Hydrological characterization of cave drip waters in a porous limestone: Golgotha Cave, Western Australia

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dc.contributor.authorMohmud, Ken_AU
dc.contributor.authorMariethoz, Gen_AU
dc.contributor.authorBaker, AAen_AU
dc.contributor.authorTreble, PCen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-01T01:08:03Zen_AU
dc.date.available2020-06-01T01:08:03Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2018-02-06en_AU
dc.date.statistics2020-05-28en_AU
dc.description.abstractCave drip water response to surface meteorological conditions is complex due to the heterogeneity of water movement in the karst unsaturated zone. Previous studies have focused on the monitoring of fractured rock limestones that have little or no primary porosity. In this study, we aim to further understand infiltration water hydrology in the Tamala Limestone of SW Australia, which is Quaternary aeolianite with primary porosity. We build on our previous studies of the Golgotha Cave system and utilize the existing spatial survey of 29 automated cave drip loggers and a lidar-based flow classification scheme, conducted in the two main chambers of this cave. We find that a daily sampling frequency at our cave site optimizes the capture of drip variability with the least possible sampling artifacts. With the optimum sampling frequency, most of the drip sites show persistent autocorrelation for at least a month, typically much longer, indicating ample storage of water feeding all stalactites investigated. Drip discharge histograms are highly variable, showing sometimes multimodal distributions. Histogram skewness is shown to relate to the wetter-than-average 2013 hydrological year and modality is affected by seasonality. The hydrological classification scheme with respect to mean discharge and the flow variation can distinguish between groundwater flow types in limestones with primary porosity, and the technique could be used to characterize different karst flow paths when high-frequency automated drip logger data are available. We observe little difference in the coefficient of variation (COV) between flow classification types, probably reflecting the ample storage due to the dominance of primary porosity at this cave site. Moreover, we do not find any relationship between drip variability and discharge within similar flow type. Finally, a combination of multidimensional scaling (MDS) and clustering by k means is used to classify similar drip types based on time series analysis. This clustering reveals four unique drip regimes which agree with previous flow type classification for this site. It highlights a spatial homogeneity in drip types in one cave chamber, and spatial heterogeneity in the other, which is in agreement with our understanding of cave chamber morphology and lithology. © Author(s) 2018en_AU
dc.identifier.citationMahmud, K., Mariethoz, G., Baker, A., & Treble, P. C. (2018). Hydrological characterization of cave drip waters in a porous limestone: Golgotha Cave, Western Australia. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22(2), 977-988. doi:10.5194/hess-22-977-2018en_AU
dc.identifier.govdoc9613en_AU
dc.identifier.issn1607-7938en_AU
dc.identifier.issue2en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleHydrology and Earth System Sciencesen_AU
dc.identifier.pagination977-988en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-977-2018en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://apo.ansto.gov.au/dspace/handle/10238/9497en_AU
dc.identifier.volume22en_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherCopernicus Publicationsen_AU
dc.subjectHydrologyen_AU
dc.subjectCavesen_AU
dc.subjectLimestoneen_AU
dc.subjectAustraliaen_AU
dc.subjectWestern Australiaen_AU
dc.subjectWateren_AU
dc.subjectPorosityen_AU
dc.subjectLithologyen_AU
dc.titleHydrological characterization of cave drip waters in a porous limestone: Golgotha Cave, Western Australiaen_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
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