Karst lake
Karst lakes are created by the collapse of underground caves of particularly water-soluble rocks such as lime , gypsum and dolomite . This process is known as karstification . They can be up to several 100 square kilometers. Their flat bottom is usually an insoluble layer of sediment , so that water accumulates and lake formation occurs. Some karst lakes only exist intermittently, but recur regularly after rainfall.
distribution
Karst lakes can be found in the Harz region (e.g. the Juessee and the Bauerngraben in the "Biosphere Reserve Karstlandschaft Südharz", an episodic Karst lake on the Karst hiking trail), in southern Germany (e.g. the Eichener See ), in France in the Quercy region , in Estonia the Tudre, in Slovenia (e.g. the Cerkniško jezero ), in Ireland the so-called Turloughs (there is also a Turlough in the south of Wales: Pant y Llyn or Pantyllyn near Builth Wells ) and some in the USA . The cenotes in the north of the Mexican peninsula Yucatán , which were already known to the Mayans , can also be counted as karst lakes.
The Cenote Sagrado near Chichen Itza is one of the most important karst lakes in the Yucatán
The Otjikoto Lake in Namibia is a permanent karst lake
See also
- Weissensee and Steinatal in the Harz foreland