Abstract
Identification and estimation of groundwater runoff components in karst groundwater systems to improve understanding of karst water circulation and water-rock interactions is essential for water resources assessment and development. A Gaussian mixture model is presented for identifying and estimating karst groundwater runoff components based on the frequency distributions of conductivity and discharge. Successful application of this method in the Heilongquan karst spring in South China showed that groundwater runoff components can be divided into 6–8 grades, corresponding to the grades of groundwater in karst fissures. The conductivity and discharge thresholds dividing fast and slow flow were determined to be approximately 300 μS cm−1 and 0.3 m3 s−1, respectively, with fast flow exhibiting lower conductivity and larger discharge. On an annual basis, fast flow occurred 9% of the time and accounted for 35% of total water volume. The results of the method compared favorably to that of hydrograph recession analysis. Estimation of groundwater runoff components based on frequency distributions of conductivity and discharge provides a novel alternative method for the quantitative evaluation of karst water resources.
Highlights
In all around of the world, karst aquifers are important freshwater resources and their development and protection requires improved quantitative understanding of groundwater runoff components in karst groundwater systems [1]
July–August resulted in higher thanthan median springspring discharge and theand lowest lowest conductivity in the year
Groundwater runoff components in the Heilongquan karst groundwater system can be divided into 6–8 grades, corresponding to the grades of water in karst fissures
Summary
In all around of the world, karst aquifers are important freshwater resources and their development and protection requires improved quantitative understanding of groundwater runoff components in karst groundwater systems [1]. Identification and estimation of groundwater runoff components in karst groundwater systems to improve understanding of karst water circulation and water-rock interactions is essential for water resources development and protection. The heterogeneity of karst aquifers poses a barrier to this knowledge [2] Traditional methods such as field surveys, fracture measurement, cave detection, hydrogeological drilling, and geophysical methods [3,4] are often costly, whereas separating karst groundwater runoff components through tracer tests, isotope analysis and hydrograph recession analysis [5,6,7,8] have some spatial and temporal scale limitations. A method for estimating groundwater runoff components in karst groundwater systems by the frequency distribution of conductivity has previously been proposed [12], thereby providing a novel auxiliary method for identifying the structure of karst groundwater systems
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