Study on karst development mechanism and its relationship with water yield in Shaoguan City,Guangdong

The Shaoguan city is a heavy industrial city located in a mountainous area dominated with limestone strata in Guangdong province. The source of drinking water for urban dwellers is mainly from Wujiang River,but partial water used for mining production,industrial use and drinking for local residents is from underground water,which is mainly the covered karst water. Due to the apparent unevenness of the karst development in soluble rocks,therefore,it results in a great difference of water yield. To exploit underground karst water reasonably and effectively so as to solve water-lacking problems of supplying production for factories and mines and drinking water supplies for local residents,it is necessary to study the karst development mechanism and its relationship with water yield property in this area. Based on a comprehensive analysis on the hydrogeological,engineering geological and environmental geological survey as well as a great deal of hydrogeological prospecting data in Shaoguan city and relevant references,the karst development mechanism is discussed in this paper. The authors think there are still certain development regularities of karst development in Shaoguan area. The karst and water yield developed mostly in the following areas: ( 1) simple structure of thick-layered pure carbonate; ( 2) underground water runoff and drainage areas; ( 3) fault intersection and fold shaft areas.