The Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology of Karst Terranes is the sixth proceedings volume of the Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst. This volume presents the latest state of the art research, implications from government regulations, and many case histories. This volume, as well as previous volumes in this series, is designed for the practitioner and will complement any karst engineering geologist or hydrogeologists’ library with the latest field techniques for detecting subsurface karst features, methods for sampling springs, methodologies for wellhead protection, site investigations, stormwater control management, aquifer protection studies, and land use planning issues.
This proceedings volume of over 500 pages, contains 66 individual papers from scientists, engineers, land planners, and regulators spanning the United States from New York to Arizona, and including many other countries such as Europe, China, Russia, several countries in the Middle East and the islands of the Bahamas and the Marianas. This volume contains 16 articles from outside the United States, an indication that karst ignores any boundary conditions and the simple fact that today’s technology and our need to rapidly and efficiently communicate has reduced the physical barriers between our foreign colleagues.
The volume is divided into 14 sections, depending on the subject matter of the articles. The first two sections can be combined for review purposes since the three papers of these sections are about the geology and hydrology of carbonate islands. The first section containing the keynote paper (Mylroie and Carew) of the conference explains the different types of carbonate "cover" islands in the Bahamas and neighboring islands. The Second section; "Karst on young carbonate islands" presents two papers, one describing the different groundwater discharge systems on the island of Guam, Mariana Islands (Jensen, et al) and the second paper on the role of suckwells (injection well or boring) in karst water resource studies in the Caribbean (Smart and Ketterling). This paper presents a preliminary assessment of these wells that enhance recharge and elevate surface flooding throughout these tropical islands.
The third section contains six papers on "Sinkhole occurrences on limestone karst". This grouping of papers describe the mechanics of formation of cover-collapse sinkholes (Tharp), assessment of sinkhole areas in Pennsylvania (Chen and Roth), Belgium (Kaufmann and Cerek), northeast Florida (Spechler and Wilson), assessing the risks of cave-collapse sinkholes in Hungary (Kesseru and Wilson) and developing a computer database for sinkholes inventoried in Pennsylvania (Kochanov and Kochanov).
The fourth section; "Karst hydrogeology", contains some interesting papers on groundwater flow, assessing hydrogeologic data as well as modeling. The paper by J.A. Ray discusses some new tracing studies and a reevaluation of preexisting published flow routes to discuss the development of overflow and underflow systems in Kentucky. This paper, as with others in the text continues to enlighten, frighten, and confound those scientist and engineers who try to understand karst systems. The paper by J.V. Brahana describes a method for regional assessment of spring-basin boundary definition by developing a conceptual model based on the review of existing information available through drilling, geophysical logs, selected groundwater monitoring, dye tracing, geologic mapping, etc. Other papers in this section deal with numerical modeling of losses from streams (Livingston, et al) which must take into consideration the dynamic karst system. Kastning and Watts describe the hydrogeologic relationship between springs issuing from valley-train deposits, which are situated near the clastic-carbonate rock contact in the central Appalachian mountains and the potential for valley-train discharge into the underlying karst aquifer. The final paper in this section (Ponta) describes the karst setting in the Bihor Mountains of Romania.
The fifth section; "Karst on evaporite rocks", contains four papers on karst in evaporite rocks. The first three papers deal with the identification of evaporitic karst along with site specific characteristics followed by implications and considerations for land use development in these areas (Neal and Colpitts; Yaoru and Cooper; and Pauktys, et al). The fourth paper (Memon, et al) involves the study of naturally occurring brines and controlling their discharge into the Red River Basin by using a long-term pumping and collection system.
The sixth section; "Groundwater contamination in karst terrane", contains 10 articles presenting some of the latest studies in evaluating karst groundwater systems. This section presents the most recent studies for non-point source pollution, water quality monitoring strategies for karst aquifer systems and different methods to manage and treat stormwater runoff. The article by Ray, et al, discusses multi-level karst aquifer systems and mapping water-supply protection areas; the papers by Keith, et al and Smoot, et al discuss the efficiencies of different engineered structures and filtering media for managing and treating stormwater runoff from highways located in karst areas. The article by T. Aley discusses tracing through the epikarst (overburden and weathered carbonate formations) to determine flow paths from the surface to points of discharge. There are a couple of papers on modeling of karst groundwater systems, one by Hoke and Wicks describe modeling groundwater flow by a linear systems approach, providing a basin scale perspective; and Gao, et al., model in-situ neutralization capacity of karst aquifer for remediation of acid mine drainage. Smart and Zabo presents some recent developments in fluorometric tracing, and one of the more interesting articles is from J.C. Currens. In this study, with 566 samples collected over a 3-year period, Currens determined that a "biweekly sampling schedule augmented bihourly samples from high-flow events will provide meaningful suspended-constituent statistics".
The seventh section; "Developing and protecting water supplies in karst aquifers", contains four articles addressing various aspects of protecting water supplies through drainage basin delineation by tracing (Ogden, et al); assessing insect parts and muddy water to determine surface influences on the aquifer system (Hubbard, et al); determining wellfield site selection through typical hydrologic investigative methods and with through the use of groundwater models; and developing groundwater resources in deep karst aquifers in India (Singh and Dubey).
The eighth section; "Stormwater drainage and flooding problems in karst terranes", contains four articles on stormwater management case histories. These papers present case studies of flooding problems and engineering designs to protect sinkhole areas in Springfield, MO (Barner), delineating ground water basin and flood prevention in Johnson City, TN through the use of tracing studies, field reconnaissance and literature research (Ford, et al), and to develop a policy ordinance for Johnson City (Reese, et al). Both Springfield and Johnson City are concerned with development in and around sinkhole drainage regions and to reduce future flooding problems. Another paper (Xiang, et al) discusses the affects of a karst aquifer system when a surface reservoir is created, resulting in groundwater base level increases, backflooding in the karst conduits, and subsequent flooding problems.
The ninth section; "Geotechnical investigations and engineering in karst", is the largest section of the book with 14 articles discussing various geotechnical methods employed in karst investigations. Many of these articles relate the different methods utilized to locate sinkholes or potential for sinkholes and techniques to remediate sinkholes to eliminate risks associated with the development in these areas. One of the studies involved the poling of consulting firms in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey on site characterization methods employed in karst regions (Thomas and Roth). Other articles relate experience with land development after the onset of land use regulations in karst regions around the U.S. and in Kuwait and China. Two of the more interesting articles consist of injecting brine directly into a sinkhole to reduce the threat of collapse of a sinkhole that formed over a former salt mine used for crude oil storage by the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves (Neal) and a paper on the remediation of a sinkhole developed in a phosphogypsum pile, which consisted of injecting more than 3.800 yards of pea gravel concrete some 400 feet beneath the surface of the gypsum stack (Fuleihan, et al).
The tenth section; "Karst studies for land-use planning", contains four papers ranging from using geology as a first step in land use planning and providing a case study (Barner), to a paper on modeling a cave ecosystem and developing a food web for an endangered shrimp species (Campbell, et al), plus two papers on mapping karst hazards, one from Portugal (Forth, et al) and one from Russia (Hintz and Ragozzino).
The eleventh section; "Investigating karst with geophysics", contains three papers on geophysical methods employed in karst investigations. The first paper (Lambert) discusses using resistivity surveying for exploring karst features and the second paper (Luke and Chase) discusses the use of seismic to detect cave systems. The final paper (Hintz and Ragozzino) is a case history and discusses the use of electromagnetic surveying coupled with test borings and test trenching to properly locate building areas in karst terranes.
The twelfth section; "Government regulations in karst areas", contains seven papers focusing on government regulation or local planning ordinances in karst terranes. One paper (Davis) compares the regulations by the federal government and the states with karst terranes in regards to definition consistency and the design and monitoring of landfills in these regions. Two papers discuss the regulations developed in southwestern Illinois resulting from rapid development (Bade and Moss) and bacterial contamination of groundwater (Panno, et al). Other papers include the state of Missouri’s approach to siting and designing waste disposal facilities (Duley), a southern Missouri’s county approach to regulating development in sinkhole areas (Smith and Vance) and a consultants experience with ordinances in New Jersey and Pennsylvania Fisher). One of the more interesting papers (Rubin and Privitera) discusses two case studies in New York, both with historic limestone mining operations and the denial by the project engineer that karst exists on both sites.
The thirteenth section; "Field trip guide book" (Thomson), contains the description of the local geology and hydrology of Springfield, MO and the description of the field trip stops along with environmental and engineering concerns.
And finally the fourteenth section, "Supplemental" contains one paper, probably a late entry of the importance of sinkhole studies in southwestern Iran (Afrasiabian). This paper presents the results of sinkhole studies conducted in Dasht-e Arzhan polje, in southwestern Iran.
Overall, this proceedings volume provides a wealth of information on the latest techniques being employed by the consulting practitioners, local and regional governmental bodies, and the latest research in karst landscapes. As indicated on the back cover, "karst terrane cause a plethora of problems around the world... in this series of Proceedings, engineers and geologists from across the US and all over the globe recount their experiences, successes, and failures attempting to deal with this unique and quixotic landscape". The editors and their assistant did an admiral job of compiling this volume and the authors included should be commended for their continued quest to understand this complicated and sometimes misunderstood landscape. The readers may not agree with some of the results or conclusions presented, however, the information provided is essential to continue the dialogue between consultants, planners, and academia. This proceedings volume costs $105.00 and if the information alone is not worth the cost, the cover photograph is.
Document originally created 25 June 1998. Corrections, comments, and suggestions concerning the conference web site should be directed to J. Brad Stephenson. Updated: January 22, 1999.
Press your browser's BACK button to return to the previous page.
Seventh Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and...Karst