Karst water resources in a changing world: Review of solute transport
modelling approaches
Abstract
Karst water resources are valuable freshwater sources for around 10 %
of the world population. Nonetheless, anthropogenic factors and global
changes have been seriously deteriorating the karst water quality and
dependent ecosystems. Solute transport models are powerful tools to
monitor, control, and manage the water quality and dependent ecosystem
functioning. By representing and predicting the spatiotemporal behavior
of solute migration in karst systems, the transport models enhance our
understanding about the karst transport processes, thus enabling us to
explore contamination risks and potential outcomes. This paper reviews
the current state of knowledge on the modelling of solute transport
processes in karst aquifers, thereby unveiling the fundamental
challenges underlying a successful karst transport modelling. We discuss
to what extent and in what ways we can handle these challenges and
derive the key challenges and directions for reliable modelling of
transport processes in karst systems in the present context of global
changes.