Identification and Estimation of Solute Storage and Release in Karst Water Systems, South China

Liang Zhang, Mingming Luo and Zhihua Chen
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Liang Zhang: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Mingming Luo: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhihua Chen: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Solute storage and release in groundwater are key processes in solute transport for groundwater remediation and protection. In karst areas where concentrated recharge conditions exist, pollution incidents can easily occur in springs that are hydraulically connected to densely inhabited karst depressions. The intrinsic heterogeneity common in karst media makes modeling solute transport very difficult with great uncertainty. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that solute storage and release within subsurface conduits and fissures exhibit strong controlling function on pollutant attenuation during underground floods. Consequently, in this paper, we identified and estimated the solute storage and release processes in karst water systems under concentrated recharge conditions. The methodology uses the advection–dispersion method and field tracer tests to characterize solute transport in different flow paths. Two solute transport pathways were established (i.e., linear pathway (direct transport through karst conduits) and dynamic pathway (flow through fissures)). Advection–dispersion equations were used to fit the breakthrough curves in conduit flow, while the volume of solute storage in fissures were calculated by segmenting the best fitting curves from the total breakthrough curves. The results show that, greater recharge flow or stronger dynamic conditions leads to lower solute storage rate, with the storage rate values less than 10% at high water level conditions. In addition, longer residence time was recorded for solute exchange between conduits and fissures at the low water level condition, thereby contributing to a higher solute storage rate of 26% in the dynamic pathway.

Keywords: solute transport; storage and release; tracer test; karst water system; concentrated recharge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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