Karst Management

The design and construction of engineering structures in karst regions must deal with such challenges as difficulty in excavating and grading the ground over pinnacled rockheads, instability of ground surface, and unpredictable groundwater flow conditions. Detailed subsurface investigation using boring exploration, geophysical techniques, tracer testing, and groundwater monitoring helps optimize foundation designs and minimize uncertainties inherent in their construction. Based on the maturity of karst landscapes, depth and dimension of karst features, and vulnerability of groundwater contamination, methods that have been established to control surface water and groundwater and minimize sinkhole development include relocating structures to a safer site, filling voids/fractures with concrete, soil reinforcement, constructing deep foundations, and remediating sinkholes.

Construction of dams and reservoirs in karst is historically known as a very risky task. Inspite of very detailed geophysical investigations and repeated sealing treatments, the possibility for dam failure cannot be eliminated. In the karst environment, with its highly random distribution of dissolution features, some uncertainties always remain. The final determination of the adequacy of sealing measures comes after the first reservoir impoundment or even later. In many worldwide examples, watertightness treatment during dam construction was only partially successful, with some remedial work after impoundment being quite common. However, in some cases, the problem is simply too complicated and cannot be overcome. Special approaches have to be undertaken in order to prevent seepage from reservoirs. The key elements are a good geological map and proper geophysical investigations. These investigations are key prerequisites of dam construction in karst and cutting costs through restricting them usually results in increasing the chance of project failure. To deal with karst successfully, innovation, engineering practice, execution feasibility, and commercial understanding have to be undertaken. Grouting alone is definitely not adequate in the case of large karst conduits. Special treatment of large caverns and flexibility during grout curtain execution, including modifications and adaptations on the basis of the geological findings, should be the standard procedure for dam construction in karst to minimize risk. Such an approach is the basic worldwide rule in the fight against leakage from dam sites and reservoir abutments.

Problems that arise during development of terranes with carbonate and sulfate-covered karst are discussed herein and are based on experiences in Russia, where karst terranes constitute one third of the total territory. Different karst hazards are considered with respect to various types of construction and facilities. Karst hazards caused by sinkholes are classified according to specific sinkhole development intensity (ten categories) and average sinkhole diameter (eight categories). Some examples of accidents causing damage to buildings are presented and the reasons for the accidents are discussed. The main stochastic laws describing sinkhole development are considered. A method of evaluation of karst collapse risk and assessment of the risk level is presented. Application of this method helps to plan an antikarst protection program with both capital and maintenance types of prevention activity.

This chapter provides a review of the impacts of agriculture on karst terranes, and on management approaches to minimize such impacts. It discusses the range of agricultural activities with potential impacts on soil and water in karst regions, including deforestation, changes in grazing intensity and changes from pasture to tillage, application of fertilizers, and pesticides and storage of farm wastes. Case studies of impacts on soil and on water quantity and quality are presented, with a particular focus on water quality issues including suspended sediment, nitrate, phosphorus, pesticides, and microbial pathogens. The particular vulnerability of karst regions to such impacts is discussed, including the occurrence of point recharge in closed depressions and swallow holes, the thin, patchy soil cover found in many karst areas, the presence of epikarst and the occurrence of conduit flow within karst aquifers. Methods of risk evaluation are reviewed briefly and management strategies to minimize impacts of agriculture are discussed, including the use of Best Management Practices, community-based agri-environmental initiatives, and various legislative controls.

People have used caves in many ways for tens of thousands of years and only recently recognized their recreational, aesthetic, and scientific value. However, this has not prevented their degradation and some suggest the carrying capacity of a cave is effectively zero. Caving results in a variety of impacts on the physical cave environment, although not equally for all caves or every part of the cave, which is then a challenge for management is to correctly evaluate the relative vulnerability of cave passages. These impacts can arise because tourist caves require physical alteration of natural passages, installation of lighting, pathways, platforms, and associated infrastructure. Cave fauna are impacted by alteration of cave hydrology, temperatures, lighting conditions, and carbon dioxide levels. Resulting invasive plants, desiccation of cave formations, and localized sedimentation highlight the need for effective ongoing monitoring of the cave atmosphere, water quality, and particulate deposition. Even scientific researches have impact; therefore, proposed research projects must minimize damage and maximize benefit for all cave stakeholders. Cave inventories are important for documenting valuable cave features, and they also allow for inter-cave comparisons and help with management classification and/or zoning. More enlightened management regimes consider good relations with park neighbors as essential and parks are run using principles of adaptive management. Cave managers should embrace the new management paradigms whilst conserving what are essentially nonrenewable resources.

Show caves represent an important tourist attraction, especially when located in rural territories where not many sites of interest, except those naturalistic, are present. For people working on karst and cave science, they are the main way to allow great number of people to visit a cave, experience safely the underground world, transfer information to raise public awareness about karst environments, and understand the need to protect and develop them in a sustainable way. Some considerations about management of show caves in peninsular Southern Italy are presented through description of lessons learned from direct and indirect experience in show caves in Campania and Apulia. Overall, many problems have to be faced, starting from the lighting system (often quite old and promoting the lampenflora growth), the quality in the guides’ explanations as well as updating safety measures. In addition, the high number of tourists allowed, regardless of the visitor capacity of each cave, has also to be mentioned, since it determines degradation in the cave atmosphere and the overall underground environment.

In the context of karst-related research, the multidisciplinary approach is necessary and the paradigms of the emerging field of geoarchaeology provide a new perspective for completing studies that contains the human-element. Research completed at the Cave of Letters (COL) and the Qumran Archaeological Site in Israel and on the Vaca Plateau in Belize, utilizes the multidisciplinary approach endemic to geoarchaeology. By creating a series of digital, updatable maps for the COL and Qumran, spatial trends in and relationships between the physical and cultural landscapes become apparent. Additionally, through the use of geophysics (ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electro-resistivity tomography (ERT)), an ancient living surface (the Bar Kokhba layer) was delineated in the COL, and potentially collapsed caves, that may contain archaeological remains, were located at Qumran. GPR also delineated possible grave sites at the cemeteries of Qumran. In Belize, petrographic analysis of rock samples determined that the physical landscape is dominated by limestone breccias, which are mostly depositional in origin. Comparison of these results, with data collected related to quarried and cut stones used to face structures at the Ix Chel Archaeological Site, suggested some stones were quarried locally but, due to the sheer number of stones required to build the site, dictates that other regional sources were required. The studies detailed in this chapter point to the need for continued karst-based research within the multidisciplinary realm of geoarchaeology, because this marriage only enhances the quest for new knowledge and understanding.

Ensuring the appropriate quantity and quality of energy flow from the surface to the subterranean environment is a universal challenge of managing subterranean fauna in karst. This chapter covers four major issues central to an understanding of the energy connections between the surface and the subsurface ecosystems. The first issue is that there needs to be a greater focus on species that are not restricted to subterranean habitats because some of these species act as major vectors of energy into subsurface ecosystems. The second issue is that a greater understanding of the paths of allochthonous energy into the subterranean ecosystem is necessary to ensure the long-term health of the subterranean fauna. Percolating water delivered from the epikarst appears to be more important than organic matter transported by sinking streams in supporting the biofilm that serves as the base of the aquatic food web. Energy transported by active movement of organisms from the surface is essential in supporting the terrestrial food web and possibly some aquatic species as well. The importance of many potential sources of energy, such as the organic matter left on the riparian zones of subterranean streams, has not been studied. The third issue is that management practices need to focus on factors that threaten the energy flow from the surface to the subsurface because, unlike many other threats to subterranean ecosystems, disruptions of such paths of energy are usually not overt and easily recognizable. The fourth issue is that the metabolic adaptation of many subterranean species to the underground environment may increase their resilience to disruptions of energy flow from the surface. Thus, management practices that recognize threats to such energy paths may allow for a higher probability of successful interventions leading to restoration of the health of subterranean ecosystems.

Microbial communities in caves vary from striking microbial mats observed in many lava tubes worldwide, to occasional colonies on the wall, to invisible biofilms on rock walls and ceilings of caves, to microbial end products, such as manganese oxides. The investigations of the last decade, using culture-independent techniques in which we extract DNA from environmental samples and sequence clones to identify organisms present based on their genetic sequence, have revealed a wealth of microbial species never before described. These microorganisms represent a minimally explored treasure trove of organisms that can be impacted by the actions of humans living above caves and exploring within caves. The degree to which we impact cave microbial communities depends on the nature of the cave. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA, and other similar caves, have rivers or streams running through major portions of the cave. Water flowing into caves may either bring plumes of pollutants to many parts of the cave and/or may help to wash away some impact caused by human visitation. Arid-land caves, such as Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico, USA, that lack much in the way of flowing water, may be subjected to other kinds of impacts. Several strategies have been suggested to lower the impact that we explorers, scientists, and people living above caves have on cave microbial communities in order to preserve them for future study. Cave microbial communities can represent an extremely valuable resource that is worth protecting by modifying our behavior in visiting and living above caves.

Carbonate aquifers are common globally and are widely utilized due to their high permeability. Advances in recent decades in understanding dissolution kinetics have facilitated the numerical modeling of dissolutional enhancement of permeability. This has shown how the dissolution results in an interconnected network of channels that not only results in high permeability but also in rapid groundwater velocities. The high permeability often results in a lack of surface water and thick unsaturated zones, so utilization of groundwater is often from low-elevation springs, especially in mountainous areas. Groundwater divides may not coincide with surface-water divides, sometimes resulting in jurisdictional issues over exploitation of the groundwater. Contaminant transport in carbonates is more complicated than in porous medium aquifers. Transport through the channels may be several orders of magnitude faster than transport through the matrix of the rock. This results in complicated contaminant plumes and makes carbonate aquifers more susceptible to bacterial contamination than other aquifer types.

Karst aquifers are especially difficult to exploit, manage, and protect because of the extreme variability of their hydraulic properties which are almost impossible to determine at a local scale. Moreover, their functioning may be influenced by non-linearities and threshold effects. Considering long-term aquifer exploitation, karst system complexity does not allow for easy behavioral modeling, such as using the classical isochrone method for determining a protection zone. However, because karst aquifers may offer great storage capacity and high local hydraulic conductivity, high flow rates can be pumped from single sites, allowing for effective management of an aquifer. After outlining the main characteristics of karst aquifers, the management of their groundwater is examined from both quantity and quality viewpoints in order to highlight benefits and problems with this resource. Finally, some new avenues of research are proposed.

Carbonate karst is characterized by subterranean drainage and contains the most biodiverse groundwater faunas globally. These faunas, which include a suite of higher taxa largely restricted to karst subterranean waters, comprise species that characteristically are narrow range endemics. They typically possess a suite of adaptations to subterranean life that render them especially vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance. Most such faunas depend on imported energy, largely in the form of dissolved organic carbon, or on chemoautotrophic energy in particular circumstances. Karst is especially vulnerable to surface inputs at both local and broad scales owing to the absence of, or thin soil cover, and by the presence of open conduits that can transport materials such as sediments, pollutants, or nutrients to the deep subterranean waters without amelioration. Management actions – such as sustaining water supply, control of pollution and nutrification, regulating resource extraction, catchment surface management to sustain recharge and prevent siltation, and control of human access – may need to be applied at very different scales, ranging from a small cave, or extending to an entire catchment which may comprise extensive areas outside the karst itself.

This chapter defines “national cave and karst research institute” as “an organization created to conduct, facilitate, and promote state-of-the-art cave and karst research, education, and management, and recognized nationally as a leading authority on such matters.” Twelve institutes from nine countries were identified; one institute is inactive. Most were created as governmental programs, often affiliated with a university, while the rest are non-profit, for-profit, or hybrid (combining at least two of the other three organizational structures). Each structure inherently lends itself to different levels of authority and engagement in cave and karst management issues. The role of national institutes in cave and karst management is a subset within each of the institutes’ basic purposes: Research, education and publication, independent advice and arbitration, data archiving, funding generation and granting, and collaboration facilitation. To date, most institutes have focused their efforts on theoretical research, archiving of data, and production of publications, and not on applied management issues. While activity in karst management is generally increasing, it is conducted mostly by the younger institutes and includes greater education efforts, funding, and advisory service. Because of widely different circumstances in each institute’s origin, administration, age, and national laws and culture, generalizations are difficult but some trends are proposed for the next few decades: •Karst institutes will increasingly develop hybrid organizational structures. •Karst institutes will predominantly focus on karst management issues. •Technical and public education will become prominent karst institute programs. •Karst institutes will increase their support of digital open access karst libraries and the creation of virtual karst research tools. •Karst institute funding will increase through diversification of services and perceived increase in value. •Karst institutes will formally link for greater effectiveness and better use of limited resources.

Karst systems are often extremely sensitive to the nature of human activities taking place on the surface. Pollutants and contaminants can wash into karst landforms and downward through sinkholes and fissures in the hard carbonate bedrock, rapidly entering the aquifer below. Because so much of the world’s population (some sources estimate as much as 25%) draws drinking water from karstic aquifers, there is a significant incentive to understand and develop land use regulations that work to prevent the inadvertent contamination of groundwater supplies in karst landscapes. This chapter provides an overview of karst-related land use regulation in the United States including commonly used techniques, geographic distribution of different regulatory approaches, and factors that tend to influence the regulation-writing process.

The modern sustainability movement focuses on the maintenance of a sound human society while sustaining healthy environments, sound economic systems, and social justice. Several major themes in this movement emerged in recent years including the development of sustainability indices and benchmarking tools that evaluate an individual or organizational environmental footprint. Such measurements take into account a variety of factors including energy use, water consumption, building practices, transportation, economic health, social variables, and innovative practices to preserve and protect the environment and natural resources. There are a number of ways that the study of karst landscapes intersects with sustainability assessments. Karst should be considered when measuring the sustainability of energy resources, water supply, building materials, agricultural and food practices, land preservation and management, tourism, and greenhouse gas management. Specifically, this chapter discusses how karst contributes to sustainability and sustainable development and highlights instances where the current use of karst landscapes may be unsustainable.

Karst environments have been impacted by human activity for thousands of years, ever since people started living in caves for shelter, needing building supplies and water. As human population has increased, so has its disturbance of the karst landscape. Quarrying, pollution, groundwater extraction, construction, and agriculture are the major culprits for disturbing both surface and subsurface karst. Ecosystems in this type of environment have been shown to be quite vulnerable to human activities. Methods to quantify this disturbance, such as the karst disturbance index, have been created to help resource managers formulate approaches to reduce this anthropogenic impact. In addition, models to measure karst vulnerability, in particular karst aquifers, have grown in number over the last two decades. When measuring human disturbance, it is important to consider matters of time and scale, as both will influence how and what data is collected.

The Cockpit Country is Jamaica’s only remaining pristine karst area and is perhaps the most significant karst landscape in the Caribbean. It may be a candidate for UN World Heritage status but its boundaries are contentious. The Karst Disturbance Index (KDI) is an important tool for karst conservation, providing an objective numerical measure of the extent to which karst landscapes have been disrupted by human activities. Its application is, however, constrained by issues of boundary determination and location, and the Cockpit Country exemplifies this phenomenon when different boundaries are determined on geomorphic, historical, existing, and proposed management criteria. Analysis of land use data from 1998, together with extensive field surveys, reveals that the measure of the extent of human disturbance is closely related to the positioning of the boundary, with the incremental inclusion of peripheral areas beyond the core forest reserve resulting in a dramatic increase in the disturbance index. Not only is this a methodological concern in using the KDI, but it also illustrates how the KDI may be useful in planning and establishing potential protected area boundaries.

South Nahanni National Park Reserve (Lat. 61°N, Long. 124–8°W; ∼4,700 km²) was created in 1972 to protect three great canyons and a major waterfall from hydroelectric development. In 1978, it was one of the first natural sites to be granted UNESCO “World Heritage” status, based substantially on the author’s geomorphic analyses. In the course of that work, extensive tracts of limestone karst landforms, some of them unique, were explored up to 40 km north of the Reserve boundaries. Following agreements with the First Nations peoples of the region, in 2009, these were incorporated into an expanded park of ∼32,000 km² that now includes most of the hydrologic basin of the South Nahanni plus the smaller Ram River north of it. The case to expand the national park outside of the topographic boundaries of the South Nahanni basin was made in three steps: (1) a demonstration by fluorescent dye tracing that the underground drainage to major karst springs in South Nahanni. First Canyon extended far to the north of the topographic boundary, the catchment being the southern half of a belt of unique karst terrain, and the northern half is drained into the Ram River basin via a second group of major karst springs at the northern extremity; (2) recognition that the headwaters of the Ram River contained an ancient, intensely dissected, remnant karst terrane on an anticline that contrasts sharply with (3) a downstream anticline in the same limestone that has little karst development due to its more recent uplift, with stripping and exposure taking place under permafrost conditions. In 2010, a number of “hub-and-spoke” and “trekking” routes for walkers and backpackers were being proposed to display the karst. Potential management problems for these developments included a possible zinc-silver mine to the west that is accessed by a winter road across the karst belt and accelerating melting of the permafrost in susceptible silts and shales that is creating many new landslides in the karst basins.

Protection of karst landscapes in the developing world faces significant physical and human obstacles. Recognition of karst is not always straightforward, in part because there is much topographic and environmental heterogeneity. Protection of karst is often indirect in that the karst is protected because of its biological diversity, resources, anthropological significance, or aesthetic appeal. Although the designation of protected karst areas has been recognized as imperative, much of the karst is under increasing anthropogenic pressure. National efforts are highly variable, and there is little regional integration. Different karst styles are represented unevenly in protected areas, with emphases on spectacular forms, upland areas, and coasts. Protected area legislation is often inadequate and enforcement is constrained by conflicting priorities. Local populations can play important roles, particularly in boundary determinations. Protected karst areas need to be integrated into regional land use management, but the status of many protected karst areas is volatile.

This chapter discusses the requirements that must be met and the ­processes that must be followed before a natural area can be accepted as being ­worthy of World Heritage status under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Particular attention is paid to karst and cave sites. Various types of karst are defined and their existing representation on the list of World Heritage properties is discussed. This review finds 43 sites to have internationally significant karst features, with 24 of these to have outstanding universal value. But, it is also evident that numerous important karst areas do not feature on the World Heritage List, especially in the Middle East and Central Asia. Major gaps in coverage occur in arid, semiarid, and periglacial environments, and evaporate karsts are not represented at all. With these gaps in coverage having been identified, attention then turns to the process of application for World Heritage status and the various requirements that must be met, including conditions of integrity, management, and the responsibility of the host state. However, in 2007, the World Heritage Committee noted that karst systems (including caves) are already relatively well represented on the World Heritage List, and so there is increasingly limited scope for recommending future karst nominations. It follows, therefore, that only the best of the best are worthy of putting forward for consideration.