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Investigation of transport properties and characteristics of a large karst aquifer system in southern China using correlation, spectral, and wavelet analyses

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Abstract

Karst aquifers are highly heterogeneous, and non-stationary systems in terms of hydrodynamic properties. The investigation of the different transport properties and characteristics of a karst aquifer system (KAS) is of great significance for the management and protection of karst aquifers. To investigate the response of discharge (Q), suspended sediment (SS), and temperature (T) to the precipitation (P), we performed correlation, spectral, and wavelet analyses on the hydrologic time series that included mean daily value from 2009/1/1 to 2015/12/31 from the Nandong underground river system (NURS), a large (> 1600 km2) karst-groundwater basin in southern China. The long memory effects can be determined from the autocorrelation functions of the Q, SS and T implied that the NURS has a significant amount of storage. The sharp and narrow cross-correlation function (CCF) peaks and the cross-wavelet transform (XT) power spectrum of the SS vs. P indicated that the response of the SS to P was shorter than that of the Q and T, and also indicated that the weak memory effect and small inertia of the karst systems with regard to SS. The CCF and XT power spectrum indicated that an increase in Q was the main factor triggering the increase in SS, not precipitation, which is contrary to results determined for other karst springs. Furthermore, the XT and cross-wavelet coherence (TC) of T vs. the air temperature (Ta) was used to demonstrate that Ta is not a direct control on the T in the NURS, which can be misinterpreted when using the traditional correlation and spectral analyses.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this research was provided by the Key Research & Development Fund of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (NO.2016YFC0502501), and the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2017GXNSFFA198006, 2018GXNSFBA138031). We also sincerely thank two anonymous reviewers and editors for their thoughtful comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the original draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Karst Dynamics, MNR & Guangxi, Institute of Karst Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, NO.50, Qixing Ave, Qixing District, Guilin, 541004, China

    Jianhong Li, Junbing Pu, Tao Zhang, Sainan Wang, Weijie Huo & Daoxian Yuan

  2. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Karst Environment, School of Geography Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Sainan Wang

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  1. Jianhong Li
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  2. Junbing Pu
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Correspondence to Junbing Pu.

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Li, J., Pu, J., Zhang, T. et al. Investigation of transport properties and characteristics of a large karst aquifer system in southern China using correlation, spectral, and wavelet analyses. Environ Earth Sci 80, 84 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09366-9

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