A novel methodology of determination of the mean translational velocity of groundwater flow and its application in the karst

作     者：Matić, Natalija Vučić, Filip Čupić, Daria Maldini, Krešimir 

作者机构： Ulica grada Vukovara 220 Zagreb10000 Croatia University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing Unska 3 Zagreb10000 Croatia Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute Ulica grada Vukovara 220 Zagreb10000 Croatia 

出 版 物：《Science of the Total Environment》 (Sci. Total Environ.)

年 卷 期：2025年第982卷

页      面：179586页

核心收录：

学科分类：0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 08[工学] 081501[工学-水文学及水资源] 0708[理学-地球物理学] 0815[工学-水利工程] 0824[工学-船舶与海洋工程] 0823[工学-交通运输工程] 

基　　金：The English language was edited by Jauk  T. a linguist  working at Hrvatske vode (Croatian Waters)  and we thank her a lot for her kind help. We also appreciate the journal's reviewers for taking their precious time to review the manuscript 

主　　题：Travel time 

摘      要：The paper deals with a novel methodology for determining the mean translational velocity of groundwater flow and application in the Dinaric karst of Croatia. Until now, it has only been possible to calculate the apparent velocity of groundwater flow in the karst system after obtaining experimental field investigation to verify e.g. the movement of pollution through the underground karst system, by applying the dye-tracing test technique using a dye tracer. The methodology for calculation of the apparent velocity of groundwater flow takes into account the measured actual or real travel time and shortest (air) distance (path) between sites of dye insertion and dye appearance which means that it does not include the actual or real distance with multidimensionality and extremely nonlinear behavior of karst system. In contrast with this methodology, the calculation of mean translational velocity is based on actual or real data of measured travel time and distance required that dye appears on springs from the moment when the dye was inserted in the sinkhole, and the minor and major semi-axes of the boundary ellipse. This mathematically presented novel methodology takes into account information such as measured travel time and environmental characteristics (aquifer boundaries) which makes novel methodology innovative and sustainable. Since it would be good to know the velocity as close as possible to the actual or real groundwater flow velocity, the paper discusses the possibility of obtaining the mean translational velocity based on theoretical calculations and improving the existing calculation of the apparent velocity of groundwater flow. Additionally, the value of this paper is a quantification of the relationships between the qualitative features of the karst system, i.e. makes them measurable contributing to SDG6. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.