Karst hydrology — A review

Karst regions of the world are characterized by limestones and other soluble rocks at or near land surface that have been modified by solutional erosion. Such surface features as sinks, long dry valleys, sparse streams, and bare rock and such subsurface features as caverns, arterial solution openings leading to large springs, and a deep water table are typical of karst terranes. These features result in an uneven distribution of permeability in karst systems and surface and subsurface hydrologic conditions that require special hydrogeologic studies. Local high permeability at shallow depth in mature karst regions leads to an ecology associated with a soilless and water-scarce surface environment. Many practical problems result from this high permeability, including: (1) scarcity and poor predictability of groundwater supplies; (2) scarcity of surface-water supplies; (3) instability of the ground; (4) leakage of surface reservoirs; and (5) an unreliable waste-disposal environment.Interest in karst hydrology has increased greatly in the past decade; this interest has resulted in the international exchange of numerous published reports on local areas and on special topical karst problems. Many of these reports have been used by the authors in preparing this paper, which synthesizes results of many workers and focuses attention on: (1) the development of karst features through hydrologic processes; and (2) hydrologic systems of karst terranes.     

基于修正SWAT模型的岩溶地区非点源污染模拟初探——以横港河流域为例

岩溶流域含水系统的主要特征之一是连通地表的落水洞等垂直管道将近水平的地下暗河联系起来,降水及其形成的地表径流可以通过这些管道迅速地灌入地下河系,从而改变了水及其所携带的非点源污染物质在垂直与水平方向的传输速度与数量,使岩溶流域内地表-地下之间的物质交换与传输过程变得比较复杂;应用广泛的SWAT模型在模拟岩溶地区的水文、水质时会存在一些不足与局限.为此,本文针对岩溶水系统特征,引入落水洞、伏流、暗河的水文过程以及主要营养盐的输移过程,修正SWAT模型原有的水文循环过程及相关算法,改变其只适用于松散均匀介质流域非点源污染模拟的单一特征,并研究建立适合于岩溶流域的非点源污染模型和相应的模拟方法.选取横港河流域岩溶地区作为非点源污染的对象,应用修正后的模型通过控制性的模拟方法和敏感性性分析,定量评估落水洞、伏流、暗河等岩溶特征对氮、磷等主要非点源污染物质输移的影响及其带来的时空效应,并进一步探讨落水洞、伏流、暗河等对地表-地下水文与营养盐的交互作用及转换机理.结果表明,岩溶特征对流域的氮、磷负荷有增加作用,其中总磷的增加明显大于总氮的增加,总磷和总氮的增量分别为0.86%和2.12%;植被岩溶指数的增加会导致流域可溶性磷、有机磷的产出量增加,有机氮、地表产流中硝酸氮和沉积磷的产出量则居其次,落水洞改变了降雨的产流方式,增加了落水洞所在流域的有机磷和有机氮的产出,其增量变化在0~0.7和0~0.3 kg/hm²之间.     

Analysis of the karst aquifer structure of the Lamalou area (Hérault, France) with ground penetrating radar

The study site at Lamalou karst spring (Hortus karst plateau) is situated 40 km north of Montpellier in France. It consists of a limestone plateau, drained by a karst conduit discharging as a spring. This conduit extends for a few dozen meters in fractured and karstified limestone rocks, 15 to 70 m below the surface. The conduit is accessible from the surface. The main goal of this study is to analyze the surface part of the karst and to highlight the karstic features and among them the conduit, and to test the performances of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in a karstic environment. This method thus appears particularly well adapted to the analysis of the near-surface (<30 m in depth) structure of a karst, especially when clayey coating or soil that absorbs and attenuates the radar is rare and discontinuous. A GPR pulseEKKO 100 (Sensors and Software) was used on the site with a 50-MHz antenna frequency. The results highlight structures characterizing the karstic environment: the epikarst, bedding planes, fractured and karstified zones, compact and massive rock and karrens, a typical karst landform. One of the sections revealed in detail the main conduit located at a depth of 20 m, and made it possible to determine its geometry. This site offers possibilities of validation of the GPR data by giving direct access to the karstic conduits and through two cored boreholes. These direct observations confirm the interpretation of all the GPR sections.     

孔间距对地震CT探测岩溶的影响模拟研究

随着对地下空间开发的日趋增加,地下空间的施工与利用安全问题越来越受到广泛关注,地下发育的岩溶对于地下空间的开发会造成诸多安全隐患,对人民的生产生活也会造成很多影响.跨孔地震CT技术已经广泛应用于岩石破碎带、溶洞等探测,为地下空间的开发利用及施工安全提供了重要的技术支撑.为了进一步研究该技术的成像精度,本文对影响跨孔地震...     

The Main Problems of Karst Hydrogeology in the Crimean Peninsula

Water Resources - The Crimean Peninsula, with 84% of its territory composed of soluble rocks, is a region of wide occurrence and diverse manifestations of karst. Practically all groundwater of...     

电震联合法在涪陵裂隙溶洞调查中的应用研究

涪陵页岩气勘查开发区内地层以碳酸盐岩为主,地下存在裂隙、溶洞、暗河等是该区要识别、防范的重要地质隐患.本文分析了音频大地电磁法(AMT)探测和浅层纵波反射地震勘探法的特点,明确了不同方法对裂隙溶洞调查的优缺点,认为电震联合裂隙溶洞调查的方法是获得区内异常构造与电阻率、波阻抗对应关系的有效途径.通过两个应用实例,解析区内...     

Hydrogeomechanical Conditions of Karst Sinkhole Formation in the Area of Potassium Mines in Berezniki T., Perm Krai

The study area refers to the class of highly complex geotechnical conditions. Hazardous geological processes (HGP) are active here, including high seismicity up to 7 points MSK-64, karst, suffosion, subsidence and collapses of land surface, underflooding and flooding, erosion, ecological processes, etc. Large industrial plants with hazardous production and complex infrastructure are in operation here. One such plant is the First Berezniki Potassium Production Mine (BPPM-1), which have been operated since 1954. Its mine field extends below the industrial zone and the residential quarters of the town. An accident took place here in 2006, resulting in the inundation of the entire mined-out space with a volume of more than 80 million m3 and the formation of huge collapses of land surface in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2015. The geological structure of a mine in the Verkhnekamskoe deposit of potassium salts is used as an example to discuss the effect of two leading groups of geological factors on the formation of karst sinkholes. Analysis is given to the hydrodynamic conditions and geomechanical structure of the above-salt rock stratum, whose synergy determines the diversity of models of possible development of deformations and collapses of land surface. The article gives the possible development schemes of land surface collapses above the mined-out space. The objective of the study is to assess and forecast the development of hazardous geological processes in the territory of Berezniki T. based on the geotechnical interpretation of the available materials of geological works, engineering surveys, and integral monitoring observations.     

A Waste Treatment/Disposal Site Evaluation Process for Areas Underlain by Carbonate Aquifers

Fractured carbonate or karst aquifers are highly susceptible to contamination. In Minnesota, the areas underlain by karst aquifers are often characterized by thin soil cover, poorly cased wells and/or collapse features. When coupled with improper land use decisions these aquifers have become extensively contaminated.
Evaluation of existing or potentially contaminated sites has required development of unique site evaluation techniques or combinations of techniques. Shallow geophysics have been used successfully to determine subsurface karst features, pinpoint locations for additional investigations and evaluate pump-test data. Soil texture, density and relative moisture content have been closely examined and criteria established to evaluate subsurface erosion susceptibility. Percent rock core recovery, mechanical response of drilling and drilling fluid loss have been used to characterize the secondary porosity and potential contamination susceptibility of the carbonate rock. Dye tracing via surface sinks and well injection have determined primary flow paths and have been useful in estimating flow times.
These techniques used solely or in conjunction have been very useful in evaluating contamination existing in the aquifers and as a predictive tool to evaluate the proposed land uses impacts.     

Interpretation of groundwater level monitoring results in karst aquifers: examples from the Dinaric karst

The paper presents an attempt to determine the characteristics of karst aquifers using information on groundwater level (GWL) in natural holes and boreholes with different data quantity and time resolution of GWL measurements. In this paper the particulars of karst aquifers were analysed for four examples from the Dinaric karst. In all four study areas, aquifers are formed in bare, deep and well‐developed Dinaric karst consisting of Cretaceous limestones. The first example represents a wide area of Imotsko polje in the karst. The aquifer was analysed on the basis of infrequent water level monitoring in natural karst water features (jamas, lakes, wells) and discharges of springs and rivers. The karst aquifer in this example is complex, non‐homogenous and variable in space and time, which is frequent in the Dinaric karst. Regardless of the aforementioned it was possible to determine its elementary characteristics. The second example represents 10 wells used for the water supply for the city of Pula. The GWL and salinity were measured once a week in the period between 1981 and 1996. Even though these measurements were relatively infrequent in space and time, they served as bases for assessment of average and maximum aquifer conditions as well as boundaries of saltwater intrusion. In the third example only a portion of aquifer of the karst spring Blaz, which is in the contact with the Adriatic Seas, has been analyzed. It is a spring with an intrusion of salt water. For purposes of study of saltwater intrusion, 26 piezometers were drilled in its vicinity in which GWL, salinity and temperature were measured once a day during 168 days, a period comprising one complete cycle of seawater intrusion and retreat. These measurements proved the existence of dispersed discharge from the aquifer into the sea and its non‐homogeneity in space. In the fourth example GWL was measured continuously in 10 deep (up to 300 m) piezometers in the hinterland of the Ombla Spring catchment. The measurement period lasted 2 years (January 1988 to December 1989). The analyses are made with hourly data. The results made it possible to determine numerous characteristics of the karst aquifer and a significant non‐homogeneity of groundwater distribution in karst aquifers, depending more on the underground karst phenomena than the surface karst forms. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

重庆三江口水库诱发地震分析研究

通过野外地震地质调查并参考前人研究成果,分析三江口水库区的地质构造背景、地震活动性及水文地质条件等资料,对该水库诱发地震的可能性进行分析。构造类比法分析表明:蓄水后发生构造型水库诱发地震的可能性较小,但有可能发生岩溶塌陷型水库诱发地震。概率预测法分析表明:库首段(新滩子—狮狸弯)发震概率较小,仅为0.02;库中段(狮狸弯—牛鼻子)岩溶不太发育,诱震可能性较小,不发震的概率为0.96;库尾段(牛鼻子—峡马口)有可能诱发微震,发震(M3.0)概率为0.10。     

Preliminary study on weathering and pedogenesis of carbonate rock

South China is the largest continuous distribution area of carbonate rock in the world. The origin of the soils over the bedrock carbonate rock has long been a controversial topic. Here further exploration is made by taking five soil profiles as examples, which are developed over the bedrock dolomitite and limestone and morphologically located in upland in karst terrain in the central, west and north Guizhou as well as west Hunan, and proved to be the weathering profiles of carbonate rock by the research results of acid-dissolved extraction experiment of bedrock, mineralogy and trace element geochemistry. Field, mineralogical and trace element geochemical characteristics of weathering and pedogenesis for carbonate rock are discussed in detail. It is pointed out that weathering and pedogenesis of carbonate rock are important pedogenetic mechanisms for soil resources in karst area, providing a basis for further researches on the origin of soils widely overlying bedrock carbonate rocks in South China. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 498330003) and National Key Basic Research Project (Grant No. 95pre-39).     

广西岩溶区工程地质灾害及场地处理

为减小岩溶区地质灾害带来的损失,以广西岩溶区为例,分析了广西岩溶地质的分布特点,对广西岩溶区的工程地质灾害进行研究分类,对岩溶区工程场地处理方法进行研究,综述了地表封闭防渗法、地面下加固处理法、结构物跨越法三大方法的原理、实施效果和实用性。研究发现:由于降雨和地下岩石类别差异等因素,广西的岩溶分布类型具有强烈的地域特性,形成了三大岩溶地貌特征;产生岩溶区地质灾害最主要的诱因是地下水的变化,重要工程中定时定点监控地下水变化十分重要;广西的岩溶区溶洞和土洞塌陷主要是人为因素造成的。     

Isotopic analysis of water sources of mountainous plant uptake in a karst plateau of southwest China

Ecosystem in the karst region of southwest China is very fragile due to a very limited amount of water storage for plant uptake in the thin and rocky soils underlain by rock fractures. Plants in these karst regions are thought to take water from the soils and shallow fractured rock zone (subcutaneous zone) as well. However, the role of subcutaneous water in maintaining karst vegetation remains unclear, and proportions of the water sources for plant uptake in different environment conditions are unknown. In this study, five typical species of plants at two sites were selected in a karst plateau of Qingzhen, central Guizhou Province of China. Proportions of the possible water sources contributed for the plant uptake from two soil layers and subcutaneous zone were determined on the basis of δD and δ¹⁸O values of plant stem water, soil water and subcutaneous water. The analysis reveals that most plants take water from the soil layers and the subcutaneous zone as well, but proportions of these water contributions for plant uptake vary seasonally and depend on site‐specific conditions and plant species. Plant uptake of the subcutaneous water for all species averages less than 30% of the total monthly amount in June and September, compared with more than 60% in dry December. Plants tend to take a larger proportion of water from the upper soil layer at the bush site than at the forest site in June and September (63 vs 28% in July; 66 vs 54% in September for all species in average). In December, however, 98% of water is taken from the subcutaneous zone at the bush site which is much greater than 68% at the forest site. Compared to deciduous arbor, evergreen shrub takes a greater proportion of subcutaneous water in the December drought. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rock crevices determine woody and herbaceous plant cover in the karst critical zone

The study of the critical zones(CZs) of the Earth link the composition and function of aboveground vegetation with the characteristics of the rock layers, providing a new way to study how the unique rock and soil conditions in karst regions affect the aboveground vegetation. Based on survey results of the rocks, soils and vegetation in the dolomite and limestone distribution areas in the karst area of central Guizhou, it was found that woody plant cover increases linearly with the number of cracks with a width of more than 1 mm, while the cover of herbaceous plants shows the opposite trend(p0.01). The dolomite distribution area is characterized by undeveloped crevices, and the thickness of the soil layer is generally less than 20 cm, which is suitable for the distribution of herbaceous plants with shallow roots. Due to the development of crevices in the limestone distribution area, the soil is deeply distributed through the crevices for the deep roots of trees, which leads to a diversified species composition and a complicated structure in the aboveground vegetation. Based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer(MODIS) remote sensing data from 2001 to 2010, the normalized differentiated vegetation index(NDVI) and annual net primary productivity(NPP) results for each phase of a 16-day interval further indicate that the NDVI of the limestone distribution area is significantly higher than that in the dolomite distribution area, but the average annual NPP is the opposite. The results of this paper indicate that in karst CZs, the lithology determines the structure and distribution of the soil, which further determines the cover of woody and herbaceous plants in the aboveground vegetation. Although the amount of soil in the limestone area may be less than that in the dolomite area, the developed crevice structure is more suitable for the growth of trees with deep roots, and the vegetation activity is strong. At present, the treatment of rocky desertification in karst regions needs to fully consider the rock-soilvegetation-air interactions in karst CZs and propose vegetation restoration measures suitable for different lithologies.     

小浪底水库断裂构造分析与诱发地震预测

对小浪底水库区城崖地，塔底，石井河等主要活动断层的基本特征作了 简要介绍，采用断层强度分析法分别估算了小浪底水库蓄水前和一些断层面的抗滑稳定系数，对库区地震活动性，应力状态，岩溶和岩体渗透性等诱震条件进行了分析，对水库诱发地震的最大震级和可能的震中位置进行了初步预测。     

Inverse Modeling Approach to Allogenic Karst System Characterization

Allogenic karst systems function in a particular way that is influenced by the type of water infiltrating through river water losses, by karstification processes, and by water quality. Management of this system requires a good knowledge of its structure and functioning, for which a new methodology based on an inverse modeling approach appears to be well suited. This approach requires both spring and river inflow discharge measurements and a continuous record of chemical parameters in the river and at the spring. The inverse model calculates unit hydrographs and the impulse responses of fluxes from rainfall hydraulic head at the spring or rainfall flux data, the purpose of which is hydrograph separation. Hydrograph reconstruction is done using rainfall and river inflow data as model input and enables definition at each time step of the ratio of each component. Using chemical data, representing event and pre-event water, as input, it is possible to determine the origin of spring water (either fast flow through the epikarstic zone or slow flow through the saturated zone). This study made it possible to improve a conceptual model of allogenic karst system functioning. The methodology is used to study the Bas-Agly and the Cent Font karst systems, two allogenic karst systems in Southern France.     

Interrogating the time and processes of development of the Las Liebres rock glacier,central Chilean Andes,using a numerical flow model

The Las Liebres rock glacier is a large (~2.2 km long) Andean rock glacier whose internal composition and kinematics are known from previous studies. We investigate its development by posing and testing the following null hypothesis: the rock glacier has developed from a constant supply of debris and ground ice in periglacial conditions and resulting creep of the ice‐rock mixture. A rheological model was formulated based on recent advances in the study of ice‐rock mixture rheology, and calibrated on the known surface velocities and internal composition of the rock glacier. We show that the rock glacier viscosity is inversely related to both water and debris fractions, in agreement with recent field and theoretical studies of ice‐rock mixture rheology. Taking into account the possible variations in water fraction, the model was used to estimate the time spans of development (0.91–7.11 ka), rates of rock wall retreat (0.44–4.18 mm/a), and rates of ground ice formation (0.004–0.026 m/a) for the rock glacier. These results support the null hypothesis of a periglacial origin of the Las Liebres rock glacier. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

小湾库区水库诱发地震的地质环境分析

在文献[1]的基础上,通过对小湾库区岩石介质、地质构造、构造应力场、库区及周围地震活动特点的分析,认为小湾库区水库诱发地震的地质环境比较复杂,存在发生岩溶型、裂隙型、构造型等三种成因类型的水库诱发地震的基本条件,而沿通过库区的澜沧江断裂带及其次级断层,和无量山断裂带发生构造型水库诱发地震,是小湾库区水库地震活动的主要诱发因素：     

萍-乐坳陷带之岩溶发育规律及岩溶水富集特征

萍-乐坳陷带为江西省最主要的隐伏岩溶发育区带之一,岩溶地层发育,地表水、地下水循环交替强烈,地质构造复杂,为岩溶的发育、岩溶地下水的富集提供了良好的条件。查明岩溶发育规律及岩溶水的富集特征,可为地下水资源合理开发与地质环境保护提供科学依据。     

电磁波层析成像技术在复杂地质边坡工程勘察中的应用研究

复杂的边坡工程地质条件决定了建设摩崖石刻工程的位置和规模,但边坡上发育的崩塌、坠石等地质灾害和多变的地形地貌条件严重影响了边坡地质工程勘察的安全性、准确性和勘察技术方法的有效性,本文应用孔间电磁波层析成像技术探测和评价边坡工程内破碎带、岩溶以及岩体完整性变化等地质工程问题以及地质解释的关键技术.电磁波衰减特征及电磁波衰减吸收系数的变化趋势和异常结构特征可以有效地反映边坡岩体内节理发育带、岩溶以及场区具控制作用的溶蚀断裂带的发育深度及影响范围,评价边坡岩体完整性的垂向分带和空间分区特征,为边坡工程建造提供科学依据.