Groundwater contamination in caves: four case studies in Spain

Jimenez-Sanchez, M.; Stoll, Heather; Vadillo, Iñaki; López-Chicano, M.; Domínguez-Cuesta, María José; Martín-Rosales, W.; Meléndez-Asensio, Mónica

doi:10.5038/1827-806x.37.1.5

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In accordance with current knowledge of the hydrogeological system of Herrerías Cave and its surroundings (Jiménez-Sá nchez et al, 2008a, 2008b, 2010, the protection of the cavity should consider both surface water in the hydrological watershed and groundwater in the hydrogeological basin (Figs. 3 and 4).…”

Section: Application Of the Cop+k Methodsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

Marín¹,

Andreo²,

Jimenez-Sanchez³

et al. 2012

JCKS

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Diverse approaches are adopted for cave protection. One approach is delineating protection areas with regard to their vulnerability to contamination. This paper reports the main results obtained from the delineation of a protection zone for Herrerías Cave, declared of Cultural Interest by the Asturias Regional Government, based on assessing its vulnerability to contamination. The cave is situated in a complex karst hydrogeologic environment in which groundwater flows from southwest to northeast, following the bedrock structure. A stream flows inside the cave, emerging in a spring located to the northeast of the system. Karst recharge occurs by direct infiltration of rainfall over limestone outcrops, concentrated infiltration of surface runoff in the watershed draining the cave, and deferred infiltration of water from alluvial beds drained by influent streams. The soil and vegetation covers are natural in the majority of the test site, but land uses in the watershed, including scattered farming, stock breeding, quarrying, and tourist use, are changing the natural characteristics and increasing the cave's vulnerability to contamination. The procedure followed for delineating protection zones is based on the method COP+K that is specifically designed for vulnerability mapping of groundwater springs in carbonate aquifers. To cover the hydrological basin included in the cave's catchment area, the protection zones established includes two different areas, the hydrogeological catchment basin and adjacent land that contributes runoff. Different degrees of protection in the zones have been proposed to make human activity compatible with conservation of the cave, and our results show remarkable differences from the protection zone previously proposed for the same area.

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Section: Application Of the Cop+k Methodsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

Marín¹,

Andreo²,

Jimenez-Sanchez³

et al. 2012

JCKS

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“…Mammola et al 2017;Kukla et al 2018). Another human-driven pressure that may enhance the growth of alien microorganisms in show caves is the presence of high input of organic matter in both the sediments (Marques et al 2016(Marques et al , 2017 and in the water (Jiménez-Sánchez et al 2008). In parallel, the presence of artificial lighting often drives massive growths of photo-synthetic microorganisms, such as cyanobacteria, diatoms, and green algae (Falasco et al 2015;Piano et al 2015Piano et al , 2021, but also bryophytes, ferns, and vascular plants (Castello 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide

Piano¹,

Nicolosi²,

Mammola³

et al. 2022

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The touristic use of caves causes multiple environmental alterations to the subterranean ecosystem, having potential effects on all components, from the atmosphere to lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Setting a baseline on the current knowledge of the ecological status of world show caves is pivotal to implement monitoring and management programs aiming at their conservation. However, information on this topic is scattered throughout several publications, making it difficult to access data and ultimately delaying advances towards a sustainable touristic use of show caves. We provide a literature-based dataset relative to the knowledge on the ecological status of 265 show caves worldwide. Data were collated from 289 papers selected through a systematic literature survey of an initial set of more than 1,000 scientific papers. We made the compiled information available through two complementary datasets, reporting: (i) references of the selected papers and (ii) 44 fields relative to the main characteristics of show caves investigated in literature. These fields encompass information about geographic locations, cave general characteristics, natural heritage, and the specific environmental components—and related environmental parameters—investigated in each of the considered study. Such a dataset improves our accessibility to the basic information provided by literature on the ecological status of show caves, also pointing out some literature gaps that should be addressed by future research. By making these data freely available and re-usable, we hope to stimulate research in the field of cave tourism, cave conservation, and cave-based ecology.

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“…In particular, the analysis of dripping water allows to understand and reconstruct the processes leading to speleothem deposition, hence their use as significant paleoenvironmental archives (Baldini et al, 2006; Columbu et al, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022; Fairchild et al, 2000; Fairchild & Baker, 2012; Fairchild & Treble, 2009; Lauritzen, 2018; Nava‐Fernandez et al, 2020; Riechelmann et al, 2013; Rossi & Lozano, 2016; Tremaine & Froelich, 2013; Wong et al, 2011). Indeed, several studies on cave waters have been, and still are, primarily focused on the ecohydrology of karst systems (Motyka et al, 2005; Nannoni et al, 2020), comprising the dissolution/precipitation processes (Fairchild & Baker, 2012) and the surface pollution sources affecting them (D'Angeli et al, 2017; Jiménez‐Sánchez et al, 2008; Mahler & Massei, 2007; Ruggieri et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dripping and underground river waters shed light on the ecohydrology of a show cave

et al. 2022

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Water and air flows connect underground ecosystems to the surface, affecting the cave chemical and physical properties. Together with the visitor's fluxes in show caves and occasional presence of cavers in wild caves-excluding the large amounts of organic supply by bat or bird colonies or large sinking rivers bringing vegetal debris-fluid flows are the main means of transport of nutrients into the normally oligotrophic cave environment. The aim of this work was to investigate the chemical characteristics of waters in the Pertosa-Auletta Cave (Italy), focusing on drip water and on the underground Negro river, seasonally and in different areas of the cave. In particular, three trails with different environmental characteristics and tourism pressure were investigated in order to shed light on the processes affecting the ecological equilibrium of the hypogean ecosystem. Dripping and flowing river waters, both rich in Ca because of their interaction with carbonate rocks, show distinct chemical signatures regarding the other chemical elements (especially K and Mg) due to lithological and hydro-dynamical differences. Moreover, water chemistry is affected by the seasonality in the pluviometric regime owing to the subsequent variability in the dilution effect. Bat colonies, dwelling mainly along the fossil trail, enrich dripping waters with P and N. Their concentrations have also been found at fairly high values across the whole trail network, suggesting an additional potential role of leaching from agricultural and forested soils above the Pertosa-Auletta Cave in defining dripwater chemistry.

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Groundwater contamination in caves: four case studies in Spain

Cited by 18 publications

References 8 publications

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide

Dripping and underground river waters shed light on the ecohydrology of a show cave

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Groundwater contamination in caves: four case studies in Spain

Cited by 18 publications

References 8 publications

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

Delineating protection areas for caves using contamination vulnerability mapping techniques: the case of Herrerıas Cave, Asturias, Spain

﻿A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide

Dripping and underground river waters shed light on the ecohydrology of a show cave

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide