Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2002.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:33:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-11-18Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:24:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 hardt_r_dr_rcla.pdf: 4572815 bytes, checksum: 0c1bd7aa44b19280926515147be7a636 (MD5) / L’existence de karsts dans les grès a été longtemps sujette à controverse, mais est de plus en plus acceptée depuis les dernières décennies par les karstologues. Le sous-sol d’une grande partie du territoire brésilien se constitue de grès et de métagrès. Des pluies abondantes, un couvert végétal et une matière organique abondante liés au climat tropical caractérisant majoritairement le pays, la présence d’oxydes de fer et de périodes d’érosion physicochimique prolongées ont favorisé l’altération chimique des quartz. Cette combinaison de facteurs a produit une grande variété de reliefs karstiques, ainsi que leur organisation sous la forme de systèmes karstiques gréseux. Quatre zones ont été étudiées en détail afin de comparer et de caractériser la morphologie karstique et les systèmes karstiques dans cette lithologie. Au Brésil, il s’agit de la Serra d’Itaqueri, de la Chapada dos Guimarães et de la région de Campos Gerais. En France, nous avons examiné les morphologies associées aux grès de la forêt de Fontainebleau. En outre, d'autres sites ont été visités afin de recueillir des données comparatives permettant une meilleure compréhension des processus morphogénétiques et de l'organisation des reliefs. Cette étude démontre la nature karstique des formes rencontrées et apporte une meilleure compréhension à leur intégration dans les paysages et leur intégration systémique. Les connaissances ainsi acquises autorisent la formulation d’une série d’hypothèses sur les processus impliqués dans la structuration de ces reliefs et des systèmes karstiques. L’influence de la végétation est soulignée, notamment comme... (Résumé complet accès életronique cidessous) / A carstificação dos arenitos já foi considerado um tema polêmico no passado, mas nas últimas décadas, vem sendo cada vez mais aceito pela comunidade de pesquisadores do carste. No Brasil, uma ampla área do território possui afloramentos de arenitos e meta-arenitos, e o clima tropical, com abundância de chuva e vegetação, associado a presença de matéria orgânica, óxidos de ferro, sais e longo tempo de exposição às intempéries, entre outros elementos, permitem uma aceleração do processo de intemperismo químico do quartzo, produzindo uma ampla variedade de formas cársticas, além de uma organização espacial, permitindo-se falar em Sistemas Cársticos em Arenitos. Visando a comparação e a caracterização da morfologia cárstica e dos sistemas cársticos nesta litologia, quatro áreas foram estudadas com maior grau de detalhamento, bem como outras áreas foram visitadas, com a ideia de fornecer subsídios comparativos na compreensão dos processos e organização, através do estudo das formas. As áreas estudadas foram a Serra de Itaqueri; a Chapada dos Guimarães, e a região dos Campos Gerais, no Brasil, e a região da Forêt de Fontainebleau, na França. Conseguiu-se, com isso, demonstrar a natureza cárstica das formas de relevo encontradas, entender a organização destas formas na paisagem e sua integração sistêmica, e fornecer subsídios para a formulação de hipóteses dos processos envolvidos na estruturação de tais formas e sistemas, sobretudo da importância da cobertura vegetal, como auxiliar na dissolução do quartzo, e do processo de “fantomização” da rocha (alteração “in situ”) e posterior remoção, por dissolução completa ou mecanicamente, da matéria alterada, resultando em formas e sistemas cársticos... / Karstification of sandstone was considered a controversial topic in the past, but has become increasingly accepted by karst researchers in recent decades. A large area of Brazil’s territory has sandstone and metasandstone outcrops. The country’s tropical climate, abundant rainfall and vegetation, allied to the presence of organic matter, iron oxides, salts and long weathering processes, among other factors, accelerate the chemical weathering of quartz. This combination of factors has produced a wide variety of karst landforms, as well as a spatial organization, that allows them to be referred to as Sandstone Karst Systems. Four areas were studied in great detail to compare and characterize the karst morphology and karst systems in this lithology. In addition, other areas were visited to collect comparative data to help shed further light on geological processes and the organization of landforms. The areas under study were Serra de Itaqueri, the Chapada dos Guimarães, and the region of Campos Gerais in Brazil, and the region of Forêt de Fontainebleau in France. This study allowed for the determination of the karst topography and an understanding of the organization of these landscape processes and their systemic integration. The knowledge thus gained served to underpin the formulation of hypotheses about the processes involved in the structuring of these landforms and systems, and above all the importance of vegetation as an aid for quartz dissolution, and about the process of rock phantomization (in situ alteration) and subsequent removal of modified material by complete dissolution or by mechanical means, resulting in karst landforms and systems. The aforementioned hypotheses served as the basis for a proposal to amend the definition of karst with respect to the term... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

A novel modeling approach is applied to karst hydrology. Long-standing problems in karst hydrology and solute transport are addressed using Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBMs). These methods contrast with other modeling approaches that have been applied to karst hydrology. The motivation of this dissertation is to develop new computational models for solving ground water hydraulics and transport problems in karst aquifers, which are widespread around the globe. This research tests the viability of the LBM as a robust alternative numerical technique for solving large-scale hydrological problems. The LB models applied in this research are briefly reviewed and there is a discussion of implementation issues. The dissertation focuses on testing the LB models. The LBM is tested for two different types of inlet boundary conditions for solute transport in finite and effectively semi-infinite domains. The LBM solutions are verified against analytical solutions. Zero-diffusion transport and Taylor dispersion in slits are also simulated and compared against analytical solutions. These results demonstrate the LBM’s flexibility as a solute transport solver. The LBM is applied to simulate solute transport and fluid flow in porous media traversed by larger conduits. A LBM-based macroscopic flow solver (Darcy’s law-based) is linked with an anisotropic dispersion solver. Spatial breakthrough curves in one and two dimensions are fitted against the available analytical solutions. This provides a steady flow model with capabilities routinely found in ground water flow and transport models (e.g., the combination of MODFLOW and MT3D). However the new LBM-based model retains the ability to solve inertial flows that are characteristic of karst aquifer conduits. Transient flows in a confined aquifer are solved using two different LBM approaches. The analogy between Fick’s second law (diffusion equation) and the transient ground water flow equation is used to solve the transient head distribution. An altered-velocity flow solver with source/sink term is applied to simulate a drawdown curve. Hydraulic parameters like transmissivity and storage coefficient are linked with LB parameters. These capabilities complete the LBM’s effective treatment of the types of processes that are simulated by standard ground water models. The LB model is verified against field data for drawdown in a confined aquifer.

The Pleistocene carbonate rock Biscayne Aquifer of south Florida contains laterally-extensive bioturbated ooltic zones characterized by interconnected touching-vug megapores that channelize most flow and make the aquifer extremely permeable. Standard petrophysical laboratory techniques may not be capable of accurately measuring such high permeabilities. Instead, innovative procedures that can measure high permeabilities were applied. These fragile rocks cannot easily be cored or cut to shapes convenient for conducting permeability measurements. For the laboratory measurement, a 3D epoxy-resin printed rock core was produced from computed tomography data obtained from an outcrop sample. Permeability measurements were conducted using a viscous fluid to permit easily observable head gradients (~2 cm over 1 m) simultaneously with low Reynolds number flow. For a second permeability measurement, Lattice Boltzmann Method flow simulations were computed on the 3D core renderings. Agreement between the two estimates indicates an accurate permeability was obtained that can be applied to future studies.

Investigación financiada por el proyecto del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2010-17108 (Inv. Principal S. Sánchez Moral) y ha sido posible gracias a una ayuda predoctoral (beca y contrato en prácticas) del programa JAE (Junta de Ampliación de Estudios, CSIC).

In this study of energy pathways in karst groundwater the first chapter examines spatial and temporal patterns of bacterial density and activity in the Dorvan-Cleyzieu karst aquifer, France. During baseflow, bacterial density and activity in the water column was similar in upper and lower zones of the aquifer. Floods apparently scoured inactive bacteria from the aquifer matrix but had little effect on respiring cells. Dissolved organic carbon was more abundant at the base of the aquifer, probably because of patchy distribution of particulate organic matter in upper aquifer zones that leached dissolved organic carbon. The temporal sequence of flooding and drying in the aquifer appears to play an important role in the maintenance of biofilms which should be important energy sources to higher trophic levels in the aquifer. The ecosystem expansion and contraction model, originally developed to describe surface streams, may be a good descriptor of spatial and temporal patterns of microbial films in karst aquifers. The process of leaf and wood breakdown in cave streams in Organ Cave, West Virginia is examined in Chapter 2. Leaf and wood breakdown rates and microbial biomass and respiration on leaves and wood were compared between cave streams with and without coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) input from the surface to examine the role of CPOM input in leaf and wood breakdown. Breakdown rate and pattern of microbial colonization of leaves and wood were typical of results reported for surface streams. Unlike in surface streams, CPOM input did not influence breakdown rate or microbial colonization on leaves and wood, apparently because nutrients are not limiting in cave streams. Nutrient addition had little effect on microbial films on wood in either stream type. Gammarus minus is an important shredder in Organ Cave streams and G. minus colonization accelerated leaf breakdown rates. Leaf and wood transport rates were low and, when combined with breakdown rates, suggest that CPOM will be retained and transformed to fine particles near its entry point to the subsurface. In chapter 3 I examine cave stream food web structure and the role various organic matter sources in stream trophic dynamics. I used stable isotope (13C and 15N) natural abundance analysis and a 13C-acetate tracer release to establish feeding relationships and to trace the use and importance of bacterial carbon in cave streams with and without CPOM input. Cave streams contained three trophic levels consisting of organic matter sources, primary consumers, and predators. Patterns of 13C labeling in the stream were similar to that in similar studies of surface streams. 13C acetate was incorporated into epilithic biofilms and fine benthic organic matter (FBOM). Some primary consumers, Fontigens tartarea, Gyraulus parvus, and Physa were highly labeled and showed a longitudinal labeling pattern consistent with the consumption of epilithic biofilms. An epigean caddisfly, Dolophilodes, was highly labeled and probably feeds on suspended organic matter. Other primary consumers, Gammarus minus and Caecidotea holsingeri, feed on FBOM and epilithon. Two amphipods, Stygobromus emarginatus and S. spinatus, and a planarian, Macrocotyla hoffmasteri, are predators in the streams. Leaves and wood were not major energy sources directly used by stream animals. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) originating from soils appears to be the primary energy source for stream food webs by fueling bacterial production that is then used by higher trophic levels. Because epilithon C turnover times were relatively long (12.7 - 17 days), DOM can be immobilized in cave stream biofilms, enhancing the efficiency with which the microbial loop may transfer energy to higher trophic levels. / Ph. D.

Karst aquifers are productive groundwater systems around the world, supplying approximately 25% of the world's drinking water. However, they are highly vulnerable to contamination due to rapid groundwater transit in the transmission zone (KWI 2006). The epikarst, also known as the subcutaneous zone, is an interface between the soil overburden and the transmission zone. The epikarst is considered a critical zone as it can control hydrologic and geochemical characteristics of recharge to the underlying karst aquifer.  The overall goal of this thesis is to utilize time series hydrologic and geochemical data collected at James Cave, Virginia, to examine the influence of epikarst on the quantity, quality, and rates of recharge to aquifers in Appalachian karst. Results of this study indicate a strong seasonality of both the hydrology and geochemistry of recharge. The conceptual model of the epikarst developed in this study identifies three hydrologic seasons: recharge, recession, and baseflow. Seasonality of recharge geochemistry coincides with these three hydrologic seasons.  These results have implications for management of karst aquifers.  First, recharge to Appalachian karst aquifers is seasonal, reaching a maximum during the winter-early spring; the onset of recharge depends on antecedent climatic conditions.  Second, water that infiltrates into the epikarst will have seasonally variable residence times due to changes in hydrologic storage; these variations in attenuation affect geochemical reactions in the epikarst, which can influence recharge quality. Overall, these results point to the complex influence of epikarst on karst recharge, which necessitates collection of long-term and high resolution datasets. / Master of Science

Three questions were asked during this research. 1) Does the Sr content of Caribbean speleothems have a direct relationship with the age of the host rock at the time of speleothem precipitation?; 2) do older speleothems contain less Sr than younger speleothems in the same climatic setting?; and 3) will speleothems record the change in Sr concentration of eogenetic carbonates as a faster depletion in climates of higher precipitation as opposed to drier climates? The speleothems and cave rocks in this study were analyzed with various methods in an attempt to understand the rock processes that affect speleothem Sr concentrations. Evidence to support the hypothesis that younger host rock contributes higher concentrations of Sr to speleothems was found in the stalagmites of Curacao while Bahamian stalagmites indicated climatic variations. The results have implications for using stalagmites from relatively young, eogenetic limestone as a proxy for Sr-related paleoclimate data.

Dissolutional features called karst exist on the surface, and in the subsurface as caves. In glaciated regions caves were thought to be post-glacial in origin. Work in the 1970s demonstrated that pre-glacial caves existed, but did not answer if a cave could form post-glacially. A model proposed by Mylroie and Carew (1987) states that a post-glacial cave would be controlled entirely by glacial features and the deranged drainage of glaciated terrains. Caves known as maze caves form at maximum rates, and could form to navigable size in the time since deglaciation. Maze caves form in the shallow subsurface, allowing them to be removed in subsequent glaciations. GIS water flow analysis, and calculation of formation times using cross-section data demonstrates that maze caves in the glaciated region of New York are post-glacial in origin fitting in the deranged drainage and forming in the time since deglaciation.