Karstology

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The ecology and habitat of a karst log dump fir forest on layered stairs are research areas in karstology

The Karstologie is the science that hydrological , geomorphological , hydrogeological , ecological , biological , socio-economic , political and all other processes on a different space-time dimension in specific karst regions connects.

Until today, however, karstology has generally been part of the geoscientific community and part of geomorphology. Its origin lies in explaining the phenomena of the karst and specific karst landscapes.

Karstology, which explores the karst as a whole as a specific landscape and habitat , has a socio-economic role, particularly in hydrological exploration and sustainable water supply in karst regions.

Disciplines

Synecology of a karst log dump fir forest

Karstology is an interdisciplinary science that touches several earth and life sciences:

Individual areas of this science include:

  • the karst morphology that deals with the forms of karst morphology, and thus branch of physical geography is;
  • the hydrology and hydrogeology , which deals with the groundwater in karst areas;
  • the caving , potholing also dealing with underground karst formations and subterranean beings;
  • important investigation methods relate, among other things, to geomorphodynamics , which determines quantitative measurements of limestone removal from rock surfaces;
  • Karstecology, which studies the ecological interactions between organisms, the organization of organisms in their environment and the retroactive effect of the site on the distribution and speciation of organisms;
  • The climate research , the basis of isotope concentrations and growth rates of stalagmites to reconstruct climate variability in the past.

History of scientific karst research and criticism of the concepts

Geomorphological and hydrological phenomena made the Dinarides the classic study area of ​​the Karst, which, supported by the establishment of geomorphological research initiated in Vienna under Albrecht Penck , quickly became the field of activity of numerous geologists and geographers of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . Penck's student Jovan Cvijić developed a standard work on karst geomorphology in 1893, the scope of which continues to this day. This first purely descriptive work soon posed general questions about the type of karst hydrology and the temporal genesis and development of karst forms, which were first obtained by Penck and Davis (1901) on a joint excursion to Bosnia. On the problem of karst hydrography , there were soon two camps which, with Penck and Alfred Grund, represented the theory of karst groundwater and from the camp of geologists and speleologists under the leadership of Friedrich Katzer (1909) and Walther von Knebel a theory of karst rivers.

The in European karst areas of Jovan Cvijić designed idea of a geological and morphological deterministic classification in MERO and Holokarst , as a continuation of the regime established by reason in 1914 the concept of semi Karst, led hereinafter also referred to klimatypologischen differentiation, which was transferred to karst regions outside Europe. The pair of terms Holokarst-Merokarst (fluvial karst) also forms the initial basis for climatic variations in karst phenomena. Criticism of the influence of the Cvijicen school of thought, which had dominated karst research for decades, came for the first time through detailed studies of the tropical karst regions, which recognize the dogma of the holocarst as too narrow: “This concept had a decisive effect on karst theory in Europe, which was partly a hindrance. The idea of ​​the holocarst is that of a karst with minimal fluvial influences, if not free of them, and that an area could not be a real karst if fluvial influences were present. ” (From the English) Also the original assumption that Poljen only emerged through solution processes, now gives way to the knowledge that fluvial erosion has a significant influence on the karst genesis and that allothigenic rivers themselves are the most important prerequisite for the formation of the tower karst landscapes.

The model of the erosion cycle in the karst, which is based on the sole dissolution of the limestone , dates in principle as early as 1893, but it was not until 1914 that Grund drafted a scheme that Cvijic (1918) also raised in a complex form to an ongoing discourse on the erosion cycles of the karst and in which in particular the Grund model for the tropical karst regions was continued by Lehmann in 1953. In this concept, the emergence of tropical karst forms, especially the full forms (Mogotes, karst towers), was explained solely by the ever advancing corrosion. This concept was recognized as wrong by Sweeting and then by McDonnald (1979) and as an explanation that the united valleys lying between the karst towers were created by rivers that cut and steepen the tower sides through lateral erosion.

This general historical failure, the importance of rivers for tower karst geomorphology in particular and karst geomorphology in general, stems from the long-standing bias in the scientific literature to emphasize non-fluvial processes, the resulting failures caused by the process, and Landscape evolution associated with changes in sea level and the failure to identify, collect and take into account important physical evidence.

Why the geological evolution and the postulated erosion cycle do not necessarily lead to a uniform karst type has a valid answer today. A comparison of the tower karst region of southern China ( Guilin ) and the perhumid subtropical karst in Montenegro , which despite the largest amount of rainfall in Europe , shows that the question of why no tower karst (Fengkong) forms outside the tropics is only due to the lack of fluvial processes 5000 mm per year ( Crkvice ) shows hardly any superficial flowing water and already regards Cvijić as the most developed karst in Europe: There is no deeper and more developed karst than this Herzegovinian-Montenegrin one between the lower Neretva , Skadar Lake and the Adriatic Sea. Not a drop of water runs off the surface, but everything sinks into chimneys, ponors, crevices and hollows . as the two opposite poles of the holocarst, which also have a fundamental difference in the tectonics , thickness and age of the carbonate platforms and edaphic reasons: “The development of sinkholes is high in Montenegro and compared to China the runoff is hardly superficial, although the slopes are very steep. Residual low cone-shaped mounds are found between the closely spaced depressions, but they are not as well developed as in Fengkong. Presumably there is no longer any relief in Montenegro that resembles Fengkong, but there could still be evidence of this development in the past, when the climate in Montenegro was possibly even more tropical. However, the differences could be due to a weaker lithology in Montenegro and a more extensive terra rossa cover , or a much stronger recent neotectonic uplift of this part of the Adriatic coast. "

McDonnald's observation shows that the geomorphology of tropical and extra-tropical landscapes shows great similarities in detail and that karst geomorphology is not causally attributable to the climate: Over the hills of Kotor, Montenegro, the closed depressions lie in very rough terrain. I think this landscape would be called cockpit karst if it were in the tropics. The limestones are more angular and less corroded than in the humid tropics, but the larger shapes are very similar and the lime dissolution seems to be just as intense in Montenegro as in the tropics .

With the observation that the combination of highly developed karst areas and large actively cutting rivers with such large discharge volumes as in China negates the European concepts of karst evolution and, due to previous knowledge of the marginal tropical karst regions, never such a focus on endless discussions about the origin of the small and the little significant landforms such as in the European Karst shows that the very young view and comparison of the tropical and marginal tropical karst regions of Southeast Asia with the European karst areas helps to shift the focus on the fundamental questions of karstification, so that a reassessment of the western findings of the karstology of the last 100 years with a new chapter.

Ecological research in karst regions

Occasional distribution of a rare peony and vegetation in the karst

General karstology does not go as far as the biologist or microbiologist in considering the living beings, flora and fauna in the karst. For karstologists, the creatures in the karst are primarily indirect indicators of the chemical, physical, biological and dynamic processes in the karst. He investigates the syn- and auto-ecological basis of plants and vegetation.

The mapping of vegetation is done using the means of plant sociology and recording of formations.

By finding representatives of one or the other group of living beings in individual areas, one can infer regional peculiarities of these karst regions, e.g. B. on temperature and humidity , because they adjust their distribution to these peculiarities. From these processes, knowing the corresponding living conditions of individual animals and plants, one can determine their presence as an indicator of the area without direct measurements.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cosis.net
  2. ↑ Andreas Scheidleder and others: Pilot project "Karstwasser Dachstein" . Volume 2: Karst hydrology and risk of contamination of springs . (Monographs, Volume 108). Federal Environment Agency, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85457-456-8 . PDF , p. 10 (3.2 MB)
  3. ↑ a b M.M. Sweeting: Karst in China, Its Geomorphology and Environment . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1995.
  4. ↑ towerkarst.com ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / towerkarst.com
  5. ^ Jovan Cvijić: Geomorphologija. I. Belgrade 1924.
  6. ↑ towerkarst.com ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / towerkarst.com
  7. ↑ Yuan Daoxian: The Results of 15 Years of Intimate Scientific Exchange. The Institute of Karst Geology, Guilin. (online at: karst.edu.cn ) ( Memento of the original dated December 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.karst.edu.cn

Web links

Commons : Karst  - collection of images, videos and audio files

bibliography

  • Alfred Bögli: Karst hydrography and physical speleology. Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1978, ISBN 3-540-09015-0 , ISBN 0-387-09015-0 .
  • Pavle Cikovac: Sociology and the local distribution of fir forests in the Orjen Mountains - Montenegro . Diploma thesis at the LMU, Department of Geography. Munich 2002 (online at: academia.edu )
  • Jovan Cvijić: The karst phenomenon. In: A. Penck (Ed.): Geographische Abhandlungen. V.3, Vienna 1893, pp. 218–329.
  • Carola Hüttl: Control factors and quantification of chemical weathering on the Zugspitzplatt (Wetterstein Mountains, Germany). (Münchner Geographische Abhandlungen, Series B, Vol. 30). Geobuch-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-925308-51-2 .
  • Friedrich Katzer: Karst and Karst Hydrography . To the customer of the Balkan Peninsula. Sarajevo 1909.
  • Vladimír Panoš: Karsologická a speleologická terminologie . Žilina (Knižné centrum) 2001, ISBN 80-8064-115-3 .
  • K. Rögner, B. Koenig: The influence of lichens on the weathering of carbonate rocks in high mountains (Zugspitzplatt, Wetterstein Mountains, Bavaria, Germany) . In: Communication of the Geographical Society in Munich. 86, Munich 2002/2003, pp. 85-132.
  • MM Sweeting: Reflections on the development of Karst Geomorphology in Europe and a comparison with its development in China . In: Journal of Geomorphology. No. 93, Berlin / Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-443-21093-7 , pp. 127-136.