High-resolution study on the hydrochemical variations caused by the dilution of precipitation in the epikarst spring: an example spring of Landiantang at Nongla, Mashan, China

Abstract

In addition to rainfall, high-resolution measurements of water level, pH, specific conductivity and temperature of Landiantang epikarst spring at Nongla, Mashan county in Guangxi Province, China were recorded in summer rainy season by using a data logger with time interval of fifteen minutes. Water from the spring issues along a karst conduit. During the rainstorms in summer, it was found that the pH and temperature of Landiantang spring increased while its specific conductivity decreased. As HCO₃ ⁻, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ are the dominant ions, linear relationships between concentrations of those ions and specific conductivity were developed. According to the ion concentrations from the linear relationships, the saturation indexes of calcite (SI_C), the saturation indexes of dolomite (SI_D) and CO₂ partial pressure (Log ${\text{P}}_{{{\text{CO}}_{{\text{2}}} }}$) of the spring were calculated. Results indicated that the Log${\text{P}}_{{{\text{CO}}_{{\text{2}}} }}$ of the spring during the rainstorms was lower than that without rain, and its SI_C and SI_D was also lower. Combined with the characteristics of the epikarst zone, it was inferred that the above results were caused by the dilution of rainwater, because overland flow with high pH (due to neutralization of carbonate rock dusts in the air to rainwater) and low specific conductivity traveling through the conduit rapidly during rainstorms, showed greater influences on the hydrochemical variations of the epikarst spring.