Classification and exploitive technical condition of karst water source field in southwest China

It is redefined the meaning of “karst water source field” and put forward a new category of “karst water source field” in this paper. Firstly, based on the situation of aquifer distribution and outcrop state of karst water, the new category classifies the karst water source field into two broad types: “natural outcropped karst water source field” and “buried karst water source field”. Secondly, based on water-bearing medium, water conduit and storage place and structure, water dynamic feature, the “natural outcropped karst water source field” is subdivided into three subtypes: “Underground River”, “karst spring” and “epikarst spring”. The “buried karst water source field” is subdivided into “saturation zone water-rich block” and “epikarst zone water-rich block”. In addition, the law of water enrichment, the regime and exploitive technical conditions of the karst water are also studied in the paper.