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Flow and solute transport monitoring in the karst aquifer in SW Slovenia

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The role of the unsaturated zone in the karst aquifer hydraulic behaviour was brought into focus in these studies of the catchment of the Hubelj spring (SW Slovenia). The variations of natural tracers in precipitation and in groundwater during a summer storm event made it possible to trace local flow and solute transport in the observed aquifer. The results produced data on the aquifer recharge, storage and discharge processes, as well as on mechanisms that affected them, which reflects a karst groundwater dynamics also at a regional scale. They point out the significance of effects of the fast preferential flow—epiflow that is the main factor controlling solute/contaminant transport towards the aquifer saturated zone. Numerous arguments indicate that the karst aquifer flow and solute transport mechanisms depend on the hydraulic behaviour of the epikarst zone.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the Slovene Ministry of Education, Science and Sport for the financial support of the research, Professors Miran Veselič and Jože Pezdič of the University of Ljubljana for numerous expert consultations and Professor Klaus-Peter Seiler and Wilibald Stichler from the GSF-Institute of Groundwater Ecology (Germany) for chemical and isotopic analyses.

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  1. Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva ul. 14, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    B. Trček

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  1. B. Trček
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Trček, B. Flow and solute transport monitoring in the karst aquifer in SW Slovenia. Environ Geol 55, 269–276 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1001-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1001-6

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