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Regional hydrochemistry of North American carbonate terrains
Author(s) -
Harmon Russell S.,
White William B.,
Drake John J.,
Hess John W.
Publication year - 1975
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/wr011i006p00963
Subject(s) - hydrogeology , carbonate , precipitation , groundwater , terrain , hydrology (agriculture) , carbon dioxide , environmental science , geology , atmospheric sciences , climatology , physical geography , meteorology , geography , ecology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , cartography , metallurgy , biology
The chemical variation of water samples drawn from carbonate terrains between southern Canada and northern Mexico is shown to be divisible into, first, variations at the local level due to (1) hydrogeologic conditions (time independent), (2) short‐term fluctuations of hydrologic factors (stochastic in time), and (3) seasonal fluctuations of such factors as temperature, precipitation, and plant growth (systematic in time) and, second, regional climatic effects. These regional climatic effects can be satisfactorily represented by mean annual groundwater temperature variation. The regional variation only emerges clearly if care is taken to compare water samples from the same hydrologic class, in this case, springwater. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide with which a springwater sample is in equilibrium is well represented by log Pco 2 = a + bT , where a is of the order of −3.5 and b is approximately 0.07 with Pco 2 in atmospheres and T in degrees Celsius.