Hydrology of Blue Lake in the Dinaric karst

Abstract

Abstract:The aim of this paper is to analyse hydrological measurements obtained from Blue Lake located near the town of Imotski (Croatia), during the period from 6 November 2009 at 10:26 h to 4 September 2010 at 03:26 h (7230 h or 302 days). The water depth, water temperature and electrical conductivity of the water were continuously measured during this period. The measurements were obtained with a CTD DIVER (Schlumberger Water Services). The instrument was fixed at the bottom of Blue Lake, which means that all the measured data refer to a single point of measurement. The data represent the first systematic and continuous monitoring of the hydrological parameters of this fascinating karst phenomenon. The hydrological analysis also involved daily rainfall data and daily mean air temperatures recorded at the nearby Imotski meteorological station. The rate of water level rise and fall and the hourly and daily average inflow and outflow into and from the lake were calculated using the available data. The analysis led to the conclusion that Blue Lake is mainly recharged by water coming from the karst aquifer, the dimensions and the characteristics of which have not yet been adequately studied.

Water resources analysis of the Rječina karst spring and river (Dinaric karst)

“…The values ranged between 220 and 470 µS cm -1 . Electrical conductivity of water emerging from Jadro Spring (Croatia) ranged between 250 and 350 µS cm -1 , and of water in the Blue Lake (Croatia) between 301 and 438 µS cm -1 (Bonacci et al 2013).…”

Morphological study of Red lake in Dinaric karst based on terrestrial laser scaning and sonar system

“…younger authors argue that Red Lake is a cave, and their conclusions are based on the classification of Union International de Spéléologie (UIS). From a hydrological point of view, Blue Lake Blue Lake has been investigated more, and recent results were published in the paper (Bonacci et al 2014).…”

“…The insufficiency in scientific research of Red Lake lies primarily in the difficulties that arise during hydrological and geomorphologic measurements. Because of the inaccessible nature of the local terrain and the extremely steep slopes above the lake shores, measurements are very difficult to obtain, expensive and even dangerous (Bonacci et al 2014).…”

“…2 shows on the satellite image of both lakes. Red Lake is permanently filled with water, whereas Blue Lake dries up periodically (Bonacci 2006;Bonacci et al 2014).…”

Cross-Correlation and Cross-Spectral Analysis of the Hydrographs in the Northern Part of the Dinaric Karst of Croatia

“…Spectral and correlation analyses are common and generally accepted methods of hydrological research in karst areas [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, standard hydrological research of the Dinaric karst in Croatia has been carried out mostly on smaller areas and some regional research [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], while spectral and correlation analysis began to be carried out recently in the southern parts of the Dinaric karst [41][42][43][44][45].…”