Abstract
Abstract. Monitoring the water movements in karstic areas is a fundamental but challenging task due to the complexity of the drainage system and the difficulty in deploying a network of observations. Gravimetry offers a valid complement to classical hydrologic measurements in order to characterize such systems in which the recharge process causes temporarily accumulation of large water volumes in the voids of the epi-phreatic system. We show an innovative integration of gravimetric and hydrologic observations that constrains a hydrodynamic model of the Škocjan cave system (Slovenia). We demonstrate how the inclusion of gravity observations improves water mass budget estimates for the Škocjan area based on hydrological observations only. Finally, the detectability of water storage variations in other karstic contexts is discussed with respect to the noise performances of spring and super-conducting gravimeters.
Highlights
Karst areas on carbonates and evaporates occupy about 15 % of the ice-free continents; about one-fourth of the world’s and about one-third of Europe’s population is supplied by water from karst aquifers
Karstic areas are characterized by the presence of large voids, which are able to temporarily store significant water volumes during meteorological events
The gravity data in Škocjan allowed us to obtain a refined estimate of the water flux in the cave during an extreme flood event of the Reka river, demonstrating the added value of integrating hydraulic models and gravity and hydrologic observations
Summary
Karst areas on carbonates and evaporates occupy about 15 % of the ice-free continents; about one-fourth of the world’s and about one-third of Europe’s population is supplied by water from karst aquifers. The evolution of karst aquifers is driven toward equilibrium, where conduit systems effectively drain all of the available recharge; in active tectonic environments, the evolution is being continuously stirred by changes of boundary conditions and structure (Gabrovšek et al, 2014). This leads to complex geometries of networks, with high variations of conduit crosssections and abrupt terminations of channels by breakdowns or fault planes. To assess the structure of karst aquifers and the response to the recharge process, different geophysical and hydrological techniques are used, each of them being applicable to a specific situation
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