Low-Mg calcite, precipitating from meteoric fluids, is a common mineral that forms in a variety of near-surface diagenetic environments. However, recent studies, based on a combination of analyses of ...δ18O and Δ47 values, have suggested that this mineral might form in disequilibrium and consequently yield kinetic bias in Δ47-derived temperatures and fluid δ18O values. Here, we use dual clumped isotope proxies (Δ47 and Δ48) to investigate the influence of kinetic isotope effects within different meteoric diagenetic zones of Holocene and Pleistocene carbonates from the southern Florida and the Dominican Republic. In the Miami Oolite, the primary aragonite ooids and secondary low-Mg calcite cements in the bulk sample were separated from each other and their isotopic compositions (δ13C, δ18O, Δ47 and Δ48 values) were measured. The Δ47 and Δ48 values of the separated aragonite are consistent with the modern ooid sediments and in approximate equilibrium with the surface seawater. In contrast, the low-Mg calcite cement shows the higher Δ48 and lower Δ47 values, than expected, with the disequilibrium arising as a result of CO2 degassing in the vadose zone. Such deviations of Δ47 and Δ48 values are also observed in low-Mg calcite vadose cements in the Dominican Republic. While low-Mg calcites formed in the lower freshwater phreatic zone in the Dominican Republic have the Δ47- and Δ48-derived temperatures close to expected, the same mineral forming near the water-table and upper phreatic zone shows much higher Δ48-derived temperatures (up to ∼ 90 °C). The possible origin of such elevated temperatures can be attributed to non-equilibrium processes caused by changes in pH and pCO2, mediated by microbial sulfate reduction. Such differential kinetic behavior of Δ48 values between vadose and phreatic zones could be used as a proxy marker for the presence and the location of a water-table. This study demonstrates the great potential of dual clumped isotopes in the investigation of meteoric diagenesis and will help understand the alteration of ancient sequences and the interpretation of stable C isotope trends that they contain.
Wastewater irrigation alleviates freshwater scarcity. However, conventional (near)surface irrigation techniques directly expose crops to contaminants. Irrigating wastewater into shallow phreatic ...zones to raise the water table enhances groundwater evapotranspiration, while using the vadose zone as a bioreactor that attenuates contaminants through dilution, adsorption, and biodegradation. Nevertheless, contaminants may spread across the groundwater, soil, and vegetation. In this study, we focus on the crop contamination risks, and derive a simple analytical model to estimate crop solute uptake. Although crops are not directly exposed to the irrigated wastewater, contaminants (and nutrients) may spread to the root zone. Results show that crop contamination is primarily determined by the root zone water balance, and by solute dispersion and biogeochemical reaction parameters. The model contributes towards identifying hydrogeologically and climatically suitable locations for phreatic zone wastewater irrigation, determining acceptable levels of irrigation water quality, and evaluating crop contamination hazards against the fertigative value of wastewater.
•Phreatic zone irrigation raises water table and enhances capillary fluxes to crops.•Vadose zone stored moisture: key water source and contaminant buffer for crops.•Soil in-situ bioremediation and adsorption prevents contaminants from reaching roots.•Analytical model of contaminant transport, attenuation, and crop contamination risks.•Crop risks strongly depend on precipitation shortage and vadose zone stored moisture.
A conceptual rainfall–runoff model is proposed for the estimation of groundwater balance components including the influences of time-variant catchment boundaries and intercatchment groundwater flows. ...Karst underground is considered as a lumped system that contains: (1) soil cover, (2) epikarst zone and (3) vadose and phreatic zones. The soil cover receives an average rainfall in catchment as the input into the system. The epikarst zone is composed of a production store and a routing store. The production store contributes to the loss of water in process of evapotranspiration. The routing store contributes to the retention of percolated water and the lateral distribution of groundwater recharge between internal runoff and diffuse infiltration. The vadose and phreatic zones accumulate groundwater in fissures, fractures and vertical shafts, and produce the vadose seepage, vadose flow and shaft flow components of the karst spring discharge. The parameter estimation and calculation procedure assemble the moisture balance and the groundwater-balance approaches. The rainfall–runoff model is divided in two sub-models. The sub-model based on the moisture balance of soil cover and epikarst production store calculates effective rainfalls. The sub-model based on the groundwater balance of vadose and phreatic zone calculates groundwater recharges. The difference between the effective rainfalls and the groundwater recharges represents the contribution of epikarst zone and non-conservative and time-variant components to the groundwater balance. The proposed methodology is applied to the Jadro Spring located near the city of Split in Croatia. The calculated groundwater balance shows that the Jadro Spring aquifer contains a significant storage capacity in the vadose and phreatic zones. During the year, the aquifer may accumulate up to 140 millions m
3. The variability of calculated catchment area is explained with the time-variant catchment boundary dependent on groundwater levels and the intercatchment groundwater flows from neighboring catchments. The average catchment area of 396
km
2 is estimated by using the average monthly effective rainfalls and the average monthly groundwater recharges.
The hyporheic (phreatic) zone connects groundwater and surface water and hosts a diverse community of organisms that are adapted to its unique conditions. In order to investigate the hitherto poorly ...understood biotic connections between the hyporheic zone and temporary ponds, we analyzed changes in the community of Copepoda in a small and shallow ephemeral puddle in a meadow for one year, with comparison to the groundwater fauna of the surrounding region in northeastern Poland. In the puddle, three species of Cyclopoida (Acanthocyclops vernalis, Diacyclops bisetosus, and Cyclops furcifer) were present in large numbers throughout the year. These species were also common components of the region’s groundwater fauna, but in much lower densities in the groundwater than in the puddle. These results suggest that temporary puddles can be a convenient place for copepods to feed and reproduce, while groundwater may serve as an important corridor for their dispersal. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of copepod ecology and the functioning of ephemeral aquatic habitats.
Asymmetric, pendant cements are considered good indicators for early lithification in the vadose zone. In the present study, asymmetric cements are recorded in thin-sections of a Lower Jurassic ...limestone from the Traras Mountains (northwest Algeria). Geopetal fabrics, however, indicate that these seemingly “pendant cements” are, in some places, oriented upwards, i.e., they have grown in the opposite direction from that expected, or they grew from grains towards the pore centers. These observations disprove their origin as gravitational cements precipitated from pendant water droplets on the undersides of grains as in the vadose zone. In contrast, a formation in the marine phreatic zone seems more probable. Under high-energy conditions, and after an early lithification stage with isopachous cements in the subtidal zone, strong tidally driven horizontal pore-water flow allowed sufficient seawater to pass through the slightly cemented but still highly permeable rock. Those grain sides, which were oriented towards the pore center, where faster flowing water prevailed, were more exposed to CaCO
3
-supersaturated percolating seawater and therefore the cements precipitated here show their greatest thickness. In relatively more protected areas around the margins of the pores, asymmetric cements are rarely developed. The resulting rock exhibits an unusual, heterogeneous cementation with preferential centripetal nucleation areas.
Studies on hydrology, biogeochemistry, or mineral weathering often rely on assumptions about flow paths, water storage dynamics, and transit times. Testing these assumptions requires detailed ...hydrometric data that are usually unavailable at the catchment scale. Hillslope studies provide an alternative for obtaining a better understanding, but even on such well‐defined and delimited scales, it is rare to have a comprehensive set of hydrometric observations from the water divide down to the stream that can constrain efforts to quantify water storage, movement, and turnover time. Here, we quantified water storage with daily resolution in a hillslope during the course of almost an entire year using hydrological measurements at the study site and an extended version of the vertical equilibrium model. We used an exponential function to simulate the relationship between hillslope discharge and water table; this was used to derive transmissivity profiles along the hillslope and map mean pore water velocities in the saturated zone. Based on the transmissivity profiles, the soil layer transmitting 99% of lateral flow to the stream had a depth that ranged from 8.9 m at the water divide to under 1 m closer to the stream. During the study period, the total storage of this layer varied from 1189 to 1485 mm, resulting in a turnover time of 2172 days. From the pore water velocities, we mapped the time it would take a water particle situated at any point of the saturated zone anywhere along the hillslope to exit as runoff. Our calculations point to the strengths as well as limitations of simple hydrometric data for inferring hydrological properties and water travel times in the subsurface.
The new railway line between Divača and Koper/Capodistria in south-western Slovenia is being built, a part of which crosses the southern outskirts of the Classical Karst plateaux. It will run through ...two tunnels, the northern tunnel T1 (6.7 km long) and the southern T2 (6 km long), which partially cross karst aquifer system. A multi-tracer test with injections of fluorescent dyes uranine and naphthionate, bypassing the karst vadose zone, was carried out to define the directions and dynamics of the underground water flow. The main goals were better understanding of the complex hydrogeological conditions in the area and assessment of possible environmental impacts on the nearby water sources. With tracing of uranine injected into a nearby cave stream, the direction of flow from the northern T1 tunnel mainly towards the Reka-Timavo aquifer system and further towards the Timava/Timavo springs was proved. The peak velocities, as determined from the peaks of the tracer breakthrough curves, range from 29 m/h to 36 m/h. Through the wider and well-connected conduits of the Reka-Timavo system, the peak velocities can reach up to 88 m/h. The recovery of uranine in an intermediate cave, i.e., Jama 1 v Kanjaducah, amounted to approximately 74 %. The northern section of the southern T2 tunnel is a part of a wider bifurcation zone between the Osapska Reka and the Boljunec/Bagnoli springs, where peak flow velocities between 10 and 13 m/h have been determined by tracing of naphthionate injected into a borehole located in the line of the planned tunnel. It has been estimated that about 25 % of the injected naphthionate flew out through the Osapska Reka spring and about 5 % through the Boljunec/ Bagnoli springs. Based on this research, proper monitoring of any potential negative impacts of the new railway line will be made possible. The study presents an approach to better planning of hazard control of traffic routes in complex and highly karstified rock settings.
Le massif du Tennengebirge, situé dans les Alpes calcaires de Salzburg, est caractérisé par un important karst de haute montagne, recelant quelques-uns des plus grands gouffres autrichiens (Batman ...Höhle : -1219 m. Schneeloch : F1 1086 m, Platteneck : -937 m, Gipfel Loch : F1 -852 m...). Ceux-ci sont drainés par une zone noyée dont les exutoires principaux sont au Nord du massif. Une description de la vallée du Vordere Pitschenberg est esquissée : elle offre une étonnante diversité de formes karstiques tant en surface qu'en profondeur, de caractère actuel ou hérité.
The massif of Tennengebirge (Salzburg, Austria)
The Tennengebirge, in the Salzburg limestone Alps, are characterised by an important high alpine karst, containing some of the deepest austrian caves (Batman Höhle : -1219 m, Schneeloch : 1086 m, Platteneck : -937 m, Gipfel Loch : 852 m...}. They are drained by a phreatic zone : the main springs are situated on the northern side of the mountain. A description of the Vordere Pitschenberg Valley has been sketched illustrating a large diversity of karstic landforms. both superficial and underground, of actual or inherited character.
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