Event Title

A New Approach for Automatic Extraction of Karst Conduit and Matrix Recession Coefficients

Streaming Media

Session Type

Technical Sessions: Conservation Science

Start Date

18-8-2020 12:00 PM

Description

A New Approach for Automatic Extraction of Karst Conduit and Matrix Recession Coefficients

Tunde Olarinoye1, Tom Gleeson2, and Andreas Hartmann1

1Department of Hydrological Modelling and Water Resources, University of Freiburg Friedrichstrasse 39 Freiburg Baden Wurttemberg 79098, Germany; 2Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, BC

Abstract

About 10% of the world’s population gets drinking water from karst groundwater. Groundwater flow in karst aquifers is dynamic and dominated by an interplay of fast and slow flow processes. Managing karst aquifers requires in-depth understanding of hydrogeological behavior. Spring hydrograph recession analysis has been used to understand flow dynamics and characterize karst aquifers for several years. Yet, they have only been applied manually to low numbers of karst spring hydrographs. An automatic recession analysis procedure to analyze large numbers of karst spring hydrographs is still not available. In this study, (1) we evaluate automatic recession extraction methods (REMs), originally developed for stream flow recession analysis for their ability to analyze karst spring hydrographs, (2) we propose simple adaptations of the REMS to allow their application for karst, and (3) we introduce new karst-specific recession analysis models (RAMs) that extract the recession coefficients of conduits and matrix of karst spring hydrographs including an estimation of their uncertainty. We identify the most suitable recession analysis approach by hypothesizing that the most realistic combination of REMs and RAMs provides the most distinguishable pairs of conduit and matrix recession coefficients. We use electric conductivity as an independent source of information to evaluate this hypothesis. Overall, our study will provide new directions for automatic recession analysis of karst systems using adapted extraction methods and karst-specific recession models; and therefore, help to infer about the comparative importance of conduit and matrix drainage in different catchments.

Keywords recession analysis, flow dynamics, hydrographs

Comments

This presentation was part of the Technical Sessions on Conservation Science. Presentation topics ranged from cave conservation techniques, environmental education, community engagement, resource protection assessment, and scientific and cultural research from across the globe. Formats vary from traditional PowerPoints to films to story maps and informal interviews.

Share

COinS
 
Aug 18th, 12:00 PM

A New Approach for Automatic Extraction of Karst Conduit and Matrix Recession Coefficients

A New Approach for Automatic Extraction of Karst Conduit and Matrix Recession Coefficients

Tunde Olarinoye1, Tom Gleeson2, and Andreas Hartmann1

1Department of Hydrological Modelling and Water Resources, University of Freiburg Friedrichstrasse 39 Freiburg Baden Wurttemberg 79098, Germany; 2Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, BC

Abstract

About 10% of the world’s population gets drinking water from karst groundwater. Groundwater flow in karst aquifers is dynamic and dominated by an interplay of fast and slow flow processes. Managing karst aquifers requires in-depth understanding of hydrogeological behavior. Spring hydrograph recession analysis has been used to understand flow dynamics and characterize karst aquifers for several years. Yet, they have only been applied manually to low numbers of karst spring hydrographs. An automatic recession analysis procedure to analyze large numbers of karst spring hydrographs is still not available. In this study, (1) we evaluate automatic recession extraction methods (REMs), originally developed for stream flow recession analysis for their ability to analyze karst spring hydrographs, (2) we propose simple adaptations of the REMS to allow their application for karst, and (3) we introduce new karst-specific recession analysis models (RAMs) that extract the recession coefficients of conduits and matrix of karst spring hydrographs including an estimation of their uncertainty. We identify the most suitable recession analysis approach by hypothesizing that the most realistic combination of REMs and RAMs provides the most distinguishable pairs of conduit and matrix recession coefficients. We use electric conductivity as an independent source of information to evaluate this hypothesis. Overall, our study will provide new directions for automatic recession analysis of karst systems using adapted extraction methods and karst-specific recession models; and therefore, help to infer about the comparative importance of conduit and matrix drainage in different catchments.

Keywords recession analysis, flow dynamics, hydrographs