karst
/kɑːst
/noun [mass noun] Geology
Landscape underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other characteristic landforms: [count noun]: it was strange country, broken into hummocks and karsts and mesas parts of the karst are barren and treeless volcanic topography superficially resembling true karst...
- Subsidence sinkholes are diagnostic landforms of karst, which form in unconsolidated soils or drift deposits overlying cavernous limestone.
- The underlying limestone karst topography allows water to flow in abundant underground rivers, feeding the numerous springs, which flow into the many creeks and streams.
- The sequence overlies Upper Triassic to Upper Cretaceous rocks and locally covers Palaeogene karst bauxite deposits.
Derivatives
karstic
/ adjective ...- However, karstic topography and presence of older structures makes identification of Tertiary faults difficult in many places.
- The last is at a karstic horizon, rendering correlation of the top of the older stage difficult.
- Aeolian processes are generally restricted to the entrances of karstic caves.
karstification
- The upper surface of the bed is riddled with rhizoliths and dark gray wispy seams, indicating post-depositional karstification of the shelf.
- Defining the timing of karstification in a specific geologic setting is often a challenging task.
- Evidence is found in the seismic data for karstification on top of the San Andres Formation.
karstify
in glacial periods reefs would only have been karstified and not destroyed...
- Massive, very pure limestones karstify best and an essential prerequisite is that the main body of rock is impermeable.
- The top of the lower unit is an irregular, strongly cemented surface whereas that of the middle unit is a karstified surface.
- The karstified limestone acts as an aquifer where water can be stored and later extracted by humans.
Origin
Late 19th century: from German der Karst, the name of a limestone region in Slovenia.