Range of horizontal transport and residence time of nitrate in a mature karst vadose zone

Nitrate concentrations in drips in Amaterska, Spolecnak, and Holstejnska caves situated below a 25 to 120 m thick vadose zone in the Moravian Karst, Central Europe were studied during several periods from 1992. Each cave runs below a land-use boundary between fertilized lands and forest, which enabl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of speleology 2015-01, Vol.44 (1), p.49-59
Main Authors: Kamas, Jiri, Bruthans, Jiri, Vysoka, Helena, Kovařík, Miroslav
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Nitrate concentrations in drips in Amaterska, Spolecnak, and Holstejnska caves situated below a 25 to 120 m thick vadose zone in the Moravian Karst, Central Europe were studied during several periods from 1992. Each cave runs below a land-use boundary between fertilized lands and forest, which enabled study of the range of horizontal components of nitrate transport in the vadose zone. Parts of the fertilized land were turned into grassland in 1998 and 2003, and the cave drips were sampled both prior and after the changes in land use. The mean residence time of nitrate is 16 years in the 105-120 m thick vadose zone. The maximum range of horizontal nitrate transport (H^sub max^) is 18 m in the 105-120 m thick vadose zone. H^sub max^ was normalized by the vadose zone's thickness (T). In the Moravian Karst the H^sub max^/T ratio is
ISSN:0392-6672
1827-806X
DOI:10.5038/1827-806X.44.1.5