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Abstract: Karst aquifers display a range of geologic and geomorphic characteristics in a wide range of climatic and land-use settings; identification of transport dynamics representative of karst aquifers in general could help advance our understanding of these complex systems. To this end, nutrient, turbidity, and major ion dynamics in response to storms were compared at multiple sites in two karst aquifers with contrasting characteristics and settings: the Chalk aquifer (Eure Department, Normandy, France) and the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer (Texas, U.S.A.). The Chalk aquifer is typified by high matrix porosity, thick surficial deposits (up to 30 m thick), and agricultural land use; the Barton Springs segment is typified by low matrix porosity, outcropping limestone, and urban land use. Following one to three storms, from 5 to 16 samples from springs and wells were analyzed for major ions, and specific conductance and turbidity were monitored continuously. Comparison of the chemographs indicated some generalized responses, including an increase in turbidity and potassium concentrations and a decrease in major ion and nitrate concentrations with infiltrating storm runoff. Factor analysis of major ions and turbidity revealed strikingly similar behavior of the chemical variables for the two aquifers: The first two factors, explaining more than 75% of the variability, illustrate that dynamics of most major ions (including nitrate) are opposed to those of turbidity and of potassium. The results demonstrate that potassium and nitrate are effective tracers of infiltrating storm runoff and resident ground water, respectively, and the similar results for these two highly contrasting aquifers suggest that the dynamics identified might be applicable to karst systems in general. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Karst aquifers are known for their wide distribution of water transfer velocities. From this observation, a multiple geochemical tracer approach seems to be particularly well suited to provide a significant assessment of groundwater flows, but the choice of adapted tracers is essential. In this study, several common tracers in karst aquifers such as physicochemical parameters, major ions, stable isotopes, and δ 13 C to more specific tracers such as dating tracers – 14 C, 3 H, 3 H– 3 He, CFC-12, SF 6 and 85 Kr, and 39 Ar – were used, in a fractured karstic carbonated aquifer located in Burgundy (France). The information carried by each tracer and the best sampling strategy are compared on the basis of geochemical monitoring done during several recharge events and over longer time periods (months to years). This study’s results demonstrate that at the seasonal and recharge event time scale, the variability of concentrations is low for most tracers due to the broad spectrum of groundwater mixings. The tracers used traditionally for the study of karst aquifers, i.e., physicochemical parameters and major ions, efficiently describe hydrological processes such as the direct and differed recharge, but require being monitored at short time steps during recharge events to be maximized. From stable isotopes, tritium, and Cl − contents, the proportion of the fast direct recharge by the largest porosity was estimated using a binary mixing model. The use of tracers such as CFC-12, SF 6 , and 85 Kr in karst aquifers provides additional information, notably an estimation of apparent age, but they require good preliminary knowledge of the karst system to interpret the results suitably. The CFC-12 and SF 6 methods efficiently determine the apparent age of baseflow, but it is preferable to sample the groundwater during the recharge event. Furthermore, these methods are based on different assumptions such as regional enrichment in atmospheric SF 6 , excess air, and flow models among others. 85 Kr and 39 Ar concentrations can potentially provide a more direct estimation of groundwater residence time. Conversely, the 3 H– 3 He method is inefficient in the karst aquifer for dating due to 3 He degassing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In many places throughout the world, drinking water is frequently contaminated by turbidity. Such turbidity, however, as representative of particle transport, can be used as to trace certain features of particle transport properties. In order to investigate the relation between particle and dissolved species transport and hydrodynamics in karst systems, correlation and spectral analyses were performed on time series of rainfall (input signal), and water level, specific conductance, and turbidity (output signals) at a karst spring system in the chalk aquifer of the lower Seine valley, France. This system is composed of a spring connected to a sinkhole on the chalk plateau where a small creek enters the subsurface. The autocorrelation functions for water level and turbidity showed a short memory effect, demonstrating the short duration of the influence of flood events on these two parameters, whereas specific conductance (representing less-mineralized storm-derived water) had a much longer memory effect. These results were interpreted as reflecting the rapid reactivity of the spring to rain events, with storage of water in the fissured chalk explaining the longer memory effect for specific conductance than for particles. Energy spectra computed by fast Fourier transform of autocorrelation functions showed a strong structure in the output signals, whereas the input signal (rainfall) was random, thus allowing assessment and comparison of system behaviour regarding dissolved and solid transport, as well as hydraulics. Cross-correlation functions (which allow an assessment of impulse response functions) confirmed the low inertia of the system for water level and turbidity and the much higher inertia for specific conductance. In addition to the main peak, two secondary peaks in the cross-correlation functions suggest the existence of additional flowpaths that might involve the contribution of other point-source recharge and/or delayed infiltration through the clayey surficial formation and solution pipes, which could act as epikarst. Analysis using continuous wavelet spectra allowed a better investigation of the rainfall signal structure and highlighted a strong relationship between turbidity and rainfall, which could not be deduced from the energy spectra. Specific spectral components in water level were isolated and a time-domain reconstruction using inverse wavelet transform allowed separation of quick-flow and slow-flow components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]