Premium
Mass balance and spectral analysis applied to Karst hydrologie networks
Author(s) -
Brown M. C.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr009i003p00749
Subject(s) - karst , phreatic , hydrology (agriculture) , sink (geography) , vadose zone , covariance , geology , hydrograph , groundwater , spring (device) , drainage , environmental science , aquifer , drainage basin , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , geography , statistics , engineering , mechanical engineering , paleontology , cartography , biology , ecology
Underground karst drainage systems can be studied by the input‐output relations of rivers that flow through them. First, tracers enable the quantity of water at a sink that flows to a specific spring, and the fraction of a given spring derived from a sink, to be calculated. Second, when these methods are not applicable, cross‐covariance and cross‐spectral transfer function analysis can be used to examine input‐output stage records. These give information about the vadose and/or phreatic nature of the system. An inaccessible karst drainage system in western Alberta has a tracer flow‐through time of +80 to +130 hours and a positively skewed cross covariance of +70 to +124 hours; therefore the cave is not completely water filled. Additional unknown inputs are substantiated by a negatively peaking cross covariance.