KARST, CAVES AND MANAGEMENT AT MOLE CREEK, TASMANIA

Kevin Kiernan

FORESTRY COMMISSION TASMANIA

Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage

Occasional Paper No. 22
Hobart 1989

Karst, Caves and Management at Mole Creek, Tasmania

A report to the Forestry Commission and
National Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania 1984
Kevin Kiernan
Department of Parks, Wilflife and Heritage
Occasional Paper No. 22
Series Editor: G. J. Middleton

ISSN 0156 2797

ISBN 0 7246 2145 8

Commonwealth of Australia 1989

This report was produced with the assistance of funds provided by the Commonwealth
Government under the National Estate Grants Program. Copyright is assigned to the
Crown, Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, critisism or
Review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be produced by any means
without written permission.

Photographs and diagrams are by the author unless otherwise acknowledged.

The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect
Those of the Forestry Commission or the Department of Parks, Wildlife and
Heritage.

Front cover:

top:
Dogs Head Hill, Australias largest Karst hum.
centre:
A sinkhole formed after clearing for pasture at Loatta
bottom: Speleotherms in Croesus Cave. Photo: G. Watt

Typeset on an Apple Macintosh computer using Microsoft Word in Palatone 10pt font.

Published by

Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage

GPO Box 44A
HOBART
TASMANIA 7001
November 1989

CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgements
Preface
Terms of Reference
Introduction
Structure of the Report
PART A

iv
v
vi
vii
ix

THE KARST ENVIRONMENT

1. The karst landscape

a. Surface landforms
b. Subsurface landforms
c. Cave deposits
2. Karst processes : A primer for the land manager
3. Some nature conservation and land management issues
Nature conservation issues in karst
The vulnerability of karst
PART B
KARST

2
2
4
7
9
18
18
20

A RECONNAISSANCE INVENTORY OF THE MOLE CREEK

4. Protection considerations at Mole Creek

32

5. An overview of the Mole Creek karst

Surface karst

38
47

Caves

60

System relationships and hydrology

71

6. Human impacts and management issues in the Mole Creek karst

Land alienation

73

Water management

74

Land degradation in farming areas

77

Logging

79

Landslip risk in the karst catchments

81

Quarrying, blasting and road construction on the karst

Cave tourism

85
86

The management of non-tourist caves

88

Cave reserve proposals

89

PART C

73

KARST LAND USE

7. Process studies for karst management purposes

96

8. Karst management and the Forestry Commission

103

9. Recommendations

107

Appendix I

117

Appendix 2

119

References

121

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report could not have been completed without the co-operation of a number
of
individuals who willingly contributed information, assistance and encouragement
in a
variety of ways. Particular thanks are due to the instigators of the project, Steve
Harris of
the National Parks and Wildlife Service* and Paul Wilkinson and Jim Walker of the
Forestry Commission and also to Brendan Diacono, Brian Hodgson, John Rushton
and others in
the Commission for aiding its progress.

I must also thank the many people who have assisted me in the Mole Creek area,
especially
Lesley and Ray (Minis) How; Chester Shaw and Vic Fahey (Parks and Wildlife);
Kevin
Eggins and Bruce Hay (Forestry Commission) and the many local landowners
who gave access
to their properties. For assistance in the field in other ways I am indebted to
Andrew
McNeil], Phil Jackson and others from the Southem Caving Society and also Bob
Woolhouse,
Comptom Allen and Henry Shannon of Northern Cavemeers. Brendan Diacono
remained
remarkably civil and co-operative despite being regularly asked to lie in cramped
watery
tunnels with the survey tape, and for similar assistance I am also indebted to
freelance
masochists like Attila Vrana and Don Cheeseman.
The bulk of the word processing fell to Lynne Cullen to whose speedy and
efficient fingers and
patience, an enormous debt is due. Special thanks are also extended to Graham
Angel who
drafted all the inventory maps, among others. Additional cave maps and
photographs were
made available for the original studies from a number of sources, and in this
regard I must
thank Fred Koolhof, Daryll Carr, Ted Mathews, Geoff Baxter and the Victorian
Speleological Association.
I am grateful also to the late Dr J. N. Jennings, formerly of the Australian National
University. For help in various other ways I must also thank Professor Derek Ford,
McMaster
University, Canada; Dr Malcom Newson, Institute of Hydrology, Plynlimon, Wales;
Dr Tony
Waltham, Trent Polytechnic; Dr Paul Griffiths, Tahsish Co. Ltd., British Columbia;
Professor Paul Williams, Auckland University; Bruce Buffington, Ministry of
Forests, British
Columbia; Kevan Wilde, N.Z. Department of Lands; lohn Dunkley, Elery HamiltonSmith
and Nicholas White of the Australian Speleological Federation; Andy Spate,
National
Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW); Peter Bosworth, National Parks and Wildlife*
(Tas.);
Albert Goede, Tasmanian Caverneering Club; Frank Brown, Dept. of the
Environment, Hobart;
Peter McQuillan, Dept. of Agriculture, Hobart; Bill Pycroft, Naracoorte Caves,
South

Australia; Steve Smedley and Iohn McDonald of the Forestry Commission and
many others.
Andy Spate, Greg Middleton and members of the Southern Caving Society
provided helpful
comments on the original 1984 report, some of which are reflected in this
version. I am
grateful to Dr Mick Brown for comments on a draft of this occasional paper and
special thanks
are extended to Greg Middleton who edited this version of the report.
Opinions expressed and any mistakes, errors or omissions which remain are my
own.
KWK

* When the original report was prepared (Nov. 1984) the people mentioned were
officers of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service (Tasmania). The Service was incorporated into
the Department of
Lands, Parks and Wildlife in May 1987 and bacame the Dept. of Parks, Wildlife 8:
Heritage in Iuly 1989
iv

PREFACE
This Occasional Paper is based on a comprehensive report and inventory of the
karst resources of the Mole Creek area which was compiled in 1984 (Kiernan
1984).
The project was based within the Forestry Commission and funded jointly by the
Forestry Commission and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (now the
Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage), as a recipient of a grant under the
National Estate Grants Scheme.
This summary of the original report largely reflects the situation as it was when
the inventory was completed in 1984. It has not been possible to update the
inventory comprehensively, although minor amendments have been made where
possible, and necessary.

The original version of this report proposed a more specific draft karst
management policy and draft guidelines for forestry operations in karst. Modified
versions of these have been published elsewhere (Kiernan 1987a, b) and they
are not reproduced here. The Forestry Commission acknowledges the importance
of karst through its employment of a geomorphoiogist and the inclusion of some
provisions for forestry operations in karst areas in the Forest Practices Code.
V

TERMS OF REFERENCE
Aims of the Study
1.
To evaluate any direct or indirect consequences of forestry practices on
the cave systems
and karst features at Mole Creek.
2.
To develop management principles for use of the karst landscape of Mole
Creek,
particularly in regard to those areas designated as State Forest and Crown Land.
3.
are

To identify the cave systems and other karst features at Mole Creek which

particularly worthy of conservation measures. To specify the ways in which this

can
be achieved.

These aims should be achieved by application of the following study outline :

1.
Geomorphic mapping of the Mole Creek karst. This includes the
location of caves,
sinkholes, dolines and other features. Some remote sensing data would be used.
2.

Determination of the basement geology, particularly the location of

the
limestone/Permo-Triassic contact on the lower slope of the Western Tiers.
3.
and in the

Determination of the nature of the slope mantles on the limestone

catchments above the limestone. An evaluation of their stability under conditions

of different land use. '
4.
areas for

Determination of the hydrological pattern including the catchment

different cave systems. Examination of the nature of the streams and their
present

erosive and load carrying capacities, as well as the projected stream behaviour
under conditions of different land use.
5.
include an

Identification and ranking of cave and karst features. This would

evaluation of their speleothem development, faunal and geomorphological

features.
6.
Identification of possible direct or indirect effects of logging in the
catchments of
cave systems in the foothills of the Westem Tiers. Determine what monitoring is
required. Initiate monitoring of streams in logged and unlogged areas on
different
substrates.
7.
Evaluation of structural stability of limestone, particularly in areas
where there is
State Forest.
8.
Identify areas on the limestone topography which are potentially
dangerous to
forestry workers and equipment.
9.

Devise guidelines for forestry activity over karst topography.

vi

INTRODUCTION
The German term karst refers to a
landscape
which exhibits a characteristic
assemblage
of landforms and equally characteristic
drainage features which result from the
high degree of solubility in natural
waters
of the bedrock upon which it is
developed.
That bedrock is commonly limestone,
dolomite or an evaporite. Large
underground
caverns are frequently developed as
tourist
attractions, but a karst landscape is
also
characterised by other intriguing

scape, but the concept of karst entails

much
more. A variety of surface landforms
also
form an integral part of a karst,
although
not all types of karst landform may
occur in
every karst area. The disappearance of
surface waters into underground routes
may
leave a legacy of. dry valleys, and
terrain
pock-marked by enclosed depressions
(sinkholes) that form due to the
collapse of
underlying voids or to the solution by
surface
water percolating underground. These

features,
related particularly to weathering
processes
and drainage.
The Mole Creek district in central
northern
Tasmania is a highly scenic area that
contains a variety of karst resources. The
limestone belt measures some 26 km eastwest by
up to 10 km north-south, along the foot
of
the Great Western Tiers. Various forms
of
developmental activity have already
taken
place at Mole Creek, most notably the
clearing of land for agriculture. Some
conflict
exists between proposals for new
conservation reserves and other
proposals for the
expansion of production forestry. In
order to
safeguard the legitimate needs of the
tourist
industry, local landowners, recreation
seekers, scientists and others who
have an
interest in the future of the Mole Creek
karst
landscape, this karst forestry study was
initiated within the Forestry
Commission in
December 1983, with the active
support of
the National Parks and Wildlife Service
(Tasmania) and the Australian Heritage
Commission.
KARST AND ITS MANAGEMENT
Karst landscape is dominated by the

depressions may range from a few

square
metres in extent through more complex
come
posite forms to very large basins
covering
several square kilometres. Residual
towers
or hillocks (hums) may rise above the
lower
parts of the landscape.
The holes into which surface streams
disappear and the springs from which they
regain
the surface may be prominent
Iandforms and
important to human use of the
landscape.
Bare rock surfaces may be sculpted by
solution into a variety of often intricate
forms known as karren. Other karren
forms
develop beneath a soil cover. The end
result
is that rather than the existence of a
simple
relationship between hilislopes,
continuous
channels and plains, the relief may be
chaotic, the end result of a complex
interplay between climatic, topographic,
hydrological, biological, lithological and
temporal factors.
Karst areas may have very diverse
resources. Karst Iandforms have been
used
for the purposes of water supply,
tourism,
mineral extraction, electricity
generation,
production of building stone, fish
breeding,
storage, factories, air-raid shelters,
cheese

effect
of rock dissolution as a natural process.
It
poses special problems to land
managers.
Many of the more familiar landscapes
forming processes remain active in a
karst
area, and under some circumstances
certain
apparently karstic landforms may also
develop in other bedrock substrates by
processes other than solution
(pseudokarst).
Karst proper is best distinguished by
the
significantly more important role
played by
rock dissolution than exists in a non
karstic
landscape (Jennings 1985). As a result
of rock
dissolution, bedrock permeability
progressively increases, diverting drainage
underground. Over time the bedrock
structure
comes to exert a stronger control over
the
drainage pattern than does the surface
topography.
Underground drainage and large
caverns are
the best known components of a karst
land-

production, educational facilities,

recres
ation, underground mushroom growing,
waste
disposal, scientific studies, forestry,
general
and specialised agriculture, air
conditioning
of surface buildings, the development
of spas
at allegedly therapeutic springs and
the
development of underground
respiratory
clinics. A variety of potential or existing
interests therefore need to be taken
into
account by karst managers.
However, karst management entails a
number of complex and special
problems
which either do not apply or which
apply
to only a lesser degree in non karstic
terrains.
Because no Tasmanian karst has yet
been as
intensively developed as has occurred
in
some areas overseas the existence of
peculiarly karst management problems has
been
little recognised here. There is little
professional expertise and no legacy of
practical
Vii

experience which can be applied to

karst
problems in Tasmania.
Among the problems that face the
karst
manager are the scarcity and

Africa in 1964 a sleeping family of five

died
when their house was engulfed by a
30m
deep hole some 60 m in diameter
which
developed in a single night due to

unpredictability of groundwater supplies; difficulties

with surface water storage; waste
disposal
problems; and ground surface
instability due
to changing hydrological conditions (Le
Grand 1973). The frequent tendency to
regard
underground water or spring water as
pure,
almost as if by definition, is
increasingly
hazardous. There is often little natural
filtration of karst groundwater because
it
flows in open fissures and conduits
(Smith
1977). Pollution of water supplies can
therefore be a major problem, and this
can be.
exacerbated by the common view that
sinkholes offer a convenient site for
waste
disposal. Attempts to develop surface
water
storages can fail due to leaky bedrock.
Siltation problems in caves can follow
erosion in cave catchments while
tampering
with water flows in caves can have
serious
implications on the surface.

lowering
of the water table by pumping. In 1972
the
entire village of Bank in West Rand had
to
be evacuated. In the Hershey Valley in
Pennsylvania over 100 sinkholes
developed
within five months due to artificial
lowering of the water table. Twenty
nine
lives were lost in South Africa in 1962
when
pumping of groundwater from a gold
mine led
to sudden collapse (Jennings 1966).

In many karst areas limestone caves

have
been developed as tourist attractions,
but the
tourist potential of caves can be
eroded by
failure to take the karst hydrological
system into account during planning.
Modification of seepage flows due to
the
sealing of roads and carparks has in
some
cases led to the dehydration of the

Collapse may involve the subsidence of

more
than simply an unconsolidated mantle.
At
Braidwood in New South Wales, a shaft
115m deep and nearly 65m in
diameter has
formed in consolidated quartz
sandstone,
probably due to collapse into an
underlying
limestone formation (Jennings 1971,
1976b)

Road and building construction

inevitably
interferes with groundwater
movement. As a
result of these effects, buildings have
been
lost in Stanton (Virginia), Bridgend
(Wales)
and Castleberry (Florida). In one
disconcerting case from Farmington (Missouri) the
basement of a farm house suddenly
disappeared into a 25m deep hole which
required
300 truckloads of rubble to fill.

stalactites and other formations

(speleothems)
which form the major attraction to cave
tourists (Skinner 1972). Organisms that
are
adapted to living in caves may be at
risk in
cases where the surface is greatly
modified.
Engineering problems may be posed by
unpredictable foundations (Smart 1978).
These
often pose problems of increased costs
and
sometimes even cause the collapse of
entire
structures. In some cases, collapses
are due to
failure of the bedrock spanning large
caves,
but in most cases they are caused by
the
failure of unconsolidated surface
sediments
after the finer fractions have been
washed
into voids dissolved in the bedrock. In
one
American case in 1974 a drilling crew
encountered a waterefilled fissure which
flooded
into a void in the overlying clay. As the
crew fled for safety the entire rig
disappeared into a newly formed waterfilled hole 50m in diameter and 25m
deep.
Entire houses have been lost into
sinkholes
which formed literally overnight. In
South

(Waltham 1978). Hence, in some cases

it is
important to consider not only karst
exposed
at the surface, but karst at depth in
buried
rock units.
A further very significant problem lies
in
the nature of some soils in limestone
areas.
Often these consist only of the
insoluble
residue of limestone decay trapped in
pockets with some organic matter.
These
may take millenia to develop but are
often
very susceptible to rapid and total
removal
by erosion if the slopes upon which
they
occur are devegetated.
Construction activity, extractive
industry,
drainage "improvement" and excessive
groundwater utilisation are among the
sorts
of activities that are most likely to alter
karst water movement patterns. The
protection of the patterns of water movement
in
karst probably forms the key, along
with
sensible waste disposal techniques, to
the
successful long term use of karst
landscapes to
meet human needs.

Viii

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

This report is divided into three
sections.
Section A examines the nature of a
karst
environment to provide a theoretical
background to the discussions that follow.
Chapter 1 is essentially a taxonomy of
karst
landforms. Just as the animal or plant
kingdom are divisible into different groups,
so too
are landforms. Caves, for instance, can
be
looked upon as a genus, within which
there
are many different species. If
representative
samples of karst features are to be
safeguarded, it is first necessary to identify
their
diversity. Chapter 2 reviews certain
critical
karst processes that must be
understood by
land managers. Karst landscape is not
unlike
a living entity, with definite needs for
nourishment and subject to definite
limiting
factors. What are the values of karst in
nature conservation terms? How might
human activity impinge upon (or be
impinged
upon by) karst processes? Chapter 3
explores
these issues. In the lamentable
absence of
empirical data, particularly Tasmanian
data, the discussion of impacts is
essentially
a brainstorming exercise in which

sediments and surface karst in each of

several localities in the district. The
cave
systems and drainage of each locality
were
briefly described. Landslide risk and
other
management issues were assessed.
Chapter 4
explores the significance of the Mole
Creek
karst in nature conservation terms,
explores
criteria for establishing the
conservation
value of particular sites and lays the
ground
work for the Mole Creek study.
Chapters 5
and 6 of this version of the report
summarise
the original inventory.
Part C focuses upon management. The
absence
of hard baseline and process data is a
severe
impediment to adequate management
of the
Mole Creek karst. Chapter 7 explores
directions for necessary future
research.
Chapter 8 reviews the extent of karst in
State Forests elsewhere in Tasmania
and the
need for appropriate management.
Chapter
9 presents the recommendations
contained in
the original report. These have
significance
beyond the Mole Creek district because
Mole
Creek is only one of many karsts within

possible
impacts are suggested and available
literature reviewed.

Tasmania's system of State Forests.

Within
these other karsts occur the deepest
and some
of the most Spectacular caves in
Australia
together with a great diversity of other
karst landforms. A number of the
broader
management issues addressed in this
report
also arise there.

Part B of the original report (Kiernan

1984)
provided a systematic inventory of the
Mole
Creek karst. Within the constraints of
available time, it provided a
reconnaissance
overview of the topography, geology,
surface
Ix

PART A

THE KARST ENVIRONMENT

1. THE KARST LANDSCAPE

A karst landscape results from
selective
chemical weathering by acidic natural

punctured slope, or where a high rate

of deposition of sediment into the
depression induces lateral corrosion.
Dipslope and downslope sides tend to
have a gentler gradient (Jennings

waters of limestone, dolomite or some

other
readily soluble bedrock. Karst typically
contains characteristic surface
landforms,
including closed depressions, fluted
bedrock
surfaces, residual hills, dry or blind
valleys,
steep-heads, gorges and shallow
caves.
Underground or predominantly
underground
karst landforms include a variety of
cave
types that are associated with the
sinking,
transmission or resurgence of
underground
water. The development of both underground and surface landforms has
meteorological implications because the shape
of
the land surface (or sub surface)
strongly
influences microclimatic conditions,
and
both in turn condition the Suitability of
the
site to support biological communities.
To provide a background to the Mole
Creek
study this chapter explores the nature
of
karst environments and the diversity of
landforms of which representative
samples
might need to be conserved. The
subsequent
chapter looks in more detail at the
natural
processes entailed in the evolution of
karst.
Both chapters are necessarily
superficial

1967a).
(b) Collapse dolines result from the
collapse of a cave roof; they tend to
be more angular in plan than solution
dolines and have initially steeper
sides until slope degradation occurs;
depth - width ratio is generally
higher than for solution dolines
(Jennings 1963).
(c) Subjacent karst collapse dolines are
formed in non-karst rocks due to the
collapse of caves in underlying
limestone (Jennings 1967b, 1985).
(d) Subsidence dolines result from the
sporadic collapse and piping of unconsolidated regolith materials into
bedrock karst; engineering and
construction problems frequently
result (Waltham 1978).
(e) Alluvial streamsink dolines are
subsidence type dolines from which a
running stream removes insoluble
mantle materials (Jennings 1985).
2. Enclosed depressions
compound forms
Uvalas are compound enclosed
depressions
which result from the coalescence of
smaller
forms. They are generally elongated
along
the strike if the rocks are of steeply
dipping. Poljes are the largest karst
depressions, generally possessing a flat
alluvial
floor of at least several square
kilometres
extent. Their shape in plan is
frequently

and readers requiring more depth are

referred to the standard texts such as
Jennings (1971, 1985), Sweeting (1973)
or Ford
Williams (in prep.).

dictated by tectonic features. Springs

often
rise from the margin only to disappear
again
into sinkholes on the polje floor known
as
ponors. Seasonal flooding is common.
A
variant is the karst margin polje where
a
limestone wall occurs on only one side
of the
depression which is otherwise
surrounded by
non-karstic rocks (Lehman et a1.
1956).
Somewhat related to these forms is the
karst margin plain, an alluviated karst
lowland bordering more elevated karst
and
flanked by steepheads and springs, a
common situation in the humid tropics
(Jennings and Sweeting 1963; Jennings
1985).

A. SURFACE LANDFORMS
1. Enclosed depressions - basic
forms
Karst depressions assume a variety of
forms
that are related to the nature of the
bedrock, the slope, the surface soil or
regolith, and the process of origin. Karst
depressions are important factors in karst
drainage. Sinkholes or dolines are the
smallest forms. Sinkhole formation involves a complex interplay between
subsurface and surface solution, piping
(Chapter 2)
and reworking of the surface deposits.
Some
form in bedrock and others in
sediments that
overly the limestone. As the depression
enlarges it gathers drainage into itself
accelerating its own development
through a
positive feedback process. Sinkholes
can be
differentiated on a semi-genetic basis
(Cramer 1941)

A karst window is an unroofed portion

of an
underground stream, which can be
seen flowing out of one cavern and into another
(Malott 1932).

(a) Solution dolines are the result of

downward solution at structurally
favourable sites and the downward
evacuation of solutes; the form is
commonly conical but asymmetry
may result from bedrock geometry,
2
3. Non-enclosed surface

gorges may be the result of cave col-

depressions
(a) Inactive karst channels
Valley forms in karst areas are frequently different from those which
occur on other rock types, clue to the
intervention of karst processes. The
best known of these are dry valleys, an
inactive legacy of the loss of a former
surface water flow to newer underground routes. The valleys long profile is frequently interrupted by enclosed depressions or eminences of
bedrock or sediment. In some cases
they extend downslope from active
valleys, but greater complexity may
exist where they have been superimposed from impervious rocks which
once overlaid the karst, or where torrential meltwaters once flowed from
glaciers which overlaid the karst.
Some dry valleys may temporarily be
reactivated during cold climate
episodes due to the freezing of ground
moisture or the infilling of intakes by
frost-mobilised rock and earth debris.
Changes in the elevation of the
watertable due to headward sapping
or scarp retreat may also influence
their development (Ford 1979; Jennings
1985; Sparks and Lewis 1957).
(b) Active karst channels
A blind valley is one which terminates at a streamsink. Blind valleys
are the end product of a process
whereby the erosive capacity of a
stream is progressively reduced downstream of a point of water loss until
the new underground conduit is of sufficient size to permanently engulf the
stream, commonly beneath a steep
bedrock face. A steep-head represents
almost the opposite situation and is an
active valley which commences from a
spring at the foot of a steep slope or

lapse, but most of these result from

solutional emphasis upon downcutting;
from the tendency of surface karst
streams to develop fairly flat longitudinal profiles; and from limited slope
degradation by slopewash which
results from the high infiltration
capacity of the bedrock. Although not
strictly of karst origin and hence
generally ignored in karst texts, deep
gorges in non-karst bedrock frequently
occur on karst margins. Some of these
karst margin gorges lie upstream of
the karst, and are steeper than would
otherwise be the case because the
karst rocks are less resistant to erosion
and hence are lowered more rapidly
than the rocks in which the gorge has
been cut. This leads to lowering of the
base level to which the incoming
stream erodes and thus an increase in
its erosive energy. Other karst margin
gorges lie downstream of a karst but
can be considered as karstically influenced only where the presence of karst
rocks upstream has served to concentrate drainage: some of those in
Tasmania are probably the result of
the superimposition of ancient rivers
or flows of glacial meltwater with the
lower karst terrain serving only to emphasise the apparent depth of the
gorge.
4. Residual eminences
A hum is a residual limestone hill which
remains after a surrounding limestone
landscape has been lowered by solutional
and
other processes. Hums may be subconical in
form, or may be asymmetric due to
structural
factors such as the attitude of dipping
lime-

face that has been undermined by the

spring or steepened by cave collapse
(Jennings 1985). A karst stream valley
conducts surface water across a karst
surface. This surface flow may persist
because a high watertable impedes
the infiltration of runoff; because impurities or geometry impede the successful diversion of the stream underground; because insufficient time has
elapsed since the stream was initiated
for diversion underground to have
occurred, or because deposits laid
down
in the channel bed have perched the
stream above the limestone. Karst

stone beds, or due to climatic factors

such as
the dominant direction from which rain
is
received. They are best developed in
the
humid tropics. Steeper karst towers are
predominantly found in tropical areas
although
they are not exclusive to the tropics
and
some small examples are known in
Tasmania.
5. Fluted bedrock surfaces
Karren is a collective term which
encompasses forms that result from
corrosional
etching of karst rock surfaces. There is
wide
variety among karren forms, a
dominant
control being the extent to which the
presence of surface regolith influences the
release of acidic water and the
evacuation of
the weathering products. In addition to
their intrinsic interest, different forms
pro3

vide evidence of short-medium term

environmental changes such as the extent
of soil
erosion. Bedrock character,
temperature and
precipitation regime are other factors
which
are significant to the development of
karren.
The influence of bedrock structure on
karren
morphology increases with greater

dissolution. Karst caves exhibit an

enormous
variety of size, wetness, complexity,
depth,
length and contents according to the
dictates
of local geology, structure, topography
and
other factors. They may be
differentiated
simply into active caves in which
solutional
enlargement is still in progress, and

regolith
cover because the regolith slows the
water
transfer processes and modifies the
influence
of gravity. Those forms which develop
on
exposed surfaces are readily
observable;
others are visible only if the regolith is
stripped (Table 1.1). Hence, an
understanding of the basic forms not only allows
the
land manager to better safeguard the
nature
conservation values of karst but also
provides a useful tool that may allow
insight
into the extent to which soil erosion
may
have occurred in a karst area.
Where forms that develop under a
regolith
cover are found exposed, it provides
evidence
that erosion has occurred and may
indicate
the extent of erosional loss. The timescale
cannot be accurately ascertained from
presently available data. Most
calculated
rates of karst surface lowering by
solution
represent basin-wide averages that
include
both surface and subsurface loss and
not
merely surface loss from specific sites.
Sweeting (1966) recorded 3-5 cm of
surface
lowering and the development of
runnels 7 15 cm deep over a period of 13 years

inactive
or fossil caves in which enlargement
has
ceased but in which the deposition of
calcium carbonate may be a continuing
process.
The colloquial term dead cave is
commonly
applied to an inactive cave in which the
deposition of calcium carbonate has
ceased.
A stream cave is necessarily active, but
not
all active caves contain a stream. Other
terms derive from the hydrological
function
of a cave. An inflow cave, swallet,
influx or
streamsink conducts water from a
surface
course to an underground channel. An
outflow
cave, efflux or resurgence cave
conducts an
underground stream back to the
surface. An
exsurgence is a spring fed by seepage
waters
rather than streamsink waters. Karst
springs may take the form of cave
entrances,
boulder collapses or pressure
upwellings. A
pothole or pot is a cave dominantly of
vertical development. Large rooms in
cave
systems are known as chambers or
caverns.
The chemical processes of groundwater
acidulation, limestone dissolution and
underground diversion of drainage are
addressed in the following chapter, but
some
of the influences upon the
deve1opment and

at one
site in Craven, England in
circumstances particularly favourable to fast
development of
karren.
6. Shallow Caves

Some karren types such as swamp

slots are
transitional between surface fluting
and
karst caves. Shallow caves may be
produced
in a variety of contexts. Meander caves
result from the lateral corrosion of
limestone
valley sides by flowing streams that
undercut cliffs and bedrock outcrops. Natural
arches or bridges are comparatively
minor
karst caves which may develOp where
a
surface stream encounters a limestone
bed.
They may also develop through self
capture
by progressive development of two
meander
caves sited back to back or due to the
preferential opening of bedrock joints by the
greater hydraulic energy of a stream at
a
nick point (Jennings 1985).
B.

SUBSURFACE LANDFORMS

Underground caverns are probably the

best
known landforms of karst regions.
While
caves may have a variety of origins
karst

form of caves can profitably be

discussed at
this point.
The capacity of soluble rock to host
caves is
dependent upon several factors, and
the
presence of limestone does not
automatically
ensure the presence of karst caves at
any particular site. Very porous limestone may
permit so much diffuse seepage
through intergranular spaces that flow is never
concentrated along any single route in a
manner
conducive to cave initiation
(speleogenesis).
Impurities in limestone reduce its
overall
solubility and may lead to the clogging
of incipient channels with residue. Corbel
(1957)
has estimated that calcium carbonate
content of at least 60% is necessary for
karst
development in limestone.
Weakly consolidated rocks may
collapse
before a developing cave can attain
any
significant size. The rock must behave
in
elastic (brittle) manner rather than
respond
plastically to stress release so that
joints are
well deveIOped, as joints are important
sites
of cave initiation. Most joints form
normal to

caves are predominantly the product of

rock

bedding plains due to the release of

compressional stress over geological
time
4

with minor parallel joint sets in a

collapse prevents significant caves

conjugate
system (Jennings 1985). The unloading
of
stresses as erosion removes surface
overburden can lead to the formation of
dilation
joints parallel to the ground surface or
along
valley sides. However, excessively
abundant joints may lessen the mechanical
strength of the limestone to the extent
that

from
deveIoping.
Climate and topography also exert
important controls on cave development.
Caves
are not favoured in arid situations
where
insufficient water is available to
dissolve
the limestone or where water has been
scarce
due to the climate having been drier
during
5

the geologically recent past. Steep

slopes
which favour overland runoff rather
than
infiltration are also an impediment to
cave
development, but on the other hand
caves
found in low-lying areas are often
waterfilled not far below the surface. Deep
accessible caves demand fairly high relative
relief. Generally speaking, the plans of
caves which develop in areas of low
relief,
and hence low hydraulic head, show
strong
structural guidance. Where the
gradient is
steeper the line of cave development
may
more closely approximate surface
contours
such as dry valley floors or hill margins,
although in very steep situations
vertical
elements of structure may be
prominent.
Many caves consist of elongated

generally shallower downward cave

loops, each rising above the upper
surface
of the phreas.
4. mixed loop and epiphreatic caves
(Ford
1965; Ford and Ewers 1978). In this
situation horizontal passages formed along
the upper surface of the phreas link
successive downward loops.
5. epiphreatic caves (Glennie 1958).
Any
conduit which grows faster than others
will conduct a greater flow and grow increasingly larger than its counterparts;
fluctuations in the upper surface of the
phreas induce alternating saturated
and
aerated conditions; the hydraulic head
induces turbulent pressure streams
along
the most direct route between the
water
source and its destination; the most
frequent legacy of passage evolution in
this zone consists of rounded or
elliptical

sections
which develop parallel to the strike of
the
limestone beds, with shorter segments
flowing down or up the dip of the rock
beds.
Joints appear to more consistently
influence
cave development than do faults.
Passage form commonly reflects the
groundwater zone within which the cave
passage
has developed. Most caves are
probably
initiated deep in the permanently
saturated
zone (the phreas) but subsequent
development generally takes place in
one or
more of a number of domains within or
above
the phreas, depending partly upon rock
structure:
1. nothephreatic caves (Jennings
1977). In
this domain there is slow laminar flow
and something akin to Darcy flow
through unconsolidated sediments; tiny
anastomosing tubes develop often
along
bedding planes or joints but more randomly if the rock is more porous (Bretz
1942; Jennings 1980); turbulent flow
takes
over once a tube diameter of about
5mm is
attained but a low hydraulic head may
permit a continuationof this
enlargement
mode,- a legacy of three dimensional
sponge work, rock pendants, wall and
ceiling pockets and inverted roof
runnels
may remain.

tubes with smooth or scalloped walls.

6. vadose flow caves An air surface is
exposed as the phreas is lowered by improved drainage; water flows from the
surface landscape into this vadose
zone
are driven by gravity; earlier phreatic
forms may be incised and modified;
mechanical erosion and other
processes
that occur in surface stream channels
become very evident; there are two
subtypes of vadose flow caves:
(a) drawdown vadose caves (Ford and
Ewers 1978) inherit and modify
phreatic elements; loop incision en
route may convert bathyphreatic
caves to multiple loops or epiphreatic
systems.
(b) invasion vadose caves (Malott
1937)
develop mainly due to inflows of
water from the surface.
7. vadose seepage caves. Downward
seepage from the surface enlarges the most
efficient routes down the principal
planes
of weakness; this generally produces
fissures which narrow downwards as the
acidity of the seepage water is
expended
in dissolving the limestone. Caves of
this
sort exhibit mostly vertical or semi-vertical development; condensation water
may form some shafts from below.
Cave diving may permit access to
some parts

of waterfilled caves, but in general

these
remain inaccessible until vadose
drawdown
has occurred. Nevertheless, an
appreciation
of these various cave forms is
significant to
understanding the mechanisms of
operation
of some karst springs and resurgences
used for

2. bathyphreatic caves
Ford and Ewers 1978). If the hydraulic
head
permits the fall and rise of groundwater
through limestone over a great vertical
amplitude (Davis 1930) it may lead to
the development of a deep downward
loop; widely spaced joints and steeply
dipping beds are conducive to this
situation.
3. multiple loop dynamic phreatic
caves
(Ford and Ewers 1978). Where there
are
more frequent planes of weakness they
may permit the development of
multiple,
6
water supply purposes. Vadose caves
may
become accessible through the
development
of an entrance by upward collapse of a
seepage shaft; due to collapse elsewhere;
or due
to the ingress or egress of water from
or to the
surface. Entrances formed by solution
generally exhibit smoothly curved cross
profiles;
those formed or modified by collapse
tend to
have more angular profiles.
C. CAVE DEPOSITS
Cave deposits may be differentiated
into
chemical deposits (speleothems),
sediments
which consist of biological material
(biogenic deposits) and those which

defiance of gravity. More rare are

heligmites, the eccentric counterpart of
the
stalagmite. Some curving helictites
composed of gypsum appear as if extruded
from
cracks in the cave wall. These are
known as
oulophites or gypsum flowers while
elongate
gypsum needles are less common.
Finally
moonmilk or mondmilch comprises a
variety
of soft powdery or spongy coatings
with the
general appearance of flowstone or
dripstone. Calcite or hydromagnesite are
the
most common mineral constituents,
but seven
others have been identified (Harmon et
a1.
1983) and bacteriological factors seem

consist
of earth and rock fragments (clastic
deposits). While the often highly
decorative speleothems are an attraction to
the casual cave viewer, it is often the clastic
deposits which are of most scientific
interest.
1. Speleothems
Probably the best known speleothems
are
the dOanard hanging stalactites, and
upgrowing stalagmites which frequently
form
beneath them. Both result from the
precipitation of calcite out of dripping water
(the
process is described in the following
chapter
which deals with processes significant
to
karst management). Straws are thin
tubular
stalactites which have been recorded
to
reach a maximum length of 6m.
Blockage of
their central capillary can lead to the
seepage being directed down the outer
surface
and the assumption of a more conical
form. A
column is formed by the growth of a
stalactite to the floor or its union with a
stalagmite.
Flowstone is a generic term which
covers a
variety of forms that precipitate from a
flowing film of water rather than from

generally involved in the development of

moonmilk.
The rates at which speleothems form
are
highly variable. However, numerical
ages
of the speleothems, and by inference
the surfaces upon which they have formed,
may be
obtained through the use of
radiometric dating technology including radiocarbon
dating
(up to 40-50,000 years) or by dating on
the
basis of the 23luranium-23 thorium
ratio
(100,000-400,000 years. The former
utilises
the known rate of decay of 14carbon
which is
precipitated with the calcite. The radiocarbon technique is not without
problems
which include the presence of older
"dead"
carbon precipitated from the dissolved
limestone (e.g. Hendy 1970). The latter
technique utilises the known rate of
radioactive
decay of 234uranium to 23othorium
after
formation of the speleothem (e.g.
Harmon,
et al. (1975) in North America; Goede,
Harmon and Kiernan (1979) or Goede
and
Harmon (1983) in Tasmania). Beyond
the
range of the uranium series techniques
a
guide to age of speleothems may be
obtained

dripwater. Gours or rimstone pools are

small
calcite dams or terraces which range in
scale
from a few millimetres to many metres.
Curtains or shawls are suspended
flowstone
sheets which are often draped in
apparent
folds.

from studies of the magnetic polarity of

cave
sediments. Such studies may be
combined
with other isotopic analyses, most
commonly
the abundance of 16oxygen relative to
18oxygen, to obtain information on
climatic
change over time (Gascoyne 1981).

Oolites or cave pearls are detached,

generally spherical speleothems up to 15cm
in
diameter which are found in clusters.
They
form around a nucleus in a pool of
water saturated with respect to calcium
carbonate and
agitated, most usually by dripping
water
(Hill 1976). Restricted precipitate
supply to
the sides and base of oolites as a
consequence
of tight packing can produce rare cubic
forms
(Roberge & Caron 1983). Helectites or
eccentrics are asymmetric
speleothems
which may curve or branch angularly in

2. Biogenic Deposits
Cave dwelling bats which deposit
guano and
phosphate minerals in caves in many
parts
of the world do not occur in Tasmania.
Nevertheless, biogenic deposits are still
to
be found in Tasmanian caves. Most
commonly, these consist of bone deposits
which
may be the result of animals falling into
natural pits, bones being washed in by
running water or bones left behind by
predatory
animals or Aborigines. Commonly they
are
found intermixed with flowstones or
clastic
deposits.
7

3. Clastic Deposits
Clastic cave sediments can be
differentiated
into three broad groups:
(a) Breakdown facies originate almost
entirely from within a cave and most
commonly consist of collapse boulders,
sands, pieces of broken speleothems
and

other conditions under which they were

deposited.
(C) Entrance facies comprise an admixture of materials which generally originate from both within and outside the
cave. Inwashing streams, glacier ice,
external slope instability, the wind and
the activity of animals or humans can
all introduce sediments to the cave

insoluble residues, often piled on the

floor beneath the wall and ceiling
positions from which they fell.

environment.
Whereas sediments that may
accumulate on
the surface of the landscape may be
removed
by erosion, cave sediments are often
protected from erosional processes and
may
prove particularly important in the
scientific reconstruction of past climatic,
biological or archaeological events. Fossil
pollen,
mollusc fossils and the remains of
larger
creatures found in cave sediments may
all
offer insight into past climates. Some
clastic
sediments are themselves indicative of
past
climates. Sediments of this kind include
rubbles produced by frost wedging of
the rock
that forms the roof or walls in the
entrance
region of a cave, and also sediments
that contain the presence of soil minerals
known to be
attributable to weathering under
particular
climatic conditions (Frank 1973).

(b) Alluvial facies include both breakdown materials redeposited by running

water and sediments washed in from
outside. Individual fragment size is
controlled by both the energy of the
depositing stream and size of the
passage. There is some evidence to
suggest that highly rounded but
flattened rock fragments reflect
pressure flow (Siffre and Siffre 1961).
Fossil deposits remain behind in the
abandoned upper levels of many
caves.
Laminated fine clays (rythmites)
reflect fluctuations in flow. Isotopic
analysis of associated speleothems
may
permit dating of fossil clastic sediments
and determination of the climatic or

2. KARST PROCESSES A PRIMER FOR THE LAND MANAGER

This chapter looks in more detail at the
most basic of karst processes - rock
dissolution. It also considers the progressive
diver-

and the development of

speleothems
(stalactites etc). The presence of
some other
ions in solution can modify

sion underground of karst waters; the

mechanisms of water transfer and storage in a
karst
landscape; the elaboration of cave
passages;
the mechanisms of speleothem growth;
mass
movement on the surface and the role of
changing climate. Many of these processes
are quite subtle and interference with
them
may easily result if land-use options are
not
fully thought out.
A. Karst Solution
Rock dissolution is fundamental to the development of karst. The solution process
occurs due to the action of water that has
taken in carbon dioxide (CO2), and thereby
become weakly acid, on calcium carbonate
(CaCO3). Carbonic acid is formed by a
series
of reversible reactions and ionic dissociations that are governed by different
equilibria, but the process may be approximately
summarised (Jennings 1985) as

saturation
equilibria.
Apart from the obvious need for
flowing
water, the availability of the CO2 is
therefore of paramount importance.
What is the
source of this CO2 ? Most rainwater
is only
very weakly acid and simple
solution is of
very limited consequence. The
majority of
the carbon dioxide is obtained
within the
soil and litter mantle where
metabolic and
decay processes are active. Some
British
studies have shown that most
solution occurs within 10m of the
ground surface (e.g. Williams 1968,
Smith and Mead 1962).
However, one study demonstrated
that the
hardness of cave drips appeared to
have
more relationship to seasonal
surface temperature (hence soil biochemistry)
with a
lag effect than to depth beneath the
surface
(Piny 1966). The vegetation cover is
clearly
very important, one study reporting
that
seepage water under a grassland
contained

CaCO3 (solid) + H2O + CO2 (dissolved)

Ca++ + 2HCO3

CO2 (air)

Theoretically, the carbon dioxide partial

pressure of the air with which the water is
in contact directly controls the extent to
which water becomes aggressive, and the
amount of limestone which can be
dissolved.
Temperature exerts a lesser influence.
Cooler water is able to take in more carbon
dioxide but as few karst waters are
saturated with carbonate this is of limited
consequence.
Warmer temperatures may also over-ride
this effect through permitting increased
biological activity the source of most of the
carbon dioxide and by expediting the
rate
of chemical reaction. The speed and turbulence of the water flow and the character
and texture of the limestone/water
interface
are the most critical determinants of how
much calcium carbonate goes into
solution.
Aggressiveness will increase if the water
comes into contact with higher
atmospheric
CO2 concentrations, if it is cooled by the
limestone mass as it descends
underground or if its velocity and
turbulence increases, but aggressiveness
will decline if the opposite occurs. The
latter may lead to the precipitation of the
CaCO3 already in solution. This can lead to
the blockage of incipient conduits

less CO2 than that under a forest

but that
the CO2 level fluctuated less under
the
grassland (Holmes and Colville
1970a, b).
Certain organic acids may also
corrode
limestone (Bray & OReilly 1974,
Trudgill
1979). While tannic acid is known to
increase the pH of soil water, the
extent to
which it is an efficient solvent of
limestone
is yet to be satisfactorily
established
(Sweeting 1973). However oxidation
may
convert humic acids of high
molecular
weight to organic acids of lower
molecular
weight, carbon dioxide and inactive
fragments, thereby enhancing the
agressivity of the waters of open
cave
streamways to an extent which
exceeds that
of the original humic acid (Bray
1977). The
weathering of pyrite or the action of
sulpur
bacteria can release sulphuric acid.
Several mechanisms enable
solution to continue at considerable depths
underground.
Sizeable streams that flow into
caves tend to
approach carbonate saturation only

where
harder seepage waters join them.
The decay
of organic matter washed
underground pro-

9
vides additional Co2 (James 1977). Air
bubbles carried underground by turbulent
streams may be compressed, and this can
increase the Co2 partial pressure (Jennings
1980). The mixing effect is probably the
most important factor. Two saturated
solutions with different carbonate
concentrations may become
undersaturated upon mixing and hence
capable of dissolving more limestone (36in
1964). Cooling in descent may also
increase aggressiveness (Bjgli 1964,
Picknett 1972). More rarely, aggressive
hydrothermal waters that rise from depth
have also been shown to have been
significant in the development of some
caves.

In summary, the vegetation cover and

particularly the soil mantle are critical
factors in Co2 supply, and most solution is
effected close to the surface, rather than
at great depth in caves (Table 2.1). The
area in which vadose and phreatic waters
mix at the upper surface of the phreas
where fast turbulent pressure flow occurs
appears to be the site where cave
enlargement occurs most rapidly.

SOURCE

Rain falling on

become increasingly significant as

the system develops, initially by
deflection of the underground
channel away from any parent
drainage line on the surface.
Drainage along the strike of the
rocks tends to be interrupted by
short reaches flowing down the dip
of the beds, although pressure flow
can reverse this tendency.
Depending upon particular
circumstances in any area,
displaced faults may promote or
inhibit deflections, while impure
strata may deflect drainage along
the strike or may form a local base
level which inhibits down cutting
through bedding planes.
Geological structure is therefore of
major importance in any karst,
whether it be at the scale of the
entire karst area, particular
drainage systems, individual caves
or passage segments. At the largest
scale, a useful distinction can be
drawn between holokarst in which
the limestone occupies the entire
catchment, and merokarst in which
other rock types occur and exert an
important influence around the
limestone/non-limestone interface.
An impounded karst exists where
the limestone is topographically
recessive

CONTRIBUTION

limestone.....................................................................................................1
Allogenic streams
- From rainfall
hardness...........................................................3
- From rock
weathering..........................................................18
Surface solution
- From bare
rock ......................................................................5
- From soil
profile....................................................................23
- From
joints............................................................................20
Subsurface caves and surface
streams ..............................................................................25
Stream caves of subjacent
karst...........................................................................................5
Table 2.1 Relative carbonate contributions in one karst catchment
Cave Creek, Cooleman Plain, NSW (after Jennings 1983b).
B . The Development of
Underground
Drainage
The geological structure and the
geomorphic
history of an area combine to
determine the
pattern of underground drainage that
develops. In the earliest stages of diversion
underground, the underground conduit
may be
unable to cope with flood flows such
that
the semi-abandoned surface channel is
periodically reactivated. In the simplest
case
the water which leaks into the channel
bed
opens up the limestone by solution,
leading
to the development of a channel
approximately beneath the valley floor. Hence,

and also geologically enclosed

(Jennings
1977). At the drainage system and
cave
levels, White (1969) has identified
seven
hydrogeologic systems in areas of
moderate
topographic relief that fit into three
broad
categories, namely, diffuse flow (Type
1),
free flow (Type II) or confined flow
(Type
III) in various geological contexts. As an
example of the application of this
model,
the Mole Creek area, a merokarst, is
dominated by free flow situations in which
the
limestone extends deep below the
valley
floors. This comprises Whites Type IIa,
of
which there are two variants. The first
is

some dependence upon the original

surface
drainage line may exist. Geological
structure and topography significantly
condition
the hydrodynamic domain in which
cave
development occurs, and structure
may also

an open (IIa1) situation in which

intake is
diffuse via sinkholes and streamsinks,
and
the water brings with it a considerable
load
of abrasive rock fragments, and there
are
waterfilled caves and also older
sedimentchoked cave segments abandoned at
higher
10

levels. The second is a "capped" (IIa2)

situation involving the intake of water from
the
edge of impervious cap rocks down
shafts
which lead to nearly horizontal caves.
The attitude of the enclosing bedrock
tends
to exert a profound influence upon
cave geometry. Gently dipping beds generally
lead to
the formation of caves that in plan are
joint
controlled and which in longitudinal
section
are dominated by bedding and joints.
As the
dip steepens caves tend to become
elongate
along the strike of the rock. Unless the
passage is smoothed by flowing water or
its
elastic load, the bedding planes impose
an
angular form on the roof and walls.
Bedding
planes may be the more important
source of
guidance in phreatic conditions, with

favourable geological structures will

still
concentrate the flow.
Precipitation that reaches a landscape
is
distributed in four ways : by
evapotranspirahon; by overland flow; by through flow;
and
by infiltration. A simplified hydrological
cycle model for karst areas is
presented in
Figure 2.1
In karst areas overland flow and
throughflow tend to be restricted due to the
high infiltration capacity of the bedrock, and
these
two modes are of greatest significance
during
high intensity storms and on steep
slopes.
Infiltration itself is the product of two
critical determinants, namely the nature of
the
bedrock and also the nature of any
mantle of
soil or transported regolith material
which

joints
more significant under vadose
conditions
(B6gli 1969,Jennings 1985).
C. Karst Hydrology
Classical groundwater theory
recognises the
existence of a watertable, the plane of
contact between the phreatic zone in
which
pore spaces are permanently
water(filed,
and the vadose zone which lies above
it.
Karst hydrology has emphasised the
notion
of an epiphreatic zone across which the
watertable migrates seasonally or
ephemerally. The watertable is envisaged as
paralleling the ground surface although
having a
more moderate vertical amplitude.
Below
the watertable there is lateral water
movement as a consequence of a
pressure gradient produced by gravity and the
pressure
of the water column. Permeable rocks
which
do not confine water constitute an
aquifer,
whilst impermeable confining strata
constitutes an aquiclude. However, while this
simple notion is broadly satisfadory
when
dealing with rocks of high intergranular
porosity, cave-bearing limestone is
generally dense and water in it is confined to

overlies the bedrock. In crystalline

limestones of low intergranular porosity
such as
those that occur in the Mole Creek
area, infiltration is concentrated in structural
openings such as joints and bedding planes,
and in
solutional cavities in the bedrock. The
fre
quency, continuity and scale of those
openings controls the rate of infiltration. The
nature of the regolith that mantles the
limestone is the second determinant. Loose
textured residual soils or regolith materials
dumped on the limestone by rivers,
glaciers
or slope instability favour infiltration.
Transported regolith mantles that are
generally permeable are common in the
Mole
Creek area.
In a karst aquifer infiltration water may
follow one of three paths, the first being
percolation into a regolith cover; the second
being
percolation into crevices in bare rock;
and
the third being the intercep6on of
concentrated overland now by a major conduit
or
conduit system (Figure 2.2).
In path 1 (Figure 2.2), the regolith
intercepts
diffuse infiltration water. Vegetation

joints
and solutional openings which may not
inter-connect. Thus there is often no
watertable-in the classical sense but rather a
three
dimensional maze of what are
effectively
multiple aquifers and aquicludes within
the
single limestone rock formation. The
limestone may contain both static and
mobile water, some with a free air space and
flowing
under the influence of gravity, some in
waterrified passages where uphill flow is
commonly maintained by an hydraulic
head,
or a combination of these. Some closer
semblance to a classical watertable can
only be
achieved when solution advances to
the
extent of permitting free
intercommunication
between . all the solution cavities, but

exerts
a major influence on this. One
comparative
study of forest and grassland hydrology
In a
South east Australian karst has shown
that
the forest cover produced twice the
transpiration loss and reduced infiltration to
nil
(Holmes and Colville 1970a, b).
Because
biological productivity is no higher in
karst
areas than in other terrains increased
transpiration does not balance the
reduction
in evaporation which results from rapid
infiltration. The transpirational loss has
been shown to be 15-30% less in
studies of two
temperate karst areas than that which
occurs in comparable non-karstic
terrains
(Pardre 1965, Jennings 1985).

11

In path 2, essentially diffuse flow is

rapidly
intercepted by crevices in bare rock,
the frequency of which is a critical
determinant of
interception patterns. In path 3,
concentrated overland flow is intercepted via
swallets, which may be obvious shafts,
cracks or horizontal caves or staggered
in-

The processes of water distribution in a

karst
may follow one of several trends, as
shown in
Figure 2.3). Pathways 1 and 2 may lead
to
phreatic storage, in which seepage flow
is
liable to predominate, often with some
supplementation from conduit flow. The
term

takes that cause streams to disappear

by
degrees into the bed; or may involve
very
gradual loss via percolation. The latter
is
most likely to apply where transported
nonlimestone deposits form a partial
surficial
aquiclude which seals off the bedrock.
Periglacial, glacifluvial and alluvial
deposits provide aquicludes of this sort
in
the Mole Creek area.
The transfer and storage mechanisms
that
apply are directly related to the intake
processes. Seepage flow (paths 1 and 2)
usually
directly feeds phreatic storage, while
trickle flow and stream flow generally
follow conduits to the distribution point,
although they may be diverted via the
epiphreas to phreatic storage (Figure
2.3).

exsurgence is applied to springs that

discharge seepage water directly
(Jennings
1985) but often it is not possible to be
certain
that a particular spring is fed entirely
by
seepage. The term resurgence is
applied to
springs that discharge water flows fed
wholly or partly by swallet interception.
The flow rate of karst streams varies
with
many factors including rainfall
intensity.
An average velocity of about 3Om/hr is
suggested by French studies (Jennings
1985) but
recorded values range from only a few
metres/hr to a speed of some 2 km/hr
recorded
from a site at Mole Creek during this
study.

12

These distinctions in the processes and

mechanisms of karst hydrology are
important considerations in managing karst
resources, because they aid in the
identification of elements of the hydrological
system
that are vulnerable to damage if
mismanaged. At the intake level, human
activities
can modify the environment.
For instance, soil erosion can convert
mantle
interception to bare rock interception,
while
sedimentation can have the reverse
effect or
can block swallets. Such effects might
significantly alter the balance of karst
water
transfer and storage with deleterious
im-

The nature of any particular karst

hydrological system conditions the rate of
throughput. Systems in which a high proportion
of
the now travels via paths 1 and 2
ameliorate both maximum discharge at
springs and
slow the arrival time at springs.
Systems in
which path 3 predominates are characterised by flashier flooding and larger
maximum discharges. In times of drought,
stored
water may account for a more
substantial
proportion of the water flow from resurgences in systems otherwise
dominated by
flow from swallets (Smith, Atkinson and
Drew 1976). The annual discharge of
karst
springs tends to be greater, base nows

pacts upon cave systems, ground

water quality or ground water abundance.
Sedimentation may diminish the capacity for
conduit
flow or storage. Silt is particularly likely
to
settle in still water phreatic storage.
This
may, in turn, alter the distributional
balances. Given that virtually all karst
phenomena are in continuous
interaction
with water (Hamilton-Smith 1976)
human
impacts upon the karst water intake
processes may have serious
consequences.

higher
and flood peaks more moderate than
stream
flows in comparable non-karstic
terrains
(White and Reich 1970; Parde 1965).
The
significance of this fact to karst
evolution is
that while karst streams exert their
greatest erosion by mechanical means
during flood
peaks, karst waters remain
geomorphically
active despite the lesser peaks
because corrosion will often be of greater
proportional
significance than in non-karst terrains
(Jennings 1985).
13

D. Cave Passage Elaboration

where a stream fails to migrate laterally

to a significant degree during

downcutting, where there are major
joint network intersec-tions or where
running water continually evacuates the
debris left by mechanical breakdown
during upward stoping of the ceiling.
Breakdown involves the mechanical
failure of cave walls and ceilings in
response to solu-tional destabilisation
and tectonic stresses. Such processes as
rockfall and rockslide are probably more
significant in karst than in any other
geomorphic system (Jennings 1985), a
consideration which any karst manager
might do well to bear in mind.
Mechanical detachment can also be
brought about by frost wedging or by
the growth of salt crys-tals such as
gypsum within fractures, partic-ularly in
dry situations. While the stresses are
continuous, instantaneous release demands a trigger mechanism, which can
be cave draining, heavy rain, colloid
expansion or contraction, and possibly
earth tremor or artificially induced shock
waves (Jennings 1985).

Although solution is pre-eminent in

initiating karst caves, other processes
aid in their elaboration. Perhaps the
most significant of these is the
mechanical process of corrosion. Hard
residual fragments released from the
limestone by solution, hard nonlimestone rocks washed into caves,
and to a lesser extent limestone
fragments detached fromthe cave
mouth area by frost wedging in cold
climates can all contribute to the load
of cave streams, the mechanical
abrasion they permit can be a very
significant, if not the dominant, factor
in the enlargement of cave passages
initially produced by solution processes. Drastic mechanical changes
may be accomplished during extreme
flood events. Mechanical action may
occur in shallow phreatic tubes but it
is in the vadose domain where gravity
becomes the driving force for streams
that the most conspicuously mechanical features are found. These include
features such as cascades, plunge
pools, ingrown meanders and rock
benches. As development continues,
lower level passages are devel-oped
by downcutting and stream piracy,
but because cave streams lack a flood
plain, excess flows may at times still
spread up-wards into the older
passages (Jennings 1985). Larger
chambers tend to develop

E. Speleothem Development
There are a number of processes
entailed in the development in caves of
speleothems

14
such as stalactites and stalagmites.
Generally speaking, for carbonate to be
deposited in caves carbon dioxide must
be able
to diffuse from carbonate-rich seepage
water
into the cave atmosphere where the

water. Precisely which polymorph of

calcium carbonate is precipitated is
probably
determined by the rate of evaporation
(Pobeguin 1955) or temperature
(Moore 1956).
Because aragonite is 11% more soluble

partial
pressure of CO2 is less than in the soil
atmosphere through which the water has
previously travelled. The result of this is that
the seepage water loses its capacity to
carry
the carbonate it has taken up beneath
the
soil. Evaporation is not a major factor
because most cave atmospheres are
fairly
humid. Higher evaporation rates tend
to
produce only the rather chalky
speleothems
found near some entrances or in very
draughty passages. Secondly, there
must be
sufficient carbonate in solution to
enable an
appreciable amount of solute to
precipitate
out. Because the majority of the Co2
which
permits carbonate uptake is derived
from
the soil, retention of the soil mantle is
fundamental to the development and
maintenance of speleothems. Thirdly, the rate
of
water flow is important. A high flow
rate
offers the prospect of more rapid
deposition
provided that the volume is not so
great as
to prevent effective carbonate
saturation of
the water being achieved. Rapid flow
tends
to inhibit stalactite growth while stalagmite growth is inhibited by an
excessively

than
calcite, it can only precipitate when the
precipitation of calcite is inhibited, most
often
by poisoning of crystal/ growth
surfaces by
certain ions (Curl 1962, Harmon et a1.
1983).
The origins of moonmilk remain
controversial. While many workers agree that it
has
a biological origin, others have
suggested it
to be the product of vapour phase
equilibrium during evaporation (Moore and
Nicholas 1964, White 1976). Of the sulphate minerals, gypsum most
commonly
develops in caves due to the presence
of
pyrite or pyritic shale in the limestone.
The
pyrite oxidises in contact with water to
form
sulphuric acid which subsequently
reacts
with the carbonate rock. Gypsum
growing in
cracks can wedge limestone apart
because
the molar volume of the hydrated
sulphates
is greater than that of the calcium
carbonate
(Pohl and White 1965, Harmon et al.
1983).
This brief discussion of mineral genesis
is
necessarily incomplete, however
around 20
minerals are commonly found in caves,
and at
least 80 have been recorded under
special

slow flow (Jennings 1985).

conditions at particular sites.

In some rare cases where biogenic Co2

is not
available, speleothems have been
precipitated through seepage water dissolving
several calcium-bearing minerals and
precipitating calcite as the least soluble by
the
common ion effect. Acids are produced
by
such mechanisms as the Oxidation of
pyrite
in the limestone, carbonate is
subsequently
dissolved and additional Co2 is taken
up by
the water which then has a higher Co2
partial pressure than the cave
atmosphere
with which it subsequently comes into
contact (Wigley and Brown 1976,
Atkinson
1983).

F. Landslides and Soil Erosion

Stalactites and stalagmites grow by the

diffusion of Co2 from drip water and the
consequent precipitation of carbonate as
crystals.
The growth processes of helictites have
not
yet been satisfactorily explained but
capillary action and high surface tensions
are
probably important. Flowstones
develop by
Co2 diffusion from a flowing film of
water,
with gours produced where protrusions
impede and spread the water flow
promoting increased exposure to the cave

Residual limestone soils tend to be well

drained due to the high infiltration
capacity of the bedrock, and occasionally
they become cemented by precipitated calcite.
As a
consequence mass movements on a
catastrophic time scale are comparatively
infrequent in karst areas that are free of
transported regolith materials. On the other
hand, vertical and lateral support may
be
removed by the dissolution of
limestone
bedrock, and this can lead to various
forms
of dry and wet slide and flow. Where
swelling clay permits moisture entry
into
desiccation cracks block slumping can
result
(Jennings 1985).
Where transported regolith mantles are
present in karst areas that are overlooked
by
higher non-limestone slopes, or where
glacial or river deposits occur, these
materials may be sufficiently thick to impede
desiccation by infiltration, and slope failure
may be more common. Some of those
transported mantles may themselves be the
result
of wet failures on surrounding slopes
which

atmosphere at that point and the accretion

of a
calcite rim. Cave pearls form by the
precipitation of concentric layers of calcium
carbonate around a nucleus in a
carbonate saturated pool agitated and aerated by
dripping

are not subject to high infiltration

rates.
Generally however, the karst manager
can
assume landslips to be comparatively
infrequent on true limestone soils and on
karstified bedrock generally. Any landslips
that
15

do occur should be examined for the

possibility of human causation. The karst
manager
should assume that as the system
seldom
incorporates slope failures any that are
caused by human activity may have a
significant impact.
On the other hand slow mass
movement by
soil erosion can be a very serious
problem,
particularly on residual limestone soils,
as
opposed to transported regolith
mantles.
Many Tasmanian limestone soils are
thin
and largely confined to pockets. They
are
susceptible to erosion if disturbed and
once
removed may take millenia to recover.
How
long does it take to replace these soils?
Some idea of the time scales involved
in the
formation of these sorts of soils may be
obtained by considering the calculated
average rate of carbonate removal from
karst

cases it may take half a decade or

more for
the effects to become evident. Some
subsidence is due to fine components of the
regolith being washed into solution
channels
on bedrock. This is probably due to
greater
moisture in the regolith when
transpiration
is reduced following forest removal,
coupled
with the progressive rotting of tree
roots.
Thorough "before and after studies on
the
affects of logging on karst soils are
unavailable. However, on the basis of
experience on
Vancouver Island, Professor Derek Ford
of
McMaster University has observed
the general (qualitative) impression is
not good. A lot of soil is lost downslope
or
into karren ground and wide areas will
probably grow no more than bushes in
the
future. There is substantial local
variation; some places are probably

areas in comparable climates to that of

Tasmania (expressed in terms of
surface lowering), and building into the calculation
average figures for the composition of
the
Mole Creek limestones. Because the
limestones at Mole Creek are generally of
high
purity, most of the breakdown products
are
lost from the soil system in solution,
leaving
only the insoluble residues which may
account for only 5% or less of the
original
rock mass. This exercise suggests
these
residues will be freed from the bedrock
at a
maximum accumulation rate
equivalent to
less than 3m/ 1000 years. Time must
be
allowed for soil to form in this residue
material. Studies of more rapidly forming
soils
on other rock types in the state have
shown
that they have developed profiles only
3050 cm deep during the 10-15,000 years
since
the last episode of cold glacial climate
(Kiernan 1983a). This would not be of
concern if there were no evidence of
erosion
having occurred, but it is clear from the
exposure of karren on the surface that
erosion
has occurred. Relating surface karren
forms
(Chapter 1) to the present soil in some
Tasmanian karsts indicates that up to
30 cm

permanently devastated, others will recover very well. The main controlling
factors appear to be: First, the depth of
glacial till dumped on limestone slopes
at the end of the last glaciation. Where
this exceeds 1-1.5 m karren
development
underneath is retarded and soil loss is
not
intolerable after clearing. Where it is
less there are big problems. Second,
the
extent and density of postglacial
karren
development. In part this is related to
lithologic variation and in part to depth
of carbonate rich till, as intimated.
Carbonate clasts in the till absorb
much
of the solutional attack. If your region
is
one of residual soils free of carbonate
clasts (as opposed to transported till)
then the problem is likely to be grave,
especially if subsurface karren are well
developed.
(D.C. Ford, pers. com. 13 April 1983).
The comments on soils and karren are
particularly pertinent because there
are few
carbonate rock fragments in the
transported
regolith materials at Mole Creek.
G. Karst Evolution and Climate
Change
The optimal climatic conditions for
karst
development remain controversial
although
the availability of water both to
dissolve
the limestone and to permit the
existence of
a living soil mantle is clearly a

of soil loss has occurred due to sheet

erosion
since the advent of agricultural
clearing and
logging on residual limestone soils. In
some
places residual limestone soils are
therefore
being lost at least 150 times faster
than the
rate at which natural replenishment
can
occur, and total soil loss at some sites
is a
real possibility.
In addition to the normal slopewash
mechanisms of soil erosion, in karst
areas soil is
also frequently lost into solution
channels, karren crevices and
sinkholes. The writers qualitative
observations suggest that sinkhole development is greatly expedited
following forest clearing although in
some

fundamental
requirement. The interplay between
topographic, geologic, biotic, hydrological
and
temporal factors in karst evolution is
complex. For the sake of simplicity, the
discussion so far has assumed that the
controlling
factors are in a static condition which
of
course they are not. Many of the
balances
which exist in the system vary over
time,

16
climate among them. Some changes
are measurable over a human time scale,
others over
a geological one.
Climatic changes impact upon the
biotic,
hydrologic and topographic conditions
Which are critical to cave and karst
evolution. While some early workers have
argued that the caves of Mole Creek
post
date the most recent glaciation and
have
developed in the last 6000 years
(Burns and
Rundle 1958) more recent work has

areas was probably significantly

different
from that at present (Kieman 1982a).
Slopes
were more unstable due to the reduced
forest
biomass. The result was the blocking of
some
cave entrances (Goede 1973). Slope
instability was aided by the action of frost and
ice
and comparatively slow chemical
weathering was overwhelmed by more rapid
physical processes. Torrential streams of
seasonal
meltwater deposited coarse gravels in

shown
that some speleothems in the caves
are of
nearly thirty times that age (Goede and
Harmon 1983) implying that the caves
which contain them must be
considerably
older still. Their development therefore
extends back well into the Quaternary
period, a time characterised by major
climatic
oscillations. At least eight major cold
climatic episodes have occurred during
the last
700,000 years (and others earlier)
according
to the oxygen isotope record from deep
sea
cores. Conditions similar to those which
prevail at present have probably
existed
during less than 10% of the
Quaternary, in
episodes ranging from 5 - 25,000 years
duration (Shackleton and Opdyke 1973).
Mean
annual temperature has probably
fluctuated
by 5 - 12C, annual precipitation by
50% and
sea level by around 100m as ice sheets
and
glaciers waxed and waned.
The implications of changes of this kind
upon delicately poised karst systems
are
obvious. Karst landscapes are not the
result
solely of karst processes - for instance,
in
some cases the relationship between
karst
and glaciers is a very close one (Ford

river
valleys and some caves were
completely
filled. The effects of glaciers
themselves
were at times contradictory,
sometimes eroding away or filling caves and
sometimes
forming new passages through the
action of
meltwater streams (Kiernan 1982a,
1983b).
Hence the total environment was
drastically
altered with massive consequences for
the
rate and nature of karst processes and
karst
evolution. The influence of prehistoric
humans was superimposed upon these
natural effects, for fires lit by Aborigines
aided
in the destabilisation of slope mantles
and
probably caused further aggradation in
stream channels (Murray et a1. 1980,
Kiernan
et a1. 1983).
We are now faced with managing a
landscape which is not entirely the product
of
the environment that prevails today.
Our
perceptions of karst are shaped by how
we
see it from the perspective of the brief
climatic respite in which our civilisation
has blossomed, yet to some extent this
is an
atypical context. Today the vegetation
cover is the principal barrier to our
karsts
being places of considerable landscape

1979).
In Tasmania, glaciers arose most
recently
about 18,000 years ago but had
retreated by
about 10,000 years ago. During this
comparatively minor Glacial Stage the mean
annual temperature was probably only
5
6C colder than now (Kiernan 1980a,
1983a).
Nevertheless, this was sufficient to
significantly alter the environment.
Geomorphological evidence and fossil pollen
indicate
that the treeline was depressed to low
levels leaving presently forested areas
cloaked in low scrub or grasslands and
other
areas virtually devegetated (Macphail
1979). The vegetation in low lying karst

instability. There is evidence of present .day

periglacial frost sorting processes as
low as
24om as on the devegetated hills
around
Queenstown (Kiernan 1980a). Intensive
forestry activity removes the
vegetation
barrier, at least for a time.
Any study or management program for
the
physical environment which fails to
consider the Quaternary context of the
problem
in hand stands upon the shakiest of
foundations. It is axiomatic to this report that
the
aim of land managers should be to
manage
our karst resources in the present day
climatic context!

17

3. SOME NATURE CONSERVATION AND

LAND MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Karst may be significant in nature
conservation terms by virtue of its scientific
value, its
recreational importance, aesthetic
considerations, historical associations; folklore
or
religious considerations. This chapter
firstly explores this question of
significance,
particularly scientific significance, and
asks
"why bother protecting karst?" It then
reviews some of the ways in which
karst can

opment and in the processes

responsible for
cave development mean that there is a
tremendous diversity in the underground
geomorphology of karst areas (Jennings
1985,
Davey 1984). Cave deposits often
provide a
record of past influences on the
evolution of
the surface landscape that may be
preserved
in caves long after corresponding
phenomena

be adversely affected by human

activities,
and how humans can often be affected
adversely by karst.
NATURE CONSERVATION ISSUES IN
KARST
The paragraphs that follow provide a
brief
summary of some of the values of karst
in
nature conservation terms. Some of the
values of Australian karst and caves in
particular, have been surveyed by
White &
Davey (1977), Davey (1984) and
Kiernan
(1988). These reports contain
additional
information on particular disciplines.
Scientific Values
Geology
Caves and other karst landforms
commonly
provide clear exposures of rock
materials
and their structure that can be of
significance
both in their own right and because
they
offer insights useful in broader scale
geological mapping. Karst sites, and
particularly
caves, also offer valuable opportunities
for
the study of minerals. At least 80
minerals
have been recorded in caves, many of
which
are quite rare (Moore 1970, White
1976).
Surface geomorphology

have been eroded away on the surface.

Analysis of chemical isotopes in
stalagmites
offers the possibility of dating the
deposits
and reconstructing patterns of past
vegetation change, while pollen and bone
deposits
in cave sediments can also provide
information on past environments and the
evolution
of the surface landscape, including
such
things as rates of mountain building,
sea
level change and valley incision (Ford
et al.
1981).
Hydrology
The distinctive hydrological
characteristics
of karst offer many exciting areas for
research. Among the research issues are
the
complexity of underground water
movements
and the ability of underground streams
to
ignore the surface topography and
cross from
one valley to another (Jennings and
James
1967). The relative contributions of
seepage
and streamsink water to underground
streams; now times; the age of
groundwater
resources; and the chemistry of cave
waters
(Coede et aI. 1982) are among the
questions
investigated by karst hydrologists. The
answers they obtain have significant

The diversity and evolution of the

various
species of enclosed depression,
solution fluting of outcrops and large residual
landforms
are of considerable scientific interest
(Jennings 1984). In addition, the
topography
and drainage of some limestone areas
is conducive to the preservation of the
deposits
laid down by rivers, glaciers and slope
processes, with the result that some karst
areas
are of particular value in the study of
landform evolution and climate change
(Kiernan
1982a).
Underground geomorphology
The varied geologic, climatic,
topographic
and biologic influences that condition
cave
development, variations in stage of
deveI-

implications for human use of karst

areas.
Climatology
The state and now of cave air can
significantly affect the character of a cave,
and
the fauna and speleothems it contains,
but it
also offers valuable opportunities for
study
in its own right. Climatologists and
meteorologists examine the movement of air
through caves and the mechanisms
that
cause it; the gaseous composition of
the air
and its temperature. Such studies can
offer
insight into broader scale questions
(Wigley
1967, Wigley and Brown 1976, Halbert
1982).
Cave air may also have distinctive
electrical properties. Therapeutic
clinics for
respiratory patients have been
established
in some European caves.
Vertebrate palaeontology
Ancient fossil bone deposits have been
found
in many caves and sinkholes and it is
from

such occurrences that we have

obtained most
of our information about some
prehistoric
animals. In Tasmania, for instance,
lime-

18
proximity to cave entrances. Most cave
dependent fauna is invertebrate. Some
species are obliged to remain
underground by
virtue of their biology, while others
must

stone caves near Montagu have

provided considerable information on giant extinct
marsupials (Kiernan 1973, Murray and
Goede
1977). At Naracoorte in South Australia
a
very large deposit of fossil bones in a
cave is
of outstanding scientific importance
and has
become a major tourist attraction
(Anon.
1976).
Archaeology
Many important advances in our
knowledge
of our ancestors have been obtained
from the
caves which they frequented. Caves
such as
Lascaux and Altirnira in Europe contain
outstanding displays of cave art, while
elsewhere excavations in places like Spirit
Cave in Thailand, Niah Cave in Borneo
and
Kutikina Cave in Tasmania (Kiernan et
a1.
1983) have documented the spread of
humanity across the globe. A number
of
Tasmanian caves have already proven
important in archaeological terms. For
instance, Iudds Cavern [Wargata Mina]
in
the Cracroft Valley contains the
southernmost ice age human art in the world.
The
archaeological legacy may not be
confined to
caves. In Tasmania most karsts are

venture outside to feed. Caves may

also form
refuges for some life-forms during
episodes of
climate change, and their isolation
underground during these episodes can lead
to the
evolution of distinct species in different
karst areas (Moore 1970). Glow-worms
are
an important tourist asset in some
caves. The
most significant vertebrate cavedwellers in
Australia are bats, which form an
important
part of the food chain in some karsts
(though
cave-dwelling bats have not been
recorded in
Tasmania). At Mt Etna in Queensland it
is
estimated that cave-dwelling bats
consume
up to one tonne of insects from the
surrounding
farmlands each night.
Recreation
Tourism
Limestone caves have been developed
for
tourism in almost every country in the
world.
In some countries they are major
revenue
earners and are the livelihood for large
numbers of people, either directly or
indirectly. The Jenolan Cave complex in
New
South Wales is visited by over 250,000
tourists annually. In Tasmania two
caves

areas of
subdued topography that facilitated
the
movement of prehistoric humans and
the
marsupials they hunted (Kiernan
1982b).
Because surface water is scarce in
karst,
springs are likely to have been foci of
past
human activity and are potential sites
for
the discovery of archaeological sites on
the
surface.

have been developed for tourists at

Mole
Creek, one at Gunns Plains and one at
Hastings. A number of others have
great
potential for tourist development
although
considerable initial capital investment
would be required. The surface scenery
of
karst areas is often very appealing and
forms an important part of the
attraction.
Adventure tourism that involves guided
visits to undeveloped caves is growing
in
importance.

Surface biology
Outdoor recreation
Distinctive natural vegetation and
fauna
often evolve in karst terrains, due to
the
associated microclimates, topography
and
chemical conditions (Brown et a1.
1982,
Iarman and Crowden 1978). For
instance,
sinkholes can pond cold air, and
concentrate
surface moisture. They offer sheltered
sites
that may escape bushfires, and refuges
for
some species when climatic changes
occur.
They may constitute nuclei from which
species radiate when the climate
reverts to
one more favourable to them. A
number of
plants and animals are restricted to
areas of
karst. Karst vegetation may also be
important to the survival of species
that

Caving as a recreation is growing in

popularity and is now incorporated in the
outdoor
activities of many schools. Many caving
bodies in Australia are affiliated with
the
Australian Speleological Federation and
these offer the best training for people
aspiring to visit caves that have not
been
developed for general tourism. In
addition,
some limestone areas offer
opportunities for
bushwalking, rock climbing and other
outdoor activities. The opportunities
range
from the exploration of caves that have
not
previously been seen by human eyes,
through
the satisfaction of successfully
negotiating
difficult passages to simply deriving
satisfaction from visiting an unusual
environment. Inaccessible wilderness

range over a wider area.

may

Underground biology
The fauna that inhabits caves may
occur
only deep underground or it may
favour close
19