Hydrologic Modeling of Flow through Sinkholes Located in Streambeds of Cane Run Stream, Kentucky
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 5
Abstract
Hydrologic modeling of karst watersheds requires detailed information on geologic settings and hydrologic properties for efficient simulation of spring and streamflow hydrographs. In this paper, sinkholes located in the streambed of a karst watershed in Kentucky were conceptualized as orifices, and flow through these orifices was modeled as a function of sinkhole diameter. The karst flow components were incorporated in a soil and water assessment tool (SWAT), called KarstSWAT in this study. The KarstSWAT was able to reproduce the observed hydrographs better than the SWAT model in terms of both peak flow and hydrograph volume. Flow through a groundwater basin that is partly fed by the sinkholes and is discharged from a spring was estimated using a method called the successive summation routing algorithm (SSRA) in this study. The time series analysis of simulated spring flows showed that the quantity of water recharging the sinkholes was sufficient to reproduce the observed spring hydrographs. The proposed method could be adapted to karst watersheds dominated by sinkholes and to watersheds that drain water from sinkholes to springs.
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Acknowledgments
This project was partially funded by the SB-271 Water Quality Program in the College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky, as part of a project of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station (No.10-05-103). It is published with the approval of the Director. The writers also thank Carri Kasner of the Environmental Sciences Fellowship Program for supporting this research.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 5 • May 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 30, 2013
Accepted: Jul 15, 2014
Published online: Aug 26, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 26, 2015
Published in print: May 1, 2015
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