1. Karst and Karst Terranes
Word is German form of the Yugoslavian term “Kras” means “bare stony ground”
Named after investigating a region near the Adriatic Sea in Yugoslavia
In modern Geomorphology the term refers to any landscape formed by dissolution of the underlying carbonate bedrock
Characterized by distinctive landforms which don’t typically occur in any other circumstance
Pseudokarst is the term for karst-like development in non-carbonate lithology that exhibits characteristics similar to karst landscapes, but which lack dissolution as a primary means of landscape formation.

2. Major known Karst regions of the world

3. Factors affecting Karst
Solubility of Limestone
- percent calcite
Climate
- Temperature and Moisture
Structure of Limestone
- joints, fractures, porosity,
Mineralogy/lithological content
% clastics, % spar vs micrite vs skeletal
Vegetation/Non-carbonate Geology
- acidity (pH) of groundwater
Atmospheric CO2
- affects solubility of Carbonates

4. Dissolution of Carbonates
CaCO3 dissociates into its constituent ionic components in water
CaCO Ca CO (Limestone)
CaMg(CO3) Ca Mg CO32- (Dolomite)
However, dissolution occurs more frequently as a result of a reaction with carbonic acid formed with carbon dioxide
CaCO3 + H2O + 2CO Ca HCO3-
CaMg(CO3)2 + 2H20 + 2CO Ca2+ + Mg HCO3-

5. Karst Collapse Landforms
Sinkhole - a.k.a. Doline
comes in a variety of shapes
most often funnel shaped
forms as material above a cavity becomes too thin
to support the weight
sometimes filled with colluvium from edges of feature
can form circular lakes
often entrances to caves are found in sinkholes
related to formation of feature
Compound sinks - a.k.a. Uvalas
several sinkholes coalesce to form a larger structure
these may be quite large (a kilometer)
Occasionally, uvalas are floored with alluvium derived
from subterranean streams called a
karst gulf or a polje

6. A Sinkhole (cockpit) in Central America

9. Karst features in Florida

10. Karst terrane in Australia
- a karren plain with blind valleys and numerous sinkholes

11. A doline (sinkhole)in Winterpark, FL

12. A 300 ft deep sinkhole in Guatemala

13. “The Blue Hole” is an underwater sinkhole, 1000 ft across & 400 ft deep

14. Karst Landforms- stream features
chaotic or deranged drainage patterns
few, if any, through flowing streams in karst regions
often exhibit what are called blind valleys
e.g., Lost river, tributaries and other surface streams in the Mitchell plain
streams disappear into a swallow hole called a ponor, a swallet, or a sink
-Tolliver Swallow; Stein Swallow
often reappear as a karst spring or a groundwater rise
-Orangeville rise;
-Wesley Chapel Gulf rise

15. Drainage in a Karst region in Europe
-flooded and backed up into the overflow channels
- polje

17. A rise of a subterranean stream

18. Solution pan on a karren in the southwestern USA

19. Karst landforms- denudation
often large tracts of limestone karst terranes are
devoid of unconsolidated material
these areas are called Karrens
Often karrens have solution enhanced vertical fracture and joints sets
joints can be filled with debris from dissolution
-known as grikes
or devoid of residuum
-known as kluftkarren or solution grooves

20. Grikes and/or Kluftkarren - a. k. a
Grikes and/or Kluftkarren - a.k.a. solution enhanced vertical fractures.
the kluftkarren/grikes divide the surface into distinct pieces referred to as Clints

21. Closeup of a Karren with grikes (note the plants indicating sediment in the joints

22. Soils developed in karst terranes
commonly develop a thick red cap called terra rosa
origins are debated and may be site specific
composed of clay
rich in iron sesquioxide minerals
Commonly thought of as leftovers after intense
leaching of surface rock
May also have contribution by loess and other wind
transported sediments
Less commonly develop another type of soil that is thin, very permeable and porous called rendzinas
allow extreme infiltration
loamy with pieces of limestone residuum

23. loess
terra rosa soil

24. Karren with Grikes in Ireland

25. Grikes or cutters, filled with terra rosa, shown in cross-section in a roadcut

26. Karst terranes in high humidity regions
forms a variety of spectacular landforms
Towers, Mounds and Cockpits
-erosional remnants of thick sequences of
limestone that have been greatly degraded

27. Cockpit karst region in Jamaica

28. Tower karst in S.E. China

29. Tower Karst in S.E. China

30. Eastern Illinois basin strata and karst development
Mitchell plain

31. Mitchell Plain and Chester Escarpment

32. Sinking stream in karst area of Kentucky

33. Sinkhole plain in the Kentucky equivalent of the Mitchell Plain