Preprint
Article

Investigation of Karst Spring Flow Cessation Using Grey System Model

This version is not peer-reviewed.

Submitted:

06 September 2019

Posted:

09 September 2019

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Abstract
Globally karst aquifers store large amount of precious water and create beautiful karst springs in many places. However, most of the karst springs flow declined, and some of the karst springs dried up with the effects of extensive groundwater development and climate variation. For example, Jinci Springs (China) is known for the beautiful landscape it created and large area of paddy fields it irrigated. Unfortunately, it dried up in May 1994. For better understanding of the hydrological processes of karst springs, this study introduced grey system models to quantify spring flow taking Jinci Springs as an example. Based on the characteristics of Jinci Springs flow, the spring flow was divided into two stages: the first stage (1954-1960), when the spring flow was affected only by climate variation; and the second stage (1961-1994), when the flow was impacted by both climate variation and anthropogenic activities. Results showed that the Jinci Springs flow had strong relations with precipitation occurring one year and three years earlier in the first stage. Subsequently, a grey system GM (1, 3) model with one-year and three-year lags was set up for the first stage. By using the GM (1, 3) model, we simulated the spring flow in the second stage under effects of climate variation only. Subtracting the observed spring flow from the simulated flow, we obtained the contribution of anthropogenic activities to Jinci Springs cessation. The contribution of anthropogenic activities and climate variation to Jinci Springs cessation was 1.46m3/s and 0.62m3/s, respectively. Finally, each human activity causing spring flow decline was estimated.
Keywords: 
Jinci Springs; drying-up; grey system model; anthropogenic activities
Subject: 
Environmental and Earth Sciences  -   Environmental Science
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.

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