Book Review: Methods in Karst Hydrogeology, Nico Goldscheider and David Drew (eds)

Excerpt

The book is an introduction to the methods that can be applied to the study and exploitation of karst aquifer systems. It is aimed at postgraduate students, practitioners, and senior scientists. The book authors are an international team of 21 karst specialists—both scientists and practitioners—from eight countries in Europe and North America. Their work is presented in 11 chapters: Introduction, The geological and geomorphological framework, Speleological investigations, Hydrological methods, Hydraulic methods, Hydrochemical methods, Isotopic methods, Tracer techniques, Geophysical methods, Modelling karst hydrodynamics, and Combined use of methods. No chapter deals explicitly with the management of water resources, although various aspects of it are encountered in several chapters; for example, the identification of contaminant sources in chapter 6, and the assessment of water quality, contaminant problems, and groundwater vulnerability in chapter 11. Engineering considerations are not dealt with specifically, because of their coverage elsewhere. …