This study explores the impact of facility farming on the origin and composition of groundwater and on the distribution characteristics of inorganic salts, heavy metals, and dissolved organic matter in groundwater in a typical greenhouse vegetable planting area in North China plains. The methods used include conventional analysis, UV-Visible, and fluorescence spectroscopy combined with parallel factor analysis, principle components analysis, and two-dimensional (2D) hetero-spectral correlation spectra techniques. The results showed that the hydrochemistry type of groundwater in the facility vegetable field was Cl-SO4, the nitrogen content was higher than the National Groundwater V Class Quality Standard (GB/T14848-93), and the heavy metal content was lower than the National Drinking Water Standard (GB5749-2006). The nitrification process was blocked due to a strongly reducing atmosphere and shallow depth in groundwater, which caused high concentrations of NH4+-N. Part of the toxic sulfur-containing metal content increased after the application of inorganic fertilizers. The sources of dissolved organic matter in groundwater were similar; the organic manure components which leach into groundwater were recently produced by microbial metabolism. The main components of dissolved organic matter were small-molecule-biodegradable protein-like substances and the fulvic-like content binding to them. The fulvic-like content that bound to protein-like content in vegetable planting groundwater was stable, while the protein-like content was greatly influenced by the cultivation process of the organic manure application. In the process of vegetable planting, organic manure should be applied scientifically and the supervision of the planting area is crucial.
Keywords: absorption spectra; fluorescence spectra; greenhouse vegetable growing; groundwater; two-dimensional hetero-spectral correlation spectra.