Open AccessModification of the Xin’anjiang Model for Flood Forecasting in Karst Area, Southwestern China
Author(s) -
Rucheng Jiang,
Song Gu,
Mi Zhou
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/376/1/012067
Subject(s) - karst , hydrology (agriculture) , hydrograph , flood myth , aquifer , geology , spring (device) , groundwater , environmental science , surface runoff , swat model , structural basin , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , geography , paleontology , ecology , archaeology , engineering , biology , mechanical engineering
Hydrological modeling of a karst environment is challenging because of the characteristically thin soil and low soil water retention capacity. The purpose of this study was to simulate floods in a complex karstic river basin that comprised a large karst depression, high mountainous karstic areas, springs, and downstream karst areas. In such an environment, deterministic models (e.g., SWAT) are unable to compute the additional contribution from the subsurface. In this paper, a modified Xin’anjiang model was proposed and a specific method was presented for characterizing the karst aquifers flow systems by calibrating parameters from a spring hydrograph analysis. The simulated results indicated that the karst depression, as a storage element, provides a considerable buffer to the effects of a rainstorm. The application of the modified Xin’anjiang model demonstrated its applicability to the karst regions in southwestern China. Thus, it can provide better understanding of such hydrological systems and offer an improved basis for their future hydrological management.