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Method of leakage study at the karst dam site. A case study: Khersan 3 Dam, Iran

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The excellent topographic condition of the limestone canyons for dam construction may be rejected if they are karstified. Karst features cause the reservoir not to be impermeable enough to permit the water to fill it and leakage occurs and often increases with time. Moreover, karst features may involve the stability of the dam itself. A few operated dam sites at the Zagros Zone encountered a leakage problem. Furthermore, more than 30 dams are presently under study for construction in the Zagros Zone. Karst conditions and leakage potential were investigated at an under-study site (Khersan 3 Dam) for assessing the general methodology for the study of leakage potentials. Conventional methods for studying karst features, geological mapping, geomorphology and extensive borings were applied before the dam was constructed. These methods are not efficient enough to precisely reveal the karst structure, especially hidden and paleokarst, nor the hydrological behaviour of the karst structure in different settings of groundwater flow. Based on the present case study and previous applied approaches by other authors, this paper introduces a methodology by means of karst structure and functioning approaches at local and regional scales that cover the conventional methods and overcome their shortages. The proposed methodology should be applied before construction of a dam and should include three steps (a) recognition of geological and hydrogeological settings, (b) delineation and functioning of the karst system related to the future reservoir, and (c) assessment of the leakage potentials. Following this methodology, the most probable leakage zone(s) and path(s) at the dam site can be highlighted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Iran water and Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO) and Shiraz University for continuous support. The authors also wish to thank Prof. P. Milanovic, his comments improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Zargham Mohammadi & Ezzatollah Raeisi

  2. Hydrosciences, Montpellier 2 University, Montpellier, France

    Michel Bakalowicz

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  1. Zargham Mohammadi
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  2. Ezzatollah Raeisi
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  3. Michel Bakalowicz
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Correspondence to Zargham Mohammadi.

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Mohammadi, Z., Raeisi, E. & Bakalowicz, M. Method of leakage study at the karst dam site. A case study: Khersan 3 Dam, Iran. Environ Geol 52, 1053–1065 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0545-1

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