Geostatistical and geochemical analysis of surface water leakage into groundwater on a regional scale: a case study in the Liulin karst system, northwestern China

The Liulin karst system is typical of hydrogeological systems in northern China, with a group of springs as the dominant way of regional groundwater discharge. Surface water leakage into groundwater has been observed in six sections of the rivers in the study area. To extract hydrogeological information from hydrochemical data, 29 water samples were collected from the system. On a trilinear diagram, most of the groundwater samples are clustered around the surface waters, indicating the effect of leakage on their chemistry. R-mode factor analysis was made on seven variables (Na, Ca, Mg, SO4, Cl, HCO3, and NO3) of the samples and three principal factors were obtained: the F1 factor is composed of Ca, Mg and SO4 , the F2 of HCO3 and NO3, and the F3 of Na and Cl. These factors are then used as regionalized variables in ordinary Kriging for unbiased estimates of the spatial variations of their scores. Considering regional hydrogeological conditions, the hydrogeological implications of the spatial distribution of the factor scores as related to the effects of the surface leakage are discussed. To evaluate the geochemical processes, the geochemical modeling code NETPATH was employed. The modeling results show that mixing commonly occurs in the system and dolomite dissolution is more important than calcite dissolution. Dedolomitization (calcite precipitation and dolomite dissolution driven by anhydrite dissolution) is locally important, in the western flank of the system where the surface water leakage has the least effect.