Karst aquifers are very easily contaminated because of the surficial features that commonly exist in karst terranes. Pollutant releases into sinkholes, sinking streams, and/or losing streams commonly result in concentrated solutes rapidly infiltrating and migrating through the subsurface to eventually discharge at downgradient springs unless intercepted by production wells, but slow percolation through soils also may result in serious contamination of karst aquifers. The unique features of karst terranes tend to cause significant problems in the interpretation of results obtained from water-quality grab samples of karst groundwater. To obtain more representative samples, event-driven sampling was proposed some decades ago, but event-driven sampling can be difficult and expensive to implement. In this paper, application of passive-sampling strategies is advocated as a means for effectively obtaining representative water-quality samples from karst aquifers. A passive-sampling methodology may be particularly useful for karst aquifers that may be found in complexly folded and faulted terranes. For example, a groundwater tracing investigation of a contaminated site in a karst terrane confirmed that several offsite springs and wells are connected to the contaminated site. Tracer recoveries suggested transport rates that were relatively slow for flow in a karstic aquifer (~0.02 m/s). Breakthrough curves were erratic and spiky. To obtain representative groundwater samples, a passive-sampling methodology is recommended.

由于岩溶地体中普遍存在的地表特征，岩溶含水层很容易受到污染。污染物释放到落水洞、下沉河流和/或流失河流通常会导致浓缩溶质快速渗透并迁移通过地下，最终在下坡泉排出，除非被生产井拦截，但通过土壤的缓慢渗透也可能导致严重的岩溶污染含水层。岩溶地体的独特特征往往会对从岩溶地下水的水质抓样中获得的结果的解释造成重大问题。为了获得更具代表性的样本，几十年前就提出了事件驱动采样，但事件驱动采样实施起来既困难又昂贵。在本文中，提倡采用被动采样策略作为有效获取岩溶含水层具有代表性的水质样本的一种手段。被动采样方法可能对可能在复杂折叠和断层地体中发现的岩溶含水层特别有用。例如，对岩溶地体中受污染场地的地下水追踪调查证实，多个场外泉水和水井与受污染场地相连。示踪剂回收表明岩溶含水层中流动的运输速率相对较慢 (~0.02 m/s)。突破曲线是不稳定和尖刺的。为了获得具有代表性的地下水样本，建议采用被动采样方法。被动采样方法可能对可能在复杂折叠和断层地体中发现的岩溶含水层特别有用。例如，对岩溶地体中受污染场地的地下水追踪调查证实，多个场外泉水和水井与受污染场地相连。示踪剂回收表明岩溶含水层中流动的运输速率相对较慢 (~0.02 m/s)。突破曲线是不稳定和尖刺的。为了获得具有代表性的地下水样本，建议采用被动采样方法。被动采样方法可能对可能在复杂折叠和断层地体中发现的岩溶含水层特别有用。例如，对岩溶地体中受污染场地的地下水追踪调查证实，多个场外泉水和水井与受污染场地相连。示踪剂回收表明岩溶含水层中流动的运输速率相对较慢 (~0.02 m/s)。突破曲线是不稳定和尖刺的。为了获得具有代表性的地下水样本，建议采用被动采样方法。示踪剂回收表明岩溶含水层中流动的运输速率相对较慢 (~0.02 m/s)。突破曲线是不稳定和尖刺的。为了获得具有代表性的地下水样本，建议采用被动采样方法。示踪剂回收表明岩溶含水层中流动的运输速率相对较慢 (~0.02 m/s)。突破曲线是不稳定和尖刺的。为了获得具有代表性的地下水样本，建议采用被动采样方法。