Assessment of karst ground water vulnerability to contamination on the main massifs of the Mountain Crimea using regional methods
Authors:   Cream Federal University after V.I. Vernadsky, Tokarev Sergey , Amelichev Gennady ,   Cream Federal University after V.I. Vernadsky, Amelichev Yevgeny ,   Cream Federal University after V.I. Vernadsky
Published: May 2024

Introduction. Assessment of groundwater vulnerability to contamination is an effective tool for scientific substantiation of the sanitary protection zones for drinking water sources. Karst ground waters of the Mountain Crimea form the main resources for water supply in the Crimean Peninsula. This study has a purpose to perform the assessme nt and mapping of karst ground waters resource vulnerability to contamination on such representative massifs of the Crimean Mountains as Chatyrdag, Dolgorukovsky, Karabi and Ay-Petri . Materials and methods. Assessment of karst ground waters vulnerability is conducted by use of Mountain -Crimean method. It has been developed on the base of some wide-tested European methods (COP-method and Slovene approach) with methodological modification and adaptation to regional conditions of the Mountain Crimea. The input data for assessment is spatial information about ground waters vulnerability factors: protective layers in vadose zone, flow concentration by streams, sinkholes and caves, precipitation regime etc. The collected spatial information was converted into attributed geo data layers, which were subsequently subjected to overlay operations in Arc GIS 10 software according to assessment scheme. Results. According to the assessment results, approximately 34 and 14% of the Chatyrdag massif area gained the category of high and very high vulnerability, on the Karabi massif – 14 and 17%, on the Dolgorukovsky massif – 14 and 2%, on the Ay-Petri massif – 19 and 7% of total area respectively. The result ing vulnerability maps demonstrate significant mosaics and contrast, which is associated with discrete distribution of protective covers and high differentiation of ground water recharge conditions within the catchments of karst massifs. Discussion. Analysis of the resulting vulnerability maps have revealed that the leading factors determining areas of high and very high vulner ability of karst waters are runoff concentration factors, while the factors of protective cover mainly determine the areas with low vulnerability. The zones of high vulnerability on the Chatyrdag and Karabi massifs are mainly coincide with areas of high density of karst forms (sinkholes and caves), while high vulnerability zones of the Ay-Petri and Dolgorukovsky massifs are predominantly associated with areas near permanent and temporary watercourses. In general, the obtained maps of groundwater vulnerability are quite consistent with the known data on the hydro-geological conditions of the assessed massifs. Conclusions. The identified differences in the area ratio and spatial distribution of ground waters vulnerability categories between the assessed massifs are a consequence of local geological, geo-morphological and hydrological features. The obtained results confirm high applicability of the Mountain-Crimean regional method for groundwater vulnerability assessment, at least for the karst massifs of the Mountain Crimea. Suggestions for practical application and direction for future research. The produced groundwater vulnerability maps create a scientific basis for delineation of water protection zones, assessing the risks of groundwater pollution and developing the territorial planning schemes within studied areas. The next stage of study is an assessment of groundwater source vulnerability for individual karst springs used in water supply.