Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
To understand the karst groundwater hydrochemical characteristics and ion sources of the Jinan Baotu Spring area, this study focused on the three functional zones as an indirect recharge area, direct recharge area, and discharge area. Through water sample collection and testing, the spatial variability of groundwater chemical characteristics in different functional zones and the formation mechanism were analyzed using hydrochemistry parameter statistics, multivariate statistics, self-organizing map, hydrochemistry graphical analysis, ion ratios, and other methods, guided by the theory of groundwater flow system and combined with regional physical geography and hydrogeological conditions. The results showed that： the groundwater of each functional zone was alkaline as is typical in the dissolution of carbonate minerals. Owing to the different groundwater runoff pathways, the variability of water chemistry parameters in different functional areas was obvious. The groundwater of the discharge area was recharged by both the direct recharge area and the indirect recharge area. The hydrochemistry type changed from HCO
Xu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.