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Karst Groundwater Sustainability

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Dear Colleagues,

Karst aquifers constitute an essential source of drinking water for around 9.2% of the world’s population. However, only 1% of their annually renewable resources are currently used for drinking water supply. Therefore, karst groundwater resources represent a great opportunity to limit the imbalance between a growing demand and a limited freshwater resource. Nonetheless, karst groundwater resource is facing water quality degradation and decrease in water quantity, resulting in challenges in groundwater management and rising water use conflicts.

This Special Issue in Sustainability aims to showcase the latest scientific advances in karst hydrology, as well as innovative methodologies which can be used to evaluate karst groundwater vulnerability to climate change and anthropogenic pressures from different areas around the world. The Special Issue is open to any contribution, elucidating the evolution of the quality and quantity of karst groundwater under climate change conditions and climate variability. This Special Issue aims to promote a deeper understanding of the effect of external forcing on karst groundwater to ensure a sustainable karst groundwater management.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Vianney Sivelle
Dr. Joanna Doummar
Prof. Dr. David Labat
Guest Editors

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Keywords

karst
groundwater
sustainability
climate change
water resource management
impact studies

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3422 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Index to Assess the Effect of Climate Change on Karst Spring Flow Rate

by Ahmad Behrouj Peely, Zargham Mohammadi, Vianney Sivelle, David Labat and Mostafa Naderi

Sustainability 2024, 16(3), 1326; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16031326 - 04 Feb 2024

Viewed by 664

Abstract

Karstic aquifers, because of their conduit system, are susceptible to climate change. Ten karst springs in the Zagros region were selected to investigate the impact of climate change under three CMIP6 scenarios: SSP1-1.9, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5. This study was conducted in three steps: downscaling climate projection, analyzing spring discharge time series, and introducing a new index to assess the impact of climate change on spring flow rate. Applying LARS-WG6, precipitation was downscaled at 14 stations in the study area. Moreover, time series and trend analysis showed that the selected springs have experienced a decrease in their flow rate. Assuming the covariance function between precipitation and spring discharge is constant, new indices (i.e.,

I_{Q_{d}}

I_{{d Q}_{d}}

, and

I_{c c}

) were introduced to highlight the effect of climate change according to the three scenarios.

d Q_{d}

is the variability of spring discharge from past to future,

I_{{d Q}_{d}}

is spring discharge variability over the historical data, and

I_{c c}

is the effect of precipitation and spring discharge change together.

I_{c c}

has a range from −0.25 to 0.25 below and above, which is indicative that two extreme conditions including the spring dryness and overflow are in effect, respectively. The main results revealed that the degree of impact at each spring is a function of climate change scenarios and hydrogeological characteristics of the karstic systems. A more noticeable negative trend in spring flow rate is observed for the karst springs characterized by a dominant conduit flow regime and low matrix storage, located in the areas with low cumulative rainfall, and has a stronger relationship with precipitation. Based on the results, decisions on the management of karst water resources should be made considering where the springs bear free surface and pressurized flow conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Karst Groundwater Sustainability)

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20 pages, 8527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Classification, Discharge Statistics, and Recession Analysis from the Springs of the Gran Sasso (Italy) Carbonate Aquifer; Comparison with Selected Analogues Worldwide

by Giacomo Medici, Valeria Lorenzi, Chiara Sbarbati, Mauro Manetta and Marco Petitta

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10125; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310125 - 26 Jun 2023

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 1140

Abstract

The relative importance of karst conduits and fractures in driving groundwater flow affects the discharge of springs and the long-term availability of water resources. Applying statistics to the hydrographs of the discharge and studying the recessions provide information on the degree of reliability and variability of the springs and, therefore, the flow regime within the saturated part of the carbonate aquifers. This approach was applied to six springs at the Gran Sasso aquifer in Central Italy. These springs were divided into three structural geological groups that determined the position of the permeability thresholds. The type of tectonic structures and the pattern of the permeability thresholds allow a correlation with the computed statistics. The studied springs were associated with the presence of thrusts, overturned drag folds, and a normal fault. The computed statistics describe a general scenario of reliability and steadiness for the springs. The Flow Duration Curves for the springs show limited groundwater flow through the conduits through a comparison with analogues in Slovakia. Joints and bedding plane fractures dominate the groundwater flow, fitting both the relative steadiness of the discharges and the pattern of the Flow Duration Curves. The recessions are also characterized by more gentle slopes with respect to nearby areas fitting a conceptual model of dominant fracture flow. This mathematical scenario depicts groundwater resources, which have limited exposure to episodes of summer droughts. The proposed approach is a holistic combination of structural geology and hydrologic elements and can be successfully exported to other tectonized carbonate areas for the sustainable management of groundwater resources worldwide. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Karst Groundwater Sustainability)

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