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Karst and the USGS

Welcome to the USGS Karst Website. This website presents information on USGS research on karst aquifers, which are a vital ground-water resource in the United States. Here you can learn about past and current USGS karst research, with information on ongoing studies, real-time data, publications, and key contacts for major karst areas. Click on an aquifer on the map below, or select one from a list of aquifers.

Waterfall in Mammoth Cave Nat. Park. Recent rainfall has activated a large waterfall in the so-called Mammoth Dome, cascading water down on the path used by visistors through the cave. (Photo by Dan Doctor) Read more about Paleozoic karst aquifers of the Midwest...
Caverns of Sonora, Sonora, Texas. Inside the Edwards-Trinity Plateau aquifer, Sonora Caverns, Sonora, Texas. (Photo by Eve Kuniansky) Read more about the Trinity aquifer of the Edwards plateau...
Loss of water from the Peace River through underlying conduit during low-flow period, May 2004. The Peace River in this area is characterized by shallow, sometimes exposed carbonate units, with karst features that vary in type and size and include sinkholes, subsidence depressions, dissolution pipes, and enlarged fractures. (from Spechler and Kroening, 2006) Read more about the Floridan and Biscayne aquifers...
A "blue-hole" spring, Orangeville Rise, Indiana. Sixty feet in diameter. (Photo by Chuck Taylor) Read more about Paleozoic karst aquifers of the Midwest...
Main Barton Spring, with Barton Springs Pool drained. USGS Research Hydrologist Barbara Mahler makes water-quality measurements of Main Barton Spring. The spring normally discharges under the presssure of 12 feet of overlying water, but here that water had been lowered temporarily, to quantify the water-quality changes it causes. (Photo by Marcus Gary) Read more about the Edwards Balcones Fault Zone aquifer...

This website has an inventory of karst real-time and water-quality data available from the USGS. You can browse and search for reports and articles authored by USGS researchers, and find links for other karst resources. There is also an overview of karst and its properties.

This website is maintained by members of the USGS Karst Interest Group, whose (KIG), who investigate karst across the United States.

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URL: http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/karst/index
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Page Last Modified: Nov 7 2009