern segment includes the Luhuo, Daofu, and Bamei faults. The middle segment consists of the Yalahe, Zheduotang, and Selaha faults which are called the Kangding section here. The southeastern segment contains the Moxi faults. [23]. The slip rate of the Zhuwo, Luhuo, Daofu, Bami, Yalahe, Selaha, Zheduotang and Moxi segment were about 4 mm·a-1, 13 mm·a-1, 13 mm·a-1, 12 mm·a-1, 4.0 mm·a-1 and 7.0 mm·a-1, 6.5 mm·a-1 and 9.5 mm·a-1, respectively [14]. The geographical of the XSHF were high mountains with low valleys. The elevations of the XSHF ranged from 3000 to 7556 m [16].”
Point 3: the authors describe the geology (it is not clear if it is a surface or some unspecified slice of the lithosphere) but at the same time they write that the fault cuts the whole lithosphere, so probably in the fault zone, there are also older rocks. Maybe it is worth mentioning here that only aquifers are considered, as it was stated in conclusions?
Response: Thank you very much for your helpful and insightful comments. We have made corresponding modification. I have explained this in detail in response to your comments as follows. Thank you again.“The regional stratigraphy mainly includes Triassic rocks consisting of deformed metamorphic feldspathic quartz sandstone, tuffaceous sandstone, siltstone and mudstone on both sides of the Chuanxi Depression, and Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks consisting of shallow metamorphic sandstone, slate, limestone lenses, limestone and metamorphic quartz sandstone on the east side of the rift zone. The XSHF is widely distributed with late Mesozoic - Cenozoic granite and diorite intrusions [24].” Here we consider only the lithology of the aquifer
Point 4: Sampling information is important but in the context of the title it would be more useful to indicate dates before and after the earthquake, e.g. month, week, day, etc.
Response: Thank you for your valuable and thoughtful comments. I think this may be because you did not see the table in the supplementary materials. Due to the large amount of data in the article, I put some data into the supplementary materials. In addition, I provided the specific interval before and after the earthquake in section 4.5. Thank you again.
Point 5: Line 143: "the high ratios of rock to water" is this text is not clear to me, please edit it more clearly.
Response: "the high ratios of rock to water" means that minerals such as carbonated carbon and silicate have higher δ18O, and the exchange of isotopes causes the significant increase of δ18O in hot spring water.
Point 6: chapter 4 has a bad division.
The reader reading the geochemical characterization of the sources has the impression that it refers to these sources in general and only below he learns that it was a characterization of these sources in a normal situation (section 4.1) before the earthquake and then the changes resulting after the earthquake were considered (section 4.2 as it is now 4.5).Please do not take my opinion wrong, but the text needs to be more readable.
Response: Thank you very much for your reminding. According to your modification, we changed the subtitle of 4.5 into “Correlation between Hydrogeochemical Changes and Earthquakes” Maybe it's better this way.
Point 7: Fig. 2. It shows the data but there is basically no description of it in the text. It would be useful to refer to the isotopic data before and after the earthquake. the same applies to the information on the ion content.
Response: Thank you very much for your helpful and insightful comments. We have made corresponding modification. please see the revised manuscript for details
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Review of “Hydrogeochemical of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China “
The researcher in this manuscript reviews data from an attractive and important topic and theirs present a good volume of interesting data. The offered data and interpretations are of good quality, but some parts still may to be improved.
Therefore, I had some additional comments and suggestions which should not be difficult to address. Also, they should give some additional information.
Detailed comments are as follows.
Title: Corresponds to the text, but the authors should insert “characteristic” after
Introduction:
Authors need to emphasize more international importance and insert more cases from around the world. Also in the discussion, more attention should be paid to other known locations with similar conditions.
Line 100 I suggest that authors better describe wells and springs and make some differentiation.
Line 106 “Four samples of bottles” most probably should be “four bottles of samples”
Line 107 “test” replace with “analyze” and in throughout the whole chapter replace testing with analysis
Line 108 Why “strontium isotopes” is bold?
Line 110 Which “multi-parameter probe” was used?
In supplementary table authors should use rule of three significant digits
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments from the reviewer about our paper entitled “Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China”. After carefully studying the comments, we have made corresponding revision. Our response to the comments is enclosed at the end of this letter in red font. Due to the hasty revision time and the limited level of the author, there may still be many problems If you have any questions about this paper, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely yours
Xiaocheng Zhou
Lixia Liao
Yucong Yan
Response to Reviewer4 Comments
Point 1: Title: Corresponds to the text, but the authors should insert “characteristic” after
Response: Thank you for your valuable and thoughtful comments. According to your revision suggestions, I will change the title to“Hydrogeochemical Characteristic of Geothermal Water and Precursory Anomalies along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone, Southwestern China”
Point 2: Introduction: Authors need to emphasize more international importance and insert more cases from around the world. Also in the discussion, more attention should be paid to other known locations with similar conditions.
Response:Thank you very much for your helpful comments.We have made corresponding modification. please see the revised manuscript for details
Point 3: “Four samples of bottles” most probably should be “four bottles of samples”
Response: Sorry for the error, I've made the change
Point 4: Which “multi-parameter probe” was used?
Response: I’m very Sorry, you are confused because of my carelessness, I think you might understand better if I said “The water temperatures were measured in the field with a digital thermometer having an accuracy of 0.1 °C. the conductivity and pH, which are unstable parameters, were measured in situ with handheld meters calibrated prior to sampling” like this.
Point 5: In supplementary table authors should use rule of three significant digits
Response: Thank you very much for your reminding. I referred to supplementary material for some of the articles already published in this journal and found that most of the data in the tables were reserved after two decimal places.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Can be accepted.
Reviewer 2 Report
Remarks from reviewers have been correctly addressed, and the paper is now more focuse on his core topicIn my opinion it is now acceptable.
Best regards
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
