RESUMO
Karst hydrologic system is quite sensitive to the surrounding environment, which leads to changes in the quality of karst water within diel, hours even minutes. Many surface water undergoes changes of pH value, dissolved gas, trace elements, nutrition and other hydrochemical parameters in a daily timescale. The Shuifang spring and its draining pool are located in Jinfo Mountain in Chongqing, the middle karst mountain belonging to temperate climate with an elevation of about 2050 m a. s. l. Diel cycles of geochemistry were measured for three days and nights to investigate the influence of biological processes on the geochemistry of the karst pool. Results showed that the geochemistry of Shuifang spring didn't exhibit diel variations, while the pool water appeared diurnal change, even if the variation amplitudes of water temperature, pH value, dissolved oxygen and specific conductance were slight. Under different weather conditions, variation amplitude of the geochemical parameters in the pool appeared discriminatory. pCO2 and concentrations of Ca2+, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) decreased during the day time and increased in night, while calcite saturation index (SIc) showed an inverse trend. Those phenomena might be attributed to water temperature change, calcite precipitation or dissolution and the process of metabolism by the aquatic plants in the pool. It was found that the influence of water temperature change on pCO2 accounted for only 0.79% to 10.01% by means of calculation of Henry constants. DIC loss contributed by physical factors, such as temperature and calcite precipitation, accounted for 39%, whereas the metabolism of aquatic plants accounted for 61%.