Review Reports - Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Dissolved Organic Matter in Cave Drip Water—A Case Study from Furong Cave, Southwest China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. Proofread the whole manuscript again. Minor editing of English language required in the manuscript.

2. Citation formats should be carefully checked.

3. I suggest reducing the number of references to enhance the conciseness of the article.

4. Referencing three articles in lines 161-162 is unnecessary and can be omitted.

5. Replace the character "。” with "." in line 342 for consistency and conformity with standard punctuation usage.

6. Make adjustments to Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 by ensuring that the right and top axes are drawn without ticks.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required in the manuscript.

Author Response

Please see the details in the file of "20231227 Response to comments" (PDF).

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have carefully reviewed the manuscript titled "Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Dissolved Organic Matter in Cave Drip Water-A Case Study from Furong Cave, Southwest China) by Ya-Ting He et al. The study's focus on understanding hydrological processes in karst systems, particularly in relation to dissolved organic matter (DOM) using advanced techniques.

Major comments:

· The abstract might be beneficial to briefly mention the specific implications of these findings for broader geochemical or environmental studies.

· The introduction could benefit from a clearer statement of the research gap. While it discusses DOM in karst systems, it doesn't explicitly state what new knowledge this study aims to provide. So, I suggest including a specific paragraph outlining the research gap and the study's unique contribution.

· The description of the sampling process is somewhat vague. More detailed information about the sampling frequency, locations, and conditions is needed.

· Expand discussion section to discuss how your findings can be applied in environmental monitoring and management, possibly drawing comparisons with other studies.

· The conclusion repeats much of the information from the abstract without adding new insights. Please, refocus the conclusion to highlight the key findings and their implications, along with potential areas for future research.

Minor comments

· Remove the Chinese symbols and replace with English

· Follow the journal format for references and reduce the number of references used a voiding intensive self-citation.

· The manuscript is well-structured and the language is mostly clear. However, there are minor grammatical errors and some sentences could be more concise.

· The integration of figures and tables is effective, but some figures could be more clearly labeled. Also increase the resolution of figures provided.

In light of the identified areas for improvement, this manuscript holds promise for making a substantial contribution to our understanding of dissolved organic matter in karst systems.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The manuscript is well-structured and the language is mostly clear. However, there are minor grammatical errors and some sentences could be more concise.

Author Response

Please see the details in the file of "20231227 Response to comments" (PDF).

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript “water-2768826” is well written. This can be considered worth publishing in journal “water” after following modifications:

1. The abstract is too long. Author needs to summarize the abstract according to journal guidelines.

2. Line # 18 The abbreviation is repeated such as dissolved organic matter (DOM) in abstract. Author needs to check for other sections in manuscript.

3. Line # 134 Study site section should be moved to Material section.

4. Figure 2, Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 Labeling is missing.

5. Many references are outdated, authors need to add recent related references.

6. Line # 421 Language words other than English should be corrected/removed for better understanding.

7. It is suggested to combine Result and Discussion section.

Author Response

Please see the details in the file of "20231227 Response to comments" (PDF).

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Reviewing report

Manuscript entitled "Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Dissolved Organic Matter in Cave Drip Water——A Case Study from Furong Cave, Southwest China"

1. You need to write the whole name of DOM in the abstract section.

2. Line 58 in introduction part. What you mean ? please, rephrase this part.

3. You need to add spaces between words. Please, revise the whole manuscript.

4. You need to add the COM defenation in the introduction part.

5. You need to add the correct reference on line 250.

6. Please, expand figure 3.

7. What you mean by C+ on line 280.

8. « Furthermore, there is a 339 significant negative correlation between the BIX and HIX indices in all four drip water 340 samples (R2 = 0.68; p<0.01 for MP1, R2 = 0.65; p><0.01 for MP2, R2 = 0.33; p><0.01 for MP3, R2 341 = 0.72; p><0.01 for MP9)>…..) »

What is the result of this fact which you explain ?

9. Please, correct line 421

10. Please, write the whole name of SOM on line 499.

11. You used correlations on figures from 6-8. What you conclude from the value of R2 ?

12. In this tudy you used fluorescence. Where is the UV ?

13. Where are the hydrochemical parameters in this study such as pH, TDS, ions, etc. ?

14. You need to enhance the resolution of figure 2 ? In addition, nm must be between brackets.

15. In figure 2 you need to add fluorescence spectra diagram.

16. In fluorescence part you need to calculate Ratio of fluorescence intensity at excitation wavelength to emission wavelength.

17. Please, discuss ore about the relation between HIX and BIX

See this ref. for help: Analysis of the Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectroscopy Characteristics of Dissolved Organic Matter in Groundwater from a Subtropical Cave in Dry Season—Daxiao Cave in South China Kars

GOOD LUCK

Author Response

Please see the details in the file of "20231227 Response to comments" (PDF).

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for the opportunity to review the revised version of the manuscript (water-2768826) entitled (Characteristics and influencing factors of dissolved organic matter in cave drip water-A case study from Furong Cave, Southwest China) by He et al., As this is the second time that I have reviewed this manuscript, I can easily evaluate the changes made by the authors with respect to the original submission. The authors have provided responses to all of my queries and acted accordingly as per my suggestions and recommendations. The result of this good work is remarkable. The manuscript is now well organized and to the point. I think that the manuscript looks more suitable for an international audience. Therefore, I strongly recommend it be accepted for publication in Water.