Characteristics of an open karst water system in Shandong Province, China

Abstract

Karst water is one of the most important water sources for Shandong Province in China, whose water is primarily stored in open karst water systems that have remarkable material exchanges between the water in the system and the external environment. In this study, the Pingyi–Feixian area is selected as a typical open karst water system, and the characteristics of the permeability of the carbonate rocks, the water level, geochemistry, and D and ¹⁸O isotopes are discussed. The primary innovative conclusions are as follows: (1) there exist three types of hydrogeological boundaries; (2) the karst water system is characterized by a double-zone recharge, where the exposed areas of carbonate rocks and intrusive metamorphic rocks are direct recharge areas and indirect recharge areas, respectively; (3) precipitation infiltration and river seepage are the two sources of recharge; and (4) carbonate strata of the Middle Cambrian to the Middle Ordovician form the primary karst water reservoirs, and most of the faults in the area have high permeability.