Geography Exam 2 pgs. 380-384
Stalagmites, Stalactites
2 examples of depositional features
Algae, Invertebrates, Amphibians, Fish
4 examples of cave inhabiting organisms
China, Japan, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Yucatan, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, New Mexico
9 places that are outstanding examples of karst features
Cockpit Karst
A complex landscape in which sinkholes intersect
15%
About how much of Earth's land area has some karst features?
38%
About how much of Kentucky has sinkholes and related karst features?
Air Containing
An aerated zone
Ground Surface; Water Table
An aerated zone must exist between the _______ ______ and the _____ _____
Karst Valley
An elongated depression up to several kilometers long; Produced through the continuing solution and collapse of sinkholes
Closed; Self-Contained
Cave habitats are nearly ______, ______ ______ ecosystems
Simple; Stability
Cave habitats have ______ food chains and great _____
Carbonation
Caves form in limestone because it is so easily dissolved by what?
Water Table
Caves generally form just beneath the ____ ____, where later lowering of the water level exposes them to further development
Chemosynthesis
Caves have a __________-based food web
Water; Routes
Complex patterns of joints in the impermeable limestone are needed for _____ to form ______ to subsurface drainage channels
Time
Evidence has not supported the theory that ____ is a factor in all weathering processes
Symmetrical
In some circumstances, sinkholes can be _______
Jointed; Limestone
In the wet tropics, karst topography forms in deeply _____, thick _____ bed.
Inorganic Compounds; Organic
In total darkness, bacteria synthesize _______ ______ and produce ______ compounds that sustain many types of cave life
Circular Depressions
In what shape do sinkholes form?
Greater Humidity
Karst is primarily due to former climatic conditions of _____ _____
80; calcium carbonate
The limestone formation must contain ____% or more _____ _____ for dissolution process to proceed effectively
Karst Topography
The underworld caverns are the hallmarks of what?
Stalagmites
These build from the floor
Dripstones
These form as water containing dissolved minerals slowly drip from the cave ceiling
Stalactites
These grow from the ceiling
Chemical Weathering
This creates a specific landscape of pitted, bumpy surface topography, poor surface drainage, and well-developed solution channels underground
Solution Sinkhole
This will form if a gently rolling limestone plain is pock-marked by slow subsidence of surface materials
Collapse Sinkhole
This will form if such a solution sinkhole falls through the roof of an underground cavern
Doline
Traditional studies may call a sinkhole a _____
Biospeleology
Unique habitats and new life forms related to cave science
Organic Acids
Vegetation cover is required to supply varying amounts of _______ _______ that enhance the dissolution process
Groundwater
Weathering and erosion caused by ______ may result in mazes of underworld caverns
Dissolution Process; Joints; Aerated Zone; Vegetation
What 4 things are required for a limestone landscape to develop into karst topography?
Chemical Weathering
What are landscapes made of limestone susceptible to?
Sinkholes
What does the weathering of limestone landscapes create?
Limestone
What is an abundant sediment on Earth that composes many landscapes?
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky
What is the largest limestone cavern in the United States?
Weathering
What leaves isolated resistant limestone blocks standing?
Calcium Carbonate
What precipitates out of the evaporating solution, one molecular layer at a time, and forms points below, on a cave floor?
China
Where are the resistant limestone cones and towers the most remarkable?
Arid Regions
Where does Karst occur?
Arctic; Antarctica; The water is generally frozen
Where is karst rare? Why?
Krs Plateau; Slovenia
Where were karst processes first studied?
