Temporal Variations of Spring Water in Karst Areas: A Case Study of Jinan Spring Area, Northern China

Abstract

Jinan is known as “Spring City,” because of its famous 72 artesian springs. Spring water plays an important role in the social and economic development of Jinan. However, the accelerating process of urbanization and more intensive human activities have significantly affected the Jinan springs. Based on the data from four spring groups (2015–2018), the hydrochemical characteristics of spring water were analyzed and 14 parameters were selected to evaluate the quality of spring water. In addition, the main ions variation characteristics of spring water in Jinan from 1958 to 2018 were analyzed, based on the previous studies. Subsequently, the spring flow dynamics of the Jinan spring area from 1958 to 2012 were also discussed. Overall, the water quality of the four spring groups is good. The chemical composition of the spring water is mainly controlled by the dissolution of calcite, followed by dolomite, and de-dolomitization. However, spring water is affected by human activities, and the hydrochemical type tends to evolve from HCO3-Ca to HCO3·SO4-Ca or HCO3-Ca·Mg. From 1958 to 2013, the main ions in spring water increased, while a relatively steady and certain fluctuation trend was observed from 2015 to 2018. Since 1958, the spring water flow in Jinan has experienced four stages, from decline to recovery. The exploitation of karst groundwater, change of land use type, and decrease of atmospheric precipitation are the three most important factors, affecting spring discharge dynamics. The slowdown of the increase of the main ion concentration in Jinan spring water and the resumption of spring water flowing indicate that remarkable achievements have been made to protect spring water, but there is still a long way to go to fully protect Jinan spring water.

Intense Human Activities Induce the Dynamic Changes of Interaction Pattern Between Karst Water‐Quaternary Groundwater in the Basin‐Mountain Coupling Belt Over the Past 60 Years

“…Karst water (1,975 × 10 8 m 3 /a), characterized by good water quality and high development potential, comprises nearly a quarter of the total groundwater resources in China (Liang et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2018). However, in recent decades due to climate change and human activities, the groundwater and spring discharge in the karst regions have experienced rapid changes: deteriorating groundwater quality (Barbieri et al., 2021; Mahler et al., 2021; Wu & Sun, 2016), declining groundwater levels (de Graaf et al., 2019; Gao et al., 2020; Guo et al., 2019; Sivelle et al., 2021) and drying up springs (Brkić et al., 2018; Liang et al., 2018; Messerschmid et al., 2020). Simultaneously, groundwater dynamics, which are crucial for the sustainable utilization and management of water resources, have changed (Gao et al., 2010; Kalbus et al., 2006; Unland et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2001).…”

Landscape Change of Land Use in the Karst Region of Jinan City, North China

“…Meanwhile, the karst urban mountain area is currently faced with many environmental problems (Qi & Zhang, 2011), landscape change of urban hills (Xu et al, 2012), and ecological risks (Qi et al, 2020). Although many studies and investigations have been done in the last forty years in the Jinan's karst area (Li, 1985;Li & Kang, 1999;Wu et al, 2010;Gao et al, 2020), the most have mainly concentrated on the purpose of karst spring protection. However, the karst landscape disturbance resulted from land use change in the study area has received little attention, although the issue on land use change has been reported in Jinan city (Qi et al, 2020).…”

Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Hydrochemical and Microbiological Natural Tracers as a Tool for Understanding Karst Hydrodynamics (The Unica Springs, SW Slovenia)

“…As a result, they are not always informative with respect to potential site‐specific recharge components, particularly during periods of flood events (Doctor et al., 2006; Frank et al., 2018; Winston & Criss, 2004). With modern capabilities to collect and process large data sets, multivariate statistical techniques (MST) have emerged as strong tools for studying karst aquifer dynamics and water quality variability (e.g., Bicalho, 2010; Gao et al., 2020; Moore et al., 2009). They allow the reduction of data volume, the consideration of chemical and biological parameters of different scales with equal weight, and the separation of groups of variables that share common hydrochemical properties (Fournier et al., 2007; Jiang et al., 2009; Mulec et al., 2019).…”