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KARSYS hydrogeological 3D modeling of alpine karst aquifers developed in geologically complex areas: Picos de Europa National Park (Spain)

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Abstract

Karst aquifers are valuable groundwater resources whose management requires the use of functioning hydrogeological models. The KARSYS approach provides an explicit 3D conceptual model of the geometry and the functioning of karst aquifers that has been successfully applied in Swiss and Slovenian aquifers. In this work, KARSYS is applied in a complex geological area: the Picos de Europa National Park (Spain). The hydrogeological 3D model (500 km2) shows an alpine karst aquifer compartmentalized into 32 groundwater bodies dammed up by subvertical barriers creating elevated saturated zones (water tables at 1153 m asl) and lower ones (water tables at 145 m asl). The recharge is through 18 spring catchment areas. The groundwater flows to the saturated zones pass through vertical to inclined trajectories, and phreatic flows are oriented toward NW, NE and N. KARSYS can be applied to any geologically complex area at a regional scale, although the geological structure should be simplified and the precision in some places is low. Nevertheless, KARSYS helps to identify the hydrogeological behavior of karst areas and is a useful guide for future hydrogeological researches.

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Acknowledgments

This work is a contribution of the GEOQuo Research Group (University of Oviedo). The research has been funded through the GEOCAVE project (MAGRAMA-580/12-OAPN), the project Hydrogeological investigations in the groundwater units 016.214 Picos de Europa-Panes and 016.218 Alto Deva-Alto Cares (IGME-2256/2013) and two fellowships granted to D. Ballesteros (Severo Ochoa Program, FICYT-Asturias; Development Strategic Plan and Conversion Feasibility Campus of International Excellence, Asturias-University of Oviedo). The dye tracings were done with the collaboration of the GE Polifemo, OUCC, GE Diañu Burlón, AD Cuasacas, S Wroclaw and SIS-CE Terrassa. Cave data were provided by Expeditions to Castil, GE Gorfolí, GE Matallana, GEMA, GS Matese, GERSOP, GE Llubí, ANEM, GSD, HPS, IEV, Cocktail Picos, L’Esperteyu CEC, LUSS, CDG, CADE, SAR d’Ixelles, ERE, SCOF, SCS Matese, SEB Escar, SIE Áliga, GEG, WCC, GET, SSS, YUCPC, Llambrión-Project, Centro Documentación y Museo Espeleología, C. Puch (STD-BAT), J. Alonso, J. Sánchez (CES Alfa), B. Hivert (AS Charentaise) and V. Ferrer. Moreover, we thank the collaboration of the French Geological Survey (BRGM), trough of G. Courrioux and H. Fabriol and the help of Ó. Merino-Tomé, J.R. Bahamonde, L. Gonzalo and B. Gutiérrez (University of Oviedo) and the Picos de Europa National Park.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, Jesús Arias de Velasco s/n, 33005, Oviedo, Spain

    Daniel Ballesteros, Montserrat Jiménez-Sánchez & Joaquín García-Sansegundo

  2. Swiss Institute for Speleology and Karst Studies (SISKA), Rue de la Serre 68, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

    Arnauld Malard & Pierre-Yves Jeannin

  3. Geological Survey of Spain, Matemático Pedrayes 25, 33005, Oviedo, Spain

    Mónica Meléndez-Asensio

  4. SQM Company, Los Militares 4290, 8, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Gemma Sendra

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  1. Daniel Ballesteros
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  2. Arnauld Malard
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  3. Pierre-Yves Jeannin
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  4. Montserrat Jiménez-Sánchez
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  5. Joaquín García-Sansegundo
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  7. Gemma Sendra
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Correspondence to Daniel Ballesteros.

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Ballesteros, D., Malard, A., Jeannin, PY. et al. KARSYS hydrogeological 3D modeling of alpine karst aquifers developed in geologically complex areas: Picos de Europa National Park (Spain). Environ Earth Sci 74, 7699–7714 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4712-0

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