Karst spring responses examined by process-based modeling

Ground water in karst terrains is highly vulnerable to contamination due to the rapid transport of contaminants through the highly conductive conduit system. For contamination risk assessment purposes, information about hydraulic and geometric characteristics of the conduits and their hydraulic interaction with the fissured porous rock is an important prerequisite. The relationship between aquifer characteristics and short-term responses to recharge events of both spring discharge and physicochemical parameters of the discharged water was examined using a process-based flow and transport model. In the respective software, a pipe-network model, representing fast conduit flow, is coupled to MODFLOW, which simulates flow in the fissured porous rock. This hybrid flow model was extended to include modules simulating heat and reactive solute transport in conduits. The application of this modeling tool demonstrates that variations of physicochemical parameters, such as solute concentration and water temperature, depend to a large extent on the intensity and duration of recharge events and provide information about the structure and geometry of the conduit system as well as about the interaction between conduits and fissured porous rock. Moreover, the responses of solute concentration and temperature of spring discharge appear to reflect different processes, thus complementing each other in the aquifer characterization.