This dataset displays the distribution of karst and potential karst and pseudokarst areas of the United States. These data were compiled to delineate the distribution of karst and potential karst and pseudokarst areas of the United States. The data in this report are preliminary, and there is an expectation of upgrade in content, quality, and resolution in future versions. The data are released as an Open-File Report to expedite transfer of this information to various users across the United States. These data were compiled from multiple sources at various spatial resolutions. They are intended for use as guidance in determining the distribution of areas of potential karst at national, State, and regional scales. Because of differences in projection and scale of the various geologic datasets, spatial errors and location inconsistencies are particularly noticeable along some State boundaries, particularly coastlines and riparian borders. These data should not be used to define boundaries for site-specific applications or for legal purposes. This report describes new digital maps delineating areas of the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, having karst or the potential for development of karst and pseudokarst. These maps show areas underlain by soluble rocks and also by volcanic rocks, sedimentary deposits, and permafrost that have potential for karst or pseudokarst development. All 50 States contain rocks with potential for karst development, and about 18 percent of their area is underlain by soluble rocks having karst or the potential for development of karst features. The areas of soluble rocks shown are based primarily on selection from State geologic maps of rock units containing significant amounts of carbonate or evaporite minerals. Areas underlain by soluble rocks are further classified by general climate setting, degree of induration, and degree of exposure. Areas having potential for volcanic pseudokarst are those underlain chiefly by basaltic-flow rocks no older than Miocene in age. Areas with potential for pseudokarst features in sedimentary rocks are in relatively unconsolidated rocks from which pseudokarst features, such as piping caves, have been reported. Areas having potential for development of thermokarst features, mapped exclusively in Alaska, contain permafrost in relatively thick surficial deposits containing ground ice. This report includes a GIS database with links from the map unit polygons to online geologic unit descriptions.View Dataset on the Gateway

KARST_MM65_IN is a polygon shapefile that shows sinkhole areas and sinking-stream basins associated with rocks of Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian age in southern Indiana.

An interpretation of bedrock geology, topography and other sources of information that shows the potential for karst formations. This is a reconnaissance level map for all of British Columbia

The Karst Occurrence GIS polygon coverages for Kentucky were compiled from a digital version of the 1:500:000-scale geologic map of Kentucky (Noger, M.C., 1988). Because of the 1:500,000 scale of the source map, these coverages should NOT be used for evaluating karst geologic hazards or hydrogeology at scales larger than 1:500,000. The classification of the potential for karst development was based on the field experience of the authors and other data. A number of isolated carbonate units were newly digitized for these coverages. For more information about Karst Topography in Kentucky, please visit https://www.uky.edu/KGS/karst/For more information about these coverages, please contact Randall L. Paylor or James C. Currens at the Kentucky Geological Survey, 228 Mining and Minerals Building, University of Kentucky, 40506-0107. (859)257-5500.Sinkhole Data:These data represent digital GIS sinkhole coverage for all of Kentucky. The highest elevation, closed, topographic contour of each mapped sinkhole was digitized as a GIS polygon. The second highest elevation contour was also digitized where very large, shallow, karst valleys were so expansive that the area covered by the polygon obscured patterns in sinkhole distribution. These karst valleys are mostly confined to the Western Pennyroyal. The spacing of contour intervals on the topographic maps of the state vary in from 40 foot to 10 foot. No attempt was made to use a constant elevation, standardize the outline to a uniform contour interval, or record the elevation of the digitized contour. Digitization was done onscreen using digital raster graphic files of the 7 ½ minute topographic contours, registered and projected to the Kentucky State Plane coordinate system.

Karst is a type of landscape where the bedrock has dissolved and created features such as caves, enclosed depressions (sinkholes), disappearing streams, springs and turloughs (seasonal lakes). Limestone is the most common type of soluble rock. As rain falls it picks up carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. When this rain reaches the ground and passes through the soil it picks up more CO2 and forms a weak acid solution. The acidified rain water trickles down through cracks and holes in the limestone and over time dissolves the rock. After traveling underground, sometimes for long distances, this water is then discharged at springs, many of which are cave entrances. There are many kinds of karst landforms, ranging in size from millimetres to kilometres. Dolines or sinkholes are small to medium sized enclosed depressions. Uvalas and poljes are large enclosed depressions. A swallow hole is the point where surface stream sinks underground. Turloughs are seasonal lakes. Springs occur where groundwater comes out at the surface, karst springs are usually much bigger than non-karst springs. Estevelles can act as springs or swallow holes. Dry valleys are similar to normal river valleys except they do not have a stream flowing at the bottom. A cave is a natural underground opening in rock large enough for a person to enter. Superficial Solution Features can be seen on rocks dissolved by rain and include pits, grooves, channels, clints (blocks) and grikes (joints). Please read the lineage for further details. This map shows the currently mapped karst landforms in Ireland. Geologists map and record information in the field. They also examine old maps and aerial photos. We collect new data to update our map and also use data made available from other sources such as academia and consultants. It is NOT a complete database and only shows areas that have been mapped by GSI, or submitted to the GSI. Many karst features are not included in this database. The user should not rely only on this database, and should undertake their own site study for karst features in the area of interest if needed. It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas). The karst data is shown as points. Each point holds information on: Karst Feature Unique ID, Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Karst Feature Type, Karst Feature Name, if it’s within another Karst Feature, Location Accuracy, Data Source, Comments, Details and County. Water tracing means ‘tagging’ water, usually by adding a colour or dye, to see where it goes. Dye is usually added to a sinking stream and all possible outlet points (such as springs and rivers) are tested for the dye. Water traces are recorded as a straight line between the location of tracer input (e.g. swallow hole) and detection (e.g. spring), but they don’t show the actual path water may take underground, which is likely to be much more winding. It is mainly used in karst areas to find out groundwater flow rates, the direction the water is travelling underground and to help define catchments (Zone of Contributions). The dataset should be used alongside the Karst Landforms 1:40,000 Ireland (ROI/NI) ITM. Geologists map and record information in the field. We collect new data to update our map and also use data made available from other sources such as Academia and Consultants. It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas). The karst data is shown as lines. Each line holds information on: Tracer Line Unique ID, Input Site, Input Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Output Site. Output Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Tracer Test Date, Weather Conditions, Tracer Used, Quantity, Operator, Results, Minimum Groundwater Flow Rate, Hydraulic Gradient (slope of water table), Data Source, Catchment, Peak Concentration, Other Information, Flow Path, County, Length (m), Direction and Quality Checked.

This dataset was created in order to facilitate transboundary conservation work and research projects, by integrating land cover maps into a single dataset from Cape Caution, BC, to Yakutat Bay, AK. It includes three levels of land classification, site index, elevation, hydric soils (yes/no), karst (yes/no), primary and secondary species, size class, and volume class. It also includes a number of other important attributes from individual datasets, which were not crosswalked between the different areas. This file represents karst formations in the study area.

description: This map is a digital update of The karst landforms of Puerto Rico (Monroe, 1976). In this new version the karst areas on the islands of Mona and Monito have been added from Briggs and Seiders (1972). This map will serve as the basis for the Puerto Rico portion of a new national karst map currently being compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. In addition, this product serves as a standalone, citable source of digital karst data for Puerto Rico. Nearly 25 percent of the United States is underlain by karst terrain, and a large part of this area is undergoing urban and industrial development. Accurate delineations of karstic rocks are needed at the national, state, and local scales. These data will lead to a better understanding of subsidence hazards, groundwater contamination potential, and cave resources, and will serve as a guide to topical research about these rocks.; abstract: This map is a digital update of The karst landforms of Puerto Rico (Monroe, 1976). In this new version the karst areas on the islands of Mona and Monito have been added from Briggs and Seiders (1972). This map will serve as the basis for the Puerto Rico portion of a new national karst map currently being compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. In addition, this product serves as a standalone, citable source of digital karst data for Puerto Rico. Nearly 25 percent of the United States is underlain by karst terrain, and a large part of this area is undergoing urban and industrial development. Accurate delineations of karstic rocks are needed at the national, state, and local scales. These data will lead to a better understanding of subsidence hazards, groundwater contamination potential, and cave resources, and will serve as a guide to topical research about these rocks.

Springs and sinkholes in the Ozark Plateaus Physiographic Province (Ozarks) in Arkansas were digitized from 1:24,000-scale topographic maps to produce a digital dataset of karst features. Karst landscapes generally are created from bedrock dissolution that results in distinctive landforms, including sinkholes, springs, caves, and sinking streams, and a high degree of interaction between surface water and groundwater. The dataset can be used to better understand groundwater flow in the karst landscape of the Arkansas Ozarks and potential effects of karst-feature density on water quality, geomorphology, water resources, and karst hazards. In the Ozarks, karst features are present in several limestone and dolomite formations (for example, the Boone Formation, Pitkin Limestone, and Powell Dolomite). Springs (points) and sinkholes (polygons and centroid points) were digitized from over 200 topographic quadrangle maps from 22 different counties with published dates ranging from 1942 to ...

This geodatabase includes re-evaluated Karst Zones and Karst Fauna Regions. This dataset was produced by Veni and Jones (2021) and was later subject to technical corrections in 2024 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). Detailed data descriptions and associated metadata are included within each individual layer of this GDB.

Karst is a type of landscape where the bedrock has dissolved and created features such as caves, enclosed depressions (sinkholes), disappearing streams, springs and turloughs (seasonal lakes). Limestone is the most common type of soluble rock. As rain falls it picks up carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. When this rain reaches the ground and passes through the soil it picks up more CO2 and forms a weak acid solution. The acidified rain water trickles down through cracks and holes in the limestone and over time dissolves the rock. After traveling underground, sometimes for long distances, this water is then discharged at springs, many of which are cave entrances.There are many kinds of karst landforms, ranging in size from millimetres to kilometres. Dolines or sinkholes are small to medium sized enclosed depressions. Uvalas and poljes are large enclosed depressions. A swallow hole is the point where surface stream sinks underground. Turloughs are seasonal lakes. Springs occur where groundwater comes out at the surface, karst springs are usually much bigger than non-karst springs. Estevelles can act as springs or swallow holes. Dry valleys are similar to normal river valleys except they do not have a stream flowing at the bottom. A cave is a natural underground opening in rock large enough for a person to enter. Superficial Solution Features can be seen on rocks dissolved by rain and include pits, grooves, channels, clints (blocks) and grikes (joints). Please read the lineage for further details.This map shows the currently mapped karst landforms in Ireland.Geologists map and record information in the field. They also examine old maps and aerial photos.We collect new data to update our map and also use data made available from other sources such as academia and consultants. It is NOT a complete database and only shows areas that have been mapped by GSI, or submitted to the GSI. Many karst features are not included in this database. The user should not rely only on this database, and should undertake their own site study for karst features in the area of interest if needed.It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas).The karst data is shown as points. Each point holds information on: Karst Feature Unique ID, Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Karst Feature Type, Karst Feature Name, if it’s within another Karst Feature, Location Accuracy, Data Source, Comments, Details and County.Water tracing means ‘tagging’ water, usually by adding a colour or dye, to see where it goes. Dye is usually added to a sinking stream and all possible outlet points (such as springs and rivers) are tested for the dye.Water traces are recorded as a straight line between the location of tracer input (e.g. swallow hole) and detection (e.g. spring), but they don’t show the actual path water may take underground, which is likely to be much more winding.It is mainly used in karst areas to find out groundwater flow rates, the direction the water is travelling underground and to help define catchments (Zone of Contributions).The dataset should be used alongside the Karst Landforms 1:40,000 Ireland (ROI/NI) ITM.Geologists map and record information in the field. We collect new data to update our map and also use data made available from other sources such as Academia and Consultants. It is a vector dataset. Vector data portray the world using points, lines, and polygons (areas).The karst data is shown as lines. Each line holds information on: Tracer Line Unique ID, Input Site, Input Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Output Site. Output Historic GSI Karst Feature ID, Tracer Test Date, Weather Conditions, Tracer Used, Quantity, Operator, Results, Minimum Groundwater Flow Rate, Hydraulic Gradient (slope of water table), Data Source, Catchment, Peak Concentration, Other Information, Flow Path, County, Length (m), Direction and Quality Checked.

From the site: "This report describes new digital maps delineating areas of the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, having karst or the potential for development of karst and pseudokarst. These maps show areas underlain by soluble rocks and also by volcanic rocks, sedimentary deposits, and permafrost that have potential for karst or pseudokarst development. All 50 States contain rocks with potential for karst development, and about 18 percent of their area is underlain by soluble rocks having karst or the potential for development of karst features. The areas of soluble rocks shown are based primarily on selection from State geologic maps of rock units containing significant amounts of carbonate or evaporite minerals. Areas underlain by soluble rocks are further classified by general climate setting, degree of induration, and degree of exposure. Areas having potential for volcanic pseudokarst are those underlain chiefly by basaltic-flow rocks no older than Miocene in age. Areas with potential for pseudokarst features in sedimentary rocks are in relatively unconsolidated rocks from which pseudokarst features, such as piping caves, have been reported. Areas having potential for development of thermokarst features, mapped exclusively in Alaska, contain permafrost in relatively thick surficial deposits containing ground ice. This report includes a GIS database with links from the map unit polygons to online geologic unit descriptions."

In order to support science-based water resource management, a systematic effort was undertaken to characterize the nature and function of the hydrogeology in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. Jo Daviess County is a karst area. Karst is a geologically and hydrologically integrated or interconnected and self-organizing network of landforms and subsurface large-scale, secondary porosity created by a combination of fractured carbonate bedrock, the movement of water into and through the rock body as part of the hydrologic cycle, and physical and chemical weathering (Panno, S.V. et al, 2017). Springs, cover-collapse sinkholes, crevices, and caves are among the defining features of a karst terrain; each of these features is found in Jo Daviess County. Examples of these features have been located in the field and characterized by scientists from the Illinois State Geological and Water Surveys (Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). An unforeseen outcome of the 2012 summer drought that impacted the U.S. Midwest and adversely affected the health and vigor of agricultural crops was it provided a rare opportunity to examine the fractured and creviced, buried bedrock surface of northwestern Illinois. Complex vegetated networks, referred to as ‘crop lines’, began to appear across the dry summer landscape of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, including adjacent western Stephenson County and southwestern Wisconsin. Primarily confined to alfalfa hay fields, the vegetated crop lines resulted from a combination of three factors: 1) the persistent extremely dry conditions, 2) a relatively thin (3 to 5 feet) overburden of unconsolidated deposits, and 3) a highly fractured and creviced bedrock surface comprised of Ordovician age Galena Dolomite. Alfalfa’s vigorous root system, may ultimately extend to depths of 6.1 m (20 feet) or more, enables it to obtain water and nutrients moving through bedrock crevices near the top of the karst aquifer, providing the necessary moisture during the 2012 summer drought to sustain the overlying healthy alfalfa plants, whereas the remaining field area exhibited stunted and sparse plant growth. The alfalfa plants forming the crop lines tended to grow denser, taller (0.5 m vs. 0.15 m), and greener than those in adjacent areas.The publication cited below provides background and context:Panno, S.V., Donald E. Luman, and Dennis R. Kolata. Characterization of karst terrain and regional tectonics using remotely sensed data in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Circular 589, Illinois State Geological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2015. https://www.isgs.illinois.edu/maps/county-maps/karst-terrain/jo-daviess

Groundwaters of the Dinaric Karst form some of the world's largest karst aquifer systems. The Dinaric region contains huge amounts of high quality groundwater. It is one of the major contributors of freshwater entering the Adriatic Sea. The Dinaric Karst Aquifer System extends from NE Italy through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro to Albania. Karst formations connected with the Dinaric carbonate chain outcrop also in Serbia, FYR Macedonia, and possibly in NW Greece.In the framework of the DIKTAS GEF-project (2010-2014) executed by UNESCO-IHP, the four DIKTAS project countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro) have agreed to create two mechanisms in order to facilitate enhanced consultation and exchange of information between the governmental entities that are involved in water resources management.For more information, visit: http://diktas.iwlearn.org/

Most methods for the assessment of sinkhole hazard susceptibility are predicated upon knowledge of pre-existing closed depressions in karst areas. In the United States (U.S.), inventories of existing karst depressions are piecemeal, and are often obtained through inconsistent methodologies applied at the state or county level and at various scales. Here, we present a first attempt at defining a karst closed depression inventory across the conterminous U.S. using a common methodology. Automated algorithms for extraction of closed depressions from 1/3 arc-second (approximately 10 m resolution) National Elevation Dataset (NED) were run on the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) “Yeti” high-performance computing cluster. The full NED was first conditioned to reduce the creation of artificial closed depressions by breaching digital dams at road and stream crossings, using the flowlines and transportation route vectors from the USGS National Map. The resulting depressions were selected according to location within geologic units having the potential for karst, and screened for occurrence in areas of developed land, open water and wetlands, and areas of glacial and alluvial sediment cover. The results were used as the input to create a nationwide depression density map. Our results were compared with karst depression density maps for diverse karst regions within states that have existing closed depression inventories. The individual state-scale maps compared favorably to the results obtained from the method applied universally across the nation and illustrated regional sinkhole hotspots in known areas of well-developed karst. Limitations of the automated method includes false positive depressions resulting from artifacts generated during the computer processing of the elevation models, and inclusion of depressions resulting from non-karst geomorphic processes. Although concerted efforts were made to validate the depression polygons as actual karst features, a more thorough examination of each of the resulting depressions is required on an individual basis to determine its validity as a true karst or pseudokarst landform.

Hurricane Maria caused widespread landsliding throughout Puerto Rico in September 2017. While the majority of landslide inventories following the Hurricane focused on mountainous regions underlain by igneous and volcaniclastic bedrock (Bessette-Kirton et al., 2017, 2019), here we fill an important knowledge gap and document the occurrence of landslides along the greater karst region on the northwest side of the island. To examine the extent and characteristics of landslides in this area, we mapped individual landslides in municipalities including Aguadilla, Aguada, Arecibo, Barceloneta, Bayamon, Camuy, Ciales, Corozal, Dorado, Florida, Hatillo, Isabela, Lares, Manati, Moca, Morovis, Quebradillas, Rincon, San Sebastian, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Utuado, Vega Alta, and Vega Baja. The boundary of our mapping was defined by the calcareous provence 62 (PROV 62) and nearby semi-calcareous sedimentary units (Bawiec, 1998). We used aerial imagery collected between 9-15 October 2017 (Quantum S ...

A sinkhole is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface which may have various causes. Most natural sinkholes are caused by the chemical dissolution of water-soluble carbonate rocks or gypsum. Sinkholes may vary in size from 1 to 600 m both in diameter and depth. Sinkholes may be formed gradually or by sudden collapse and are found worldwide in ‘karst areas.’ Karst areas are not unique to Nova Scotia; in fact, they occur in over a quarter of the earth’s surface. As a result, there are well-established methods for reducing karst risks. These include actions that can be taken both at the planning and construction stage of a project, as well as on-going actions that reduce the risk of future sinkhole formation. This dataset was developed to show areas of Nova Scotia where there is a relatively high-medium-low risk of encountering karst and naturally occurring sinkholes caused by soluble bedrock.

Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. In regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered (perhaps by debris) or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground.

This layer contains polygons representing the 1:24,000-scale geologic formations, styled by karst potential. Karst potential was determined by KGS staff for each formation by a weighted matrix of lithologic characteristics detrmined for each unit: grain size, bedding thickness, %CaCO3, and % insoluble rock and minerals. The last (% insoluble rock and minerals) being weighted the most. Please note, this is unpublished and still a work in-progress. Polygons digitized from the 1:24,000 Geologic Map Series maps (original maps published by Kentucky Geological Survey - U.S. Geological Survey from 1960 to 1980).

This dataset is all of the sinkholes and depressions that originated from the SSURGO spot data, and has been updated using LiDAR and historic photography to capture all known and historic sinkholes. Points that do not have a KPolyID are historic locations, whereas those that do have a KPolyID are currently expressed on the landscape. If a point has a KPolyID, the KPolyID links to the same field in the sinkhole_polys coverage. If the KPolyID is empty the sinkhole is an historic sinkhole and does not show up in the LiDAR data.

KARST_DYE_LINES_IN is a line shapefile that shows inferred subsurface connections between input and detection points of various dye-trace investigations in southern Indiana. This shapefile should be used in conjunction with an associated shapefile named KARST_DYE_PTS_IN, which shows input, output, and intermediate dye-trace points.