A model of cockpit karst landscape, Jamaica

This paper deals with a landscape evolution model to compute cockpit karsts landforms. The CHILD model is used to model geomorphic processes at regional scale. After examining briefly CHILD’s principles and equations of limestone dissolution processes, the denudation model is detailed. The relation between subcutaneous dissolution and denudation of the topography is introduced by means of an empirical equation associated with epikarst processes: the denudation is taken to be proportional to the dissolution in the subcutaneous zone. The model takes into account an anisotropic dissolution in space according to what is observed in reality or described by scenarios of cockpit karst landscape evolution. Simulated cockpit karst terrains are compared with real landscapes by means of several morphometric criteria: slope, relative relief and scaling properties. Results confirm the importance of anisotropic dissolution processes and could provide a numerical validation of the epikarst processes to describe cockpit karst genesis.