Variations in Trace Elements of Drip Waters in Kaite Cave (N Spain): Significance in Terms of Present and Past Processes in the Karst System

Abstract

Drip-water chemistry in karstic caves can vary at seasonal to inter-annual scales in response to climatic factors such as temperature, rainfall, and seasonality, which determine changes in the hydrological and hydrochemical processes of the percolating waters in their paths from the atmosphere to the cave. In this paper the characterization of stalagmite forming drip-waters based on long-term (years) time-series data is presented as a key task for understanding the geochemical behavior of a specific system, the Kaite Cave (N Spain). The work focuses on the relationships between rainfall, drip rates, drip-water calcium concentration, and drip-water trace elements amount (e.g., Mg and Sr); as indicators of hydrologic processes defining the karst system and controlling speleothem growth and composition patterns.