Bermuda--A partially drowned, late mature, Pleistocene karst, 1960, Bretz Jh,

During Pleistocene time, the Bermuda Islands repeatedly underwent partial inundation and re-emergence. The land areas were continuously attacked and reduced by rain and ground water but repeatedly renewed, during times of submergence, by deposition of marine limestone and by contemporaneous additions of shore-born and wind-transported carbonate sand, now eolianite. Soils formed under subaerial conditions are now buried beneath later deposits and constitute important stratigraphic markers. The igneous foundation rock appears to have been exposed during some low marine stands, and the former shorelines seem to be recorded by submerged terraces. The major karst features are largely below sea level, and they must date from times of continental glaciations. Previous writers have assigned eolian accumulation to times of Pleistocene low sea level and soil-making to times of interglacial high sea. Both conclusions are held to be erroneous

Hydrology of carbonate rock terranes -- A review , : With special reference to the United States, 1969, Stringfield V. T. , Legrand H. E. ,

Limestone and other carbonate rocks are characterized by many unusual features and extreme conditions, either involving the hydrologic system within them or wrought by hydrologic conditions on them or through them. Perhaps there could be little agreement as to what is typical or average for the many features of carbonate rocks, as indicated by the following conditions: bare rock and thin soils are common, but so are thick soils; very highly permeable limestones are common, but so are poorly permeable ones; and rugged karst topographic features with underlying solution caverns are common, but so are flat, nearly featureless topographic conditions. Some conditions of carbonate terranes are suitable to man's needs and interests, such as the use of some permeable aquifers for water supply and the exploitation of caves for tourist attractions. On the other hand, many problems may exist, including: permeability too low for adequate water supply or so high that the aquifer retains too little water for use during periods of fair weather, soils too thin for growing of crops and for adequate filtration of wastes near the ground surface, instability of the ground for buildings and foundations in sinkhole areas, and unusually rugged topography. Some of the many variable conditions are readily observable, but others can be determined only by careful geologic and hydrologic studies.The need for knowing the specific geologic and hydrologic conditions at various places in limestone terranes, as well as the variations in hydrologic conditions with changing conditions and time, has resulted in many published reports on local areas and on special topical problems of limestone hydrology. Many of these reports have been used to advantage by the present writers in preparing this paper.The concept that secondary permeability is developed by circulation of water through openings with the accompanying enlargement of these openings by solution is now universally accepted in limestone terranes. Emphasis is placed on the hydrogeologic framework, or structural setting, in relation to the ease or difficulty of water to move from a source of recharge, through a part of the limestone, to a discharge area. Parts of the limestone favored by circulating ground water tend to develop solution openings, commonly in the upper part of the zone of saturation; as base level is lowered (sea level or perennial stream level), the related water table lowers in the limestone leaving air-filled caverns above the present zone of saturation in sinkhole areas. Reconstruction of the geologic and hydrologic history of a limestone area aids in determining the extent of development and the positions of fossil and present permeability. References are made to the hydrology of many limestone regions, especially those of the United States

Karstic Fills in the Clusette Tunnel (Jura of Neuchatel Switzerland)., 1975, Meia Jean, Pochon Michel

The piercing of a road tunnel in the flank of a limestone (Malm) anticline in the Neuchatel Jura uncovered karstic forms transformed for the most part, by decarbonated soils. Mineralogical analysis of these latter, through the use of X-ray diffraction, reveals a great analogy with the surface soils. At more than 200 meters depth, the same allochtone mineralogical suite of aeolian origin which constitutes the largest part of the soils of the High Jura Mountains in Switzerland, is found: an abundance of ferriferous chlorite, and of quartz, plagioclase and potassic feldspar. The various factors favouring this deep infiltration are discussed.

Characterization of Karst Soils by Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 1977, White, William B.

Frustration and New Year Caves and Their Neighbourhood, Cooleman Plain, N.S.W., 1977, Rieder L. G. , Jennings J. N. , Francis G.

Frustration and New Year Caves are active between-caves, paralleling in plan and profile the ephemeral stream bed of the V-shaped valley in which their entrances are found. The main streamsink in this valley system feeds their stream, which in turn supplies Zed Cave, a short outflow cave just outside the mouth of this valley. This modest derangement of surface drainage pattern is in keeping with the caves which show slight vadose modification of epiphreatic cave development. Although these active caves are young, they probably formed prior to a Late Pleistocene cold period (30,000 to 10,000 BP) on the basis of soils evidence. Clown Cave on the brow of the valley, a dry cave with indications of sluggish phreatic development, is related to a planation phase of Middle or Lower Tertiary age before valley incision. Bow and Keyslot Caves are abandoned in and out and outflow caves respectively, formed when the surface stream channel was a few metres above the present valley bottom so they antedate the active river caves a little. This hydrologically independent part of the Cooleman Plain mirrors in most respects the major parts draining to the Blue Waterholes, differing chiefly in the greater proportion of between-caves discovered so far.

Surface Lowering and Landform Evolution on Aldabra, 1979, Trudgill S. T. ,

Aldabra landforms are the result of the karstification of carbonate rocks distributed on surfaces which have been exposed to erosion for varying lengths of time. Morphometric analysis (which is of interest in both geomorphological and botanical contexts) suggests that the most well developed karst features (closed depressions) occur on what appear to be the oldest surfaces. Morphology also varies with lithology. Measurements of present-day erosion rates suggests that weakly cemented rocks and the most soluble mineral components are eroding most rapidly. The evolution of a dissected morphology is related to lithological heterogeneity in coralline rocks or, in the case of the more homogeneous rocks, to the short residence time of waters on the rock surface (the more rapidly dissolving mineral grains eroding faster). Dissolution also proceeds in fresh water pools, but this may be offset by precipitation in some cases. The surface is mostly case hardened, except under deep organic soils where erosion rates are much higher than in other areas. A mean erosion rate measured at 0.26 mm/a appears to make it feasible that large erosional features, such as the lagoon, could have been formed during periods of emersion as suggested by research workers who have hypothesized that an atoll shape may be substantially derived by subaerial weathering

Mayan Urbanism: Impact on a Tropical Karst Environment, 1979, Deevey Es, Rice Ds, Rice Pm, Vaughan Hh, Brenner M, Flannery Ms,

From the first millennium B.C. through the 9th-century A.D. Classic Maya collapse, nonurban populations grew exponentially, doubling every 408 years, in the twin-lake (Yaxha-Sacnab) basin that contained the Classic urban center of Yaxha. Pollen data show that forests were essentially cleared by Early Classic time. Sharply accelerated slopewash and colluviation, amplified in the Yaxha subbasin by urban construction, transferred nutrients plus calcareous, silty clay to both lakes. Except for the urban silt, colluvium appearing as lake sediments has a mean total phosphorus concentration close to that of basin soils. From this fact, from abundance and distribution of soil phosphorus, and from continuing post-Maya influxes (80 to 86 milligrams of phosphorus per square meter each year), which have no other apparent source, we conclude that riparian soils are anthrosols and that the mechanism of long-term phosphorus loading in lakes is mass transport of soil. Per capita deliveries of phosphorus match physiological outputs, approximately 0.5 kilogram of phosphorus per capita per year. Smaller apparent deliveries reflect the nonphosphatic composition of urban silt; larger societal outputs, expressing excess phosphorus from deforestation and from food waste and mortuary disposal, are probable but cannot be evaluated from our data. Eutrophication is not demonstrable and was probably impeded, even in less-impacted lakes, by suspended Maya silt. Environmental strain, the product of accelerating agroengineering demand and sequestering of nutrients in colluvium, developed too slowly to act as a servomechanism, damping population growth, at least until Late Classic time

On the Wad-Minerals from the Cavern Environment., 1983, Kashima Naruhiko

The wad-minerals from limestone caves of Yugoslavia, China and Japan were studied. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed five minerals; birnessite, 10A-manganite, pyrolusite, todorokite and goethite. The heavy metal elements, Mn, Zn, Fe and Cr have been detected by X-ray fluorescence analysis and their contents were roughly determined. The condensation water introduced directly from the covering soils formed by the continental weathering and the deriving corrosive water interaction with limestone could be the input sources of manganese and other metal elements into the system.

A review of the engineering behaviour of soils and rocks with respect to groundwater, 1986, Bell Fg, Cripps Jc, Culshaw Mg,

The effect of groundwater on the engineering behaviour of soils and rocks is of fundamental importance, indeed to paraphrase Tergazhi -- without water there would be no soil mechanics. This paper reviews these effects in terms of the variation in the properties and behaviour of soils and rocks brought about by changes in moisture content, and associated changes, notably in effective stress, and by the dissolution of parts of the rock or soil mass

Stabilization of karst soils in the bases of structures, 1986, Ibragimov M. N. , Malyshev L. I. ,

Impact of forest clearance on the soils of tropical cone karst., 1987, Furley P. A.

Subsidences and erosion in loess soils, 1987, Savvateev S. S. , Kriger N. I. , Lavrusevich S. A. , Petrov A. G. ,

Impact des propriétés hydrodynamiques du substrat karstique sur la nature du sol en milieu méditerranéen, 1989, Verheye, W. H.

The impact of the hydrodynamic properties of the karst substratum over the soil characteristic in mediterranean areas - The weathering and pedogenetic evolution on limestones in mediterranean areas leads to the formation of a more or less decarbonated red soil. This evolution passes through successive stages of decarbonatation, rubification and decalcification and can be associated with a colour change, which includes lithochromic, brown and red phases. It is obviously influenced by the hydrodynamic properties of the soils and by the underground drainage characteristics of the substratum: hence soils developed over almost impermeable marly limestones remain at the lithochromic and/or brown levels, and decarbonatation remains weak; on hard and fractured limestones, pedogenesis is much more active and, even if the weathering volume on this rather pure rocks is small, the soil profile becomes almost completely devoid of free lime; under certain conditions a slight decalcification of the soil sorption complex may even be observed.

Présentation des principales cavites du Causse de Laissac-Séverac (Aveyron), 1990, Rigal, C.

PRESENTATION OF THE MAIN CAVES OF THE CAUSSE OF LAISSAC-SEVERAC (AVEYRON, FRANCE) - The causse of Laissac-Severac is situated between "Grands Causses" and "Causse of Sauveterre" (Aveyron), in limestones and dolomites of Lias and Middle Jurassic. This speleological area presents two kinds of karst systems: losses and resurgences at the contact of the crystalline massif (Levezou) on the south part (Clos del Pous = 3km), and caves with numerous sumps under the Causse of Severac on the north part (plateau with large depressions (Tantayrou = 3.1km). These caves are post-Miocene because of the dated volcanism; they cut an eogene paleokarst, which is characterised by ferralitic paleosoils (ferruginous sandstone called "Siderolithique") from the alteration of crystalline massif.

Karstification et évolution paléogéographique du Jura, 1991, Bienfait, P.

KARSTIFICATION AND PALEOGEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION OF THE JURA (Fr.) - The karstification started at the beginning of the Tertiary, and the process is still going on today. During the Eocene, modifications brought about under the tropical climate resulted in siderolithic deposits (siliceous sands, ferruginous soils), which can be found in some fossil karsts. In the Oligocene, active tectonics modified the Eocene surface. Erosion during the Miocene levelled the Jura Mountains into a peneplain even though the climate remained tropical. Toward the end of the Miocene, present-day structure and landforms were produced when the main folding, subjected at the same time to powerful erosion, occurred. During the Upper Pleistocene the climate became cooler and wetter. At least two glacial periods have been recognised in the Pleistocene. Present-day karst landforms and most of the caves can be considered as being shaped during the Plio-Quaternary. The karst fillings of the Quaternary provide evidence of the extension of the Würm and Riss glaciers.