Responses of Spring Discharge to Different Rainfall Events for Single-Conduit Karst Aquifers in Western Hunan Province, China

Wei Chang, Junwei Wan, Jiahua Tan, Zongxing Wang, Cong Jiang and Kun Huang
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Wei Chang: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan 430074, China
Junwei Wan: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan 430074, China
Jiahua Tan: China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd., 745 Peace Avenue, Wuhan 430063, China
Zongxing Wang: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan 430074, China
Cong Jiang: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan 430074, China
Kun Huang: School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan 430074, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: It is a challenge to describe the hydrogeological characteristics of karst aquifers due to the complex structure with extremely high heterogeneity. As the response of karst aquifers to rainfall events, spring discharge variations after precipitation can be used to identify the internal structure of karst systems. In this study, responses of spring discharge to different kinds of precipitations are investigated by continuously monitoring precipitation and karst spring flow at a single-conduit karst aquifer in western Hunan province, China. Recession curves were used to analyze hydrodynamic behaviors and separate recession stages. The results show that the shape of the recession curve was changed under different rainfall conditions. Recession processes can be divided in to three recession stages under heavy rain conditions due to water drainage mainly from conduits, fracture, and matrix at each stage, but only one recession stage representing drainage mainly from matrix in the case of light rain. With the change in amount and intensity of precipitation, the calculated recession coefficient at each stage changes in an order of magnitude. The influence of precipitation on the recharge coefficient and the discharge composition at each recession are discussed, and then the conceptual model diagram of water filling and releasing in the single-conduit karst aquifers is concluded. The findings provide more insight understand on hydraulic behaviors of karst spring under different types of rainfall events and provide support for water resource management in karst regions.

Keywords: karst spring; flow recession curve; precipitation intensity; recession coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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