Do Karstic Unsaturated Zones Have the Fastest Preferential Flow?

There is strong evidence that unsaturated-zone travel times for preferential flow, unlike those for diffuse flow, mostly fall within a relatively small range, even for a wide variety of media and conditions [Nimmo, 2007, Water Resources Research]. We have calculated travel times for preferential flow observations published in the last seven years, finding a range of travel velocities with a greater maximum than was previously recognized. The instances of faster transport, however, are predominantly for karst or other materials in which water flow may strongly influence the creation and development of preferential flow paths. These findings motivate a hypothesis: in media where the matrix is soluble, erodible, or otherwise vulnerable to enlargement by flowing water, this flow acts to reduce flow impediments within a macropore network. This might be thought of as a sculpting process in which water carves its conduit into a smoother, larger, less constrictive shape, as discussed in connection with soil pipes [Jones, 2010, Hydrological Processes]. Known developmental processes of karst and epikarst are consistent with this hypothesis. Its acceptance would open doors to expanded use of optimality and thermodynamic principles to understand and predict preferential flow. It also could lead to new modes of hydraulic characterization of subsurface media with regard to unsaturated flow, which are much needed as the difficulty of measuring hydraulic properties of the unsaturated zone is a major barrier to the advance of hydrologic science. In practical terms, a new guideline may be justified: in unsaturated karst or other materials in which flowing water may enhance flowpaths, preferential transport rates in general may be several times faster than through media without such pore-developmental processes.