Hypogenic karst stems from ascending groundwater. While most karst
literature focuses on epigenic karst, formed by descending groundwater,uUnderstanding the characteristic set of hypogenic morphological
and hydrological features, and the processes that create them, is crucial for
developing accurate models, and effective management plans for these karst
systems.
___________________________________________________
In 1998, the National Cave and Karst Research Institute
(NCKRI) was established by a U.S. Congressional mandate to facilitate and
support cave and karst research, stewardship and education. I am delighted to introduce this new
publication series, NCKRI Special Papers, as an essential part of NCKRI?s
efforts to meet that mandate. I?m
equally pleased that this first book in the series is the highly important work
of NCKRI?s first visiting scholar, Dr. Alexander B. Klimchouk.
Caves are resources hidden from the view of the general
public and most scientists. Their value
often goes unrecognized because they are either not seen or misunderstood. Historically, caves were ignored by many
geoscientist, in part because they didn?t ?follow the rules? of groundwater
behavior and thus ?had? to be anomalous features of little significance. While this view has mostly changed, many scientists
who realized the significance of caves had and still have the mistaken notion
that areas of carbonate and evaporate rocks that contain few or no caves are
not karst. This book shatters those
myths and makes great strides in explaining what had been some of the most
puzzling aspects of karst hydrogeology.
Dr. Klimchouk carefully explains the origin of hypogenic
caves and karst, and demonstrates it with a rich, international array of
examples and data. While most karst
literature focuses on epigenic karst, formed by descending groundwater,
hypogenic karst stems from ascending groundwater. Understanding the characteristic set of hypogenic morphological
and hydrological features, and the processes that create them, is crucial for
developing accurate models, and effective management plans for these karst
systems. This is vital because
hypogenic karst is especially poorly expressed at the surface, and so its
vulnerability as a public water supply, risk of sinkhole collapse, and value as
a mineral resource can be severely underestimated.
While this book focuses on karst hydrogeology and
Speleogenesis, it also has important implications for many other disciplines,
such as understanding the ranges and speciation of cavernicolous organisms,
landscaper evolution, and the distribution of paleontological and archeological
deposits, to name a few. At a
fundamentally crucial level, the great geographic breadth of hypogenic karst
will soon be realized directly as a result of this work. Certainly some concepts presented here will
be refined with continued research, but this book firmly establishes a new
paradigm that will guide much karst research for decades to come.
--Dr. George Veni, Executive Director, NCKRI
Alexander Klimchouk
2007
978-0-9795422-0-6
106 pages, softbound
