Revealing hydrological relations of adjacent karst springs by partial correlation analysis

The objective of this work is the study of two adjacent karst springs, Jadro and Zrnovnica, in Croatia. This work focuses on the effects of temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and discharges on the hydrological behavior and relations of two adjacent karst springs. Partial correlation analysis reveals the type of the control signal that affects the cross-correlation function between an input and output signal. It has been confirmed that in the case of the adjacent karst springs Jadro and Zrnovnica, the discharge of the Zrnovnica Spring has an impact on the rainfall-discharge relation of the Jadro Spring. The demonstrated approach represents an improvement in investigating the relations of adjacent karst springs and could be used as an integral part of their hydrological and hydrogeological investigations, considering that the necessary data can occur in a relatively simple and inexpensive manner.