Transformation process of five water in epikarst zone: a case study in subtropical karst area

Five water stands for five form existence models of water. In karst area, five water means precipitation, groundwater, evapotranspiration water, soil water, and overland flow. The complicated water-bearing hydrogeological media and the inhomogeneous water storage structure lead to low efficiency of water utilization. To reveal intricate water resources transformation in karst areas, a typical epikarst zone was selected. The five water and their conversion processes were studied and the transformation models were built based on the long-term positioning observations. The results show that (1) overland flow can be generated when precipitation reaches 6 mm and lasts for 6 h. Under light and moderate rainfall (LMR) conditions, less than 6% of the precipitation is converted to overland flow. Under heavy rainfall and rainstorm (HRR) conditions, the conversion of precipitation into overland flow in about 3.5–6%. (2) Under LMR conditions, the conversion rate of precipitation to vegetation water, soil water and groundwater was 2–3.5%, 40–60% and 25–35%, and the conversion rate under HHR conditions was 1.5–2.2%, 25–30% and 32–50%. (3) The proportion of different levels precipitation was transformed to soil water is 20–70%. (4) The conversion rate of groundwater and karst fissure water for LMR conditions are 8–15% and 10–15%, and that for HRR is 15–20% and 40–50%. (5) The proportions of different degrees of precipitation transformed into vegetation transpiration and evaporation water are 1.5–3.5% and 6–9%, respectively. (6) Generally, <4% of the precipitation is converted into overland flow, 20–70% into soil water, 25–50% into karst groundwater, and 1–10% into evaporative water.