Articles | Volume 28, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4035-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4035-2024
Research article
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04 Sep 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 04 Sep 2024

Mesoscale permeability variations estimated from natural airflows in the decorated Cosquer Cave (southeastern France)

Hugo Pellet, Bruno Arfib, Pierre Henry, Stéphanie Touron, and Ghislain Gassier

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Cited articles

Andrieux, C.: Étude du climat des cavités naturelles dans les roches calcaires (Grotte de Niaux, Ariège), Gallia préhistoire, 20, 301–322, https://doi.org/10.3406/galip.1977.1564, 1977. 
Arfib, B. and Charlier, J.-B.: Insights into saline intrusion and freshwater resources in coastal karstic aquifers using a lumped Rainfall–Discharge–Salinity model (the Port-Miou brackish spring, SE France), J. Hydrol., 540, 148–161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.06.010, 2016. 
Arfib, B. and Mocochain, L.: Deep flooded karst of south-eastern France – Genesis and hydrodynamic functioning, Karstologia, 79, 35–44, https://hal.science/hal-03779651v2 (last access: 29 August 2024), 2022. 
Arfib, B., Vanrell, L., and Olive, M.: New insights into the Cosquer art cave hydrogeological functionning (France), in: Eurokarst, Besançon, France, p. 4, https://hal.science/hal-01919939 (last access: 29 August 2024), 2018. 
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Editorial statement
The subject of the paper is well outside the mainstream, and interesting for its methodological approach, the way it connects cave hydrology to air permeability of sedimentary rock, and the relevance for the protection (or lack thereof) of prehistoric cave art.
Short summary
Conservation of decorated caves is highly dependent on airflows and is correlated with rock formation permeability. We present the first conceptual model of flows around the Paleolithic decorated Cosquer coastal cave (southeastern France), quantify air permeability, and show how its variation affects water levels inside the cave. This study highlights that airflows may change in karst unsaturated zones in response to changes in the water cycle and may thus be affected by climate change.
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