Abstract
Abstract. Hydrogeochemistry of 10 hot springs in the Kangding district was investigated by analyzing cation and anion concentrations in the spring water. The water samples were collected in the 5 days after the Lushan MS = 7.0 earthquake, which occurred on 20 April 2013. The spring waters are classified into seven chemical types based on their hydrochemical compositions. Compared with hydrochemical data before the Lushan earthquake, concentrations of Ca2+, HCO3- and total dissolved solid (TDS) in water samples from the Guanding, Erdaoqiao, Gonghe, Erhaoying, Tianwanhe and Caoke springs significantly increased, which may be the result of a greater increase in groundwater from carbonate rocks, and water–carbonate rock interactions, enhanced by the increment of CO2. Concentrations of Na+, Cl- and SO42- in water samples from the Guanding, Zheduotang, Xinxing and Gonghe springs decreased, indicating a dilution of shallow waters. Concentrations of Na+ and SO42- in water samples from the Erhaoying spring water increased, which may be attributed to water–granite interactions enhanced by H2S. The results indicated that hydrochemical components of spring water could be used as an effective indicator for earthquakes.
Highlights
Great earthquakes are usually associated with the physical– chemical variations in groundwater
This paper aims to investigate hydrochemical characteristics of spring water in the Kangding district before and after the Lushan MS = 7.0 earthquake in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, and to investigate the relationship between geochemical variations and seismic activity
The following conclusions can be drawn from our study: 1. Based on Shoka Lev’s classification method, the water from hot springs in the Kangding district can be classified into 7 chemical types: Na-HCO3, NaMg-HCO3, NaMg-HCO3SO4, CaNa-SO4HCO3, CaNa-HCO3SO4, Na-ClHCO3 and Na-HCO3Cl
Summary
Great earthquakes are usually associated with the physical– chemical variations in groundwater. The short-term hydrogeochemical precursors for earthquakes (King et al, 1995; Favara et al, 2001; Quattrocchi et al, 2003; Du et al, 2008; Dadomo et al, 2009), the co-seismic response of hydrochemistry (Song et al, 2006; Yang et al, 2006; Reddy et al, 2011) and post-seismic geochemical changes in hot springs have been observed throughout the world (Thomas, 1988; Woith et al, 2013; Italiano et al, 2010; Zhou et al, 2010; Malakootian and Nouri, 2010; ̇Inan et al, 2012). Chen et al (2014) observed the geochemical variation in the water sampled from the hot springs in the Kangding district before the Wenchuan MS = 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan Province, southwest China, on 12 May 2008
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