Karst Landforms [book review], 1974, Stringfield V. T. ,

Process, landforms and climate in limestone regions, 1976, Smith D. L. , Atkinson T. C.

Geomorphology of the North Karst, South Nahanni River Region, Northwest Territories, Canada, PhD Thesis, 1976, Brook, George Albert,

First investigated on the ground in June 1972, the Nahanni karst of northern Canada is the most complex karst terrain yet reported from high latitudes. It is centered at 61°28' N, longitude 124°05' W and lies within the zone of discontinuous permafrost. Mean annual temperature is 24°F and mean total precipitation 22.3 inches. Principal karst forms are fracture-located karst streets and irregularly-shaped closed depression called karst platea which may be up to 600 feet in depth. Platea often contain karst towers which are residuals of wall recession. Vertical-walled pond dolines up to 120 feet deep are common in bare karst areas while subjacent karst collapse, subsidence and suffosion depressions occur on marginal shale- and drift-mantled surfaces. Three small poljes have been identified, two produced entirely by solution, the other a structural form. These are periodically inundated. There are several peripheral fluvial canyons up to 3,000 feet deep that are blocked by glacial drift and which presently drain underground. Similarity in the hydrogeological properties of Nahanni Formation limestones at a variety of scales has led to the development of morphologically-identical karst forms which range in size from inches up to hundreds of feet. Furthermore, many of these landforms are part of a developmental sequence that at one scale links vertical-walled dolines, karst streets, platea and poljes; and at another links solution pits, grikes and joint hollows on limestone pavements. The evidence suggests that poljes form by the coalescence of dolines and uvalas just as Cvijic suggested in 1918. In attempting to explain the almost "tropical" nature of the sub-arctic Nahanni karst landform assemblage, a number of facts are of importance.
(a) The Nahanni Formation limestones have been highly warped and intensively fractures during the past one million years. Open fractures have encouraged karstification by allowing easy movement of water underground. Warping has provided the relief necessary for the development of solutional forms with a distinct vertical component.
(b) The karst can not be considered relict because it was glaciated during the Pleistocene. In addition the hydrological activity in it today is comparable with that in many humid tropical karst areas.
(c) Solutional denudation rates governed by aspects of surficial and bedrock geology may in some localized areas be equivalent to rates in humid tropical carbonate regions.
(d) At present rates, the most highly developed forms could have been produced within the last 200,000 years and because there is evidence to indicate that the karst may not have been glaciated for up to 250,000 years, such a period has been available for solutional development.
Because the Nahanni region has not been glaciated for an extremely long period, it may be one of only a few high-latitude carbonate terrains that have had time to develop fully. Its very existence questions the validity of the concept that the intensity and direction of karst development is climate-controlled. In the Nahanni at least, the structural and lithological properties of the host limestone appear to have been of greater importance. The labyrinth karst type present in regions of humid-tropical to sub-arctic climate, is an outstanding example of a structurally-controlled karst landscape. It may well be that the same controls also influence the distributions of other karst types.

Evaluation Criteria for the Cave and Karst heritage of Australia - Report of the Australian Speleological Federation - National Heritage Assessment Study (1977), 1977, Davey, A. G. (ed)

Protection and management of natural heritage features such as karst landforms requires considered evaluation of the relative significance of individual features. The grounds for significance depend on the perspective taken. Aesthetic, educational, scientific and recreational values are all relevant and must each be given explicit recognition. Karst landforms are often considered primarily from a scientific perspective. The criteria used for evaluation of such natural heritage features for conservation and management purposes need to reflect this full range of values. This means that karst sites may have significance from one or more of these perspectives, as examples of natural features or landscapes, as examples of cultural features or landscapes or as the site of recreation opportunities. Some such sites will be identified as significant because they are representative of their class (irrespective of the relative importance of classes); others will be judged as significant because they are outstanding places of general interest.

Karst depressions in a time context., 1978, Kemmerly P. R. , Towe S. K.

Solutional Landforms on Carbonates of the Southern Teton Range, Wyoming, 1979, Medville Douglas M. , Hempel John C. , Plantz Charles, Werner Eberhard

Karst Landforms in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, Utah, 1979, White, William B.

Quantitative morphology of landforms in carbonate rock basins in the Appalachian Highlands, 1979, White E. L. , White W. B. ,

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

Cave and Landscape Evolution At Isaacs Creek, New South Wales, 1979, Connolly M. , Francis G.

Isaacs Creek Caves are situated in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales and form a distinct unit within the Timor karst region. The larger caves such as Man, Helictite and Belfry all show evidence of early development under sluggish phreatic conditions. Nevertheless later phases of dynamic phreatic and vadose development occurred in Belfry and Helictite caves. In the case of Helictite Cave sluggish phreatic, dynamic phreatic and vadose action may have operated simultaneously in different parts of the same cave. After each cave was drained through further valley incision by Isaacs Creek, extensive clay fills derived from surface soil were deposited in it. There has been considerable re-excavation of the fills; in Main Cave younger clay loams have partially filled the resulting cavities and thus underlie the older clays. The earliest speleogenesis took place in Main Cave which pre-dates the valley of Isaacs Creek. This cave now lies in the summit of Caves Ridge about 100m above the modern valley floor. Helictite and Shaft Caves formed when the valley had been cut down to within 30m of its present level and some early phreatic development also took place in the Belfry Cave at this time. Later phases of dynamic phreatic and vadose development in Belfry Cave occurred when the valley floor lay about 12m above its present level and can be correlated with river terraces at this height. Evidence from cave morphology, isotopic basalt dates and surfaces geomorphology indicates that Main Cave formed in the Cretaceous and that Helictite Cave, Shaft Cave and the early development in Belfry Cave date from the Palaeogene. Although the dynamic phreatic and vadose action in Belfry Cave is more recent, it may still range back into the Miocene. This is a much more ancient and extended chronology than has hitherto been proposed for limestone caves and is in conflict with widely accepted ideas about cave longevity. Nevertheless evidence from Isaacs Creek and other parts of the Hunter Valley indicates that the caves and landforms are ancient features and thus notions of cave longevity developed in younger geological environments of the northern hemisphere do not apply in the present context.

Sea Caves of King Island, 1979, Goede Albert, Harmon Russell, Kiernan Kevin

Investigation of two King Island sea caves developed in quartzitic rocks shows them to contain a wealth of clastic and chemical sediments. Clastic sediments consist of wave-rounded cobbles, debris cones, and angular rock fragments produced by frost weathering and crystal wedging. Chemical deposits include a variety of calcium carbonate speleothems and also gypsum occurring as wall crusts and blisters. The latter appear to be a speleothem type of rare occurrence. Growth of gypsum is responsible for some crystal wedging of the bedrock. Three basal stalagmite samples have been dated by the Th/U method indicating Late Pleistocene as well as Holocene speleothem growth. The caves are believed to have formed by preferential wave erosion during the Last Interglacial in altered and fractured quartzites. The evidence for pre-Holocene evolution of sea caves and geos in the Tasman region is summarised. Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands provide a particularly favourable environment for the preservation of relict landforms on rocky coasts because of Late Quaternary uplift. The potential of further studies of sea caves to test two recently advanced archaeological hypotheses is discussed.

A simulation study of the development of rillenkarren., 1980, Glew J. R. , Ford D. C.

Limestone solution rates and processes in the Waitomo district, New Zealand., 1981, Gunn J.

Karst landforms in New Zealand, 1982, Williams P. W.

Glaciation and Karst in Tasmania: Review and Speculations, 1982, Goede Albert , Harmon Russell, Kiernan Kevin

The evolution of Tasmanian karsts is fundamentally interwoven with the history of Quaternary climatic change. Specifically karstic processes were periodically overwhelmed by the influence of cold climate which exerted strong controls over thermal, hydrological and clastic regimes. While these episodes of cold climatic conditions have temporally dominated the Quaternary, their legacy may be under represented in present karst landforms. There is no general case with respect to the consequences for karst of the superimposition or close proximity of glacial ice. The pattern of events in each area will be dependant upon the interaction between local and zonal factors. A number of Tasmanian karst which may have been influenced by glaciation are briefly discussed.