• 标题：Can we infer the age of karst conduit from the profile of potentiometric surface?
• 关键词：Karst evolution,Dissolution chemistry,Floridan aquifer,Groundwater,Conduit age
• 作者：Daljit Sandhu, Arvind Singh, Dingbao Wang

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The Floridan aquifer consists of a high presence of karst features that make the landscape prone to sinkholes. Karst conduits can conduct high amounts of water and affffect processes such as groundwater transport. A karst conduit evolution model based on dissolution chemistry is applied to the Silver Springs springshed in Ocala, Florida. The model is able to reproduce the observed potentiometric head profifiles more accurately than the onedimensional groundwater flflow model for confifined aquifer with leaky conditions. In addition, based on the initial fracture geometry and dissolution chemistry, the model predicts the age of the conduits from the analyzed head profifiles to be approximately 9–60 Myrs old. The understanding of the karst conduit geometric evolution and mapping can improve conduit age prediction as well as better characterize conduit flflow patterns and subsequent groundwater processes.