Several Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based Karst Feature Databases (KFDs) have been established in many karst regions and countries (Cooper et al., 2001; Florea et al., 2002; Lei et al., 2001). However, the absence of comprehensive database models and standard metadata impeded the data compatibility and management (Gao et al., 2005a). A KFD has been developed in Minnesota in the past fe...

At least potentially karstifiable rocks cover much of the surface of Egypt and northern Libya. Study of caves and other karstic features of this region has been hampered by lack of roads, rapid disintegration of the surface of friable, poorly consolidated limestone, wind-blown sand and other factors. Interbedding with marly aquicludes hampers speleogenesis locally. Calcareous and evaporite kars...

In the absence of sunlight energy, microbial community survival in subterranean aquifers depends on integrated mechanisms of energy and nutrient scavenging. Because karst aquifers are particularly sensitive to agricultural land use impacts due to rapid and direct hydrologic connections for pollutants to enter the groundwater, we examined the fate of an exogenous pesticide (atrazine) into such a...

The distribution characteristics and migration mechanism of seepage field of reservoir groundwater can determine the geographical characteristics of reservoir area to a large extent. The permeability of reservoir area is especially important since it is an important indicator of karst development characteristics and its hydrogeological condition in karst area, and it’s difficult to conduct quan...

of the Dalmatian coast type, formed primarily from karst limestone, Eastern Adriatic coast shows great diversity of habitats. This diversity is also influenced by the position of the Adriatic Basin, stretching from northwest to southeast, climatic differences along its length, and the direction of sea currents. Habitats in the submerged karst characteristic for the Croatian side of the Adriatic...

A new species of karst-adapted gekkonid lizard of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch is described from Gua Gunting and Gua Goyang in a karst region of Merapoh, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia whose unique limestone formations are in immediate danger of being quarried. The new species differs from all other species of Cnemaspis based on its unique suite of morphological and color pattern characters. Its di...

Karst rocky desertification is a special kind of land desertification developed under violent human impacts on the vulnerable ecogeo-environment in karst ecosystem. The process of karst rocky desertification results in simultaneous and complex variations of many interrelated soil, rock and vegetation biophysical parameters, rendering it difficult to develop simple and robust remote sensing mapp...

Cockpit karst landscapes are among the most distinctive landscapes in the world, and have been the focus of long-standing scientific interest. Early researchers used largely descriptive techniques to categorize the terrain, and subsequent work has not attempted to critically re-evaluate descriptions of landscapes using more sophisticated methods. The distinctive surface topography of cockpit ka...

Florida’s coastal environment is especially vulnerable to nonpoint source pollution for two reasons. One, the extent of the karst nature of the platform allows great interaction between ground and surface waters. Second, the low gradient of the land results in high water tables. Both of these factors result in poor attenuation of contaminants in the subsurface, and the release of nutrients and ...