UIS Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis
Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World

The last decade has witnessed the boost in recognition of the possibility, global occurrence, and practical importance of hypogene karstification (speleogenesis), i.e. the development of macroscopic solutional porosity and permeability by ascending flow from underlying formations, independent of recharge from the overlying or immediately adjacent surface. Hypogene karst has been identified and documented in many regions where it was previously overlooked or misinterpreted. The book contains regional and cave-specfic case studies, selected to represent diversity and importance of hypogene karstification and void-conduit patterns depending on variations of geological environments. Cases include both well-known and newly recognized hypogene karst regions and caves of the word, and focus on geological, hydrogeologic, geodynamic and evolutionary contexts of hypogene speleogenesis. The book will enrich the basis for generalization and categorization of hypogene karstification, demonstrate multifarious implications of hypogene karst studies for other branches of the Earth sciences, and improve our ability to adequately model hypogene karstification and predict related porosity and permeability.

The book “Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World” is a project, initiated and coordinated by the Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis of the International Union of Speleology, as a part of its ongoing HypoKarst project ("Hypogene Karst & Speleogenesis: Nature, Processes, Mechanisms, Manifestations and Applications"). This book is going to be published by Springer, in its series “Cave and Karst Systems of the World”.

The progress in regional studies has been previously reviewed in a series of conferences and their subsequent publications, such as “Advances in Hypogene Karst Studies” (edited by K. Stafford, L. Land, and G. Veni, 2009), “Hypogene Speleogenesis and Karst Hydrogeology of Artesian Basins” (edited by A. Klimchouk and D. Ford, 2009), “Hypogene Cave Morphologies” (edited by A. Klimchouk, I. Sasowsky, J. Mylroie, S.A. Engel, and A.S. Engel, 2014), and “DeepKarst 2016: Origins, resources, and management of hypogene karst” (edited by T. Chaves and P. Reehling, 2016).

The new book was proposed as a next step in consolidating the quickly growing wealth of regional data about hypogene karst. It is neither an inventory, nor a comprehensive coverage of all hypogene karst regions and caves of the world, but is rather a selection of regional and cave-specific case studies that represent a remarkable variability of relevant patterns and settings (geological, hydrogeological, tectonic and geodynamic). In this way, it provides a solid reference for further generalizing and modeling studies of the topic, which may be the focus of a future collaborative volume on hypogene karst.

The book contains 61 chapters authored by 131 scholars from 25 nations and all continents (see the Table of Contents below). It starts with a chapter that reviews basic concepts about hypogene karst, speleogenesis, fluid dynamics, and hydrodynamic zoning of the upper crust, and outlines a pattern for classifying hypogene karst and its settings. Specific case studies are organized into four large geographic regions or continents. Although coverage is truly global, it is not uniform. Whereas 25 chapters are concerned with regions in Europe and 24 chapters deal with the North American regions, only 11 concern other parts of the world. This reflects the uneven distribution of research rather than scarcity of hypogene karst in underrepresented regions. On the basis of geological characteristics and fragmented reports of features scattered throughout petroleum and mining publications, it is evident that hypogene karst is widespread in many regions of Africa, Asia, Australia and South America, although there are few focused studies. Moreover, even in Europe and North America many areas have been recognized only recently to host hypogene karst, and its study is still ongoing. This means that next editions of volumes under this title will be needed.

Most contributions in this book deal with karst systems accessible to direct examination, which presently occur in the shallow subsurface. Most are relict systems, decoupled from their original genetic environments and brought into the shallow subsurface from considerable, sometimes large, depth. The advantages of direct observations and sampling, and of using methods developed in karst and cave science, make it possible to obtain unique information about patterns, processes, conditions, and controls of the origin of void-conduit systems at depth and about their hydraulic function. Many parameters of cave-forming environments can be reconstructed from mineralogical and geochemical footprints or inferred from other considerations, such as paleo-hydrogeological analysis. Studies of features that are analogs of deep-seated void-conduit systems are indispensable for interpreting data from drilling and geophysical surveys and for the development of conceptual models. Unfortunately, a wealth of information about the topic in mining areas and petroleum fields is difficult to obtain by karst scholars. Bridging the gap between karst science and industrial geology is a promising opportunity for further developments in hypogene karst studies.

The conference “DeepKarst 2016” held in April earlier this year in Carlsbad, NM, organized and hosted by the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI), has played an important role in the preparation of this book. Our special thanks to Margaret Palmer for her invaluable help in editing the chapters on North America. The editors thank all contributing authors for their productive collaboration, as well as the many researchers and cave explorers who have documented caves and karst features in various parts of the world.

The editors hope that this book will stimulate further research into hypogene karst and caves around the globe, as well as the interaction between karst scientists and industrial geologists.

Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World

Alexander B. Klimchouk, Arthur N. Palmer, Jo De Waele, Augusto S. Auler, Philippe Audra

Editors

In preparation by Springer; expected release date July 2017

Table of Contents

Preface

Klimchouk A Types and settings of hypogene karst

Part I: Europe

Farrant AR, Harrison T Hypogenic caves in the United Kingdom

Audra P Hypogene caves in France

Gázquez F, Calaforra JM, Rodríguez-Estrella T, Ros A, Llamusí JL, Sánchez JEvidence for regional hypogene speleogenesis in Murcia (SE Spain)

Ginés J, Fornós J, Gràcia F, Merino A, Onac P, Ginés A Hypogene imprints in coastal karst caves from Mallorca Island (western Mediterranean): morphological features and speleogenetic approach

Spötl C, Plan L, Dublyansky Y Hypogene karst in Austria

Galdenzi S, Menichetti M Hypogenic caves in the Apennine Mountains (Italy)

Galdenzi S, Jones DS The Frasassi caves: a “classical” active hypogenic cave

D’Angeli IM, Vattano M, Parise M, De Waele J The coastal sulfuric acid cave system of Santa Cesarea Terme (southern Italy)

10 Galdenzi S The thermal hypogenic caves of Acquasanta Terme (central Italy)

11 De Waele J, Gázquez F, Forti P, Naseddu A Inactive hydrothermal hypogenic karst in SW Sardinia (Italy)

12 Vattano M, Madonia G, Audra P, D’Angeli IM, Galli E, Bigot J-Y, Nobécourt J-C, De Waele J Update on the Hypogenic caves of Sicily

13 Banzato C, Vigna B, Fiorucci A, De Waele J Hypogene gypsum caves in Piedmont (N-Italy)

14 Lazaridis G Hypogene speleogenesis in Greece

15 Temovski M Hypogene karst In Macedonia

16 Onac B, DrA?guE?in V Hypogene caves of Romania

17 Mádl-SzA?nyi J, ErA?ss A, Tóth A Fluid flow systems and hypogene karst of the Transdanubian Range, Hungary — with special emphasis on Buda Thermal Karst

18 Leél-A?ssy S Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst

19 Bella P, Gaal L Hypogene caves in Slovakia

20 Suchý V, Sýkorová I, Zachariáš J, Filip J, MachoviA? V, LapA?ák L Hypogene features in sandstones: an example from Carboniferous basins of central-western Bohemia, Czech Republic

21 Kempe S, Bauer I, Glaser S Hypogene caves in Germany, geological and geochemical background

22 GradziA?ski M, Tyc A Hypogene speleogenesis in karst of Poland – regional review

23 Klimchouk A, Andreychouk V Gypsum karst in the south-west outskirts of the Eastern-European platform (Western Ukraine): a type region of artesian transverse speleogenesis

24 Andreychouk V, Klimchouk A Zoloush??a Cave (Ukraine-Moldova) – a prime example of hypogene artesian speleogenesis in gypsum

25 Klimchouk A, Amelichev G, Tymokhina E, Dublyansky Y, Hypogene speleogenesis in the Crimean Piedmont, the Crimea Peninsula

26 Kadebskaya OI, Maksimovich NG The role of hypogene speleogenesis in the formation of the Ordinskaya cave, fore-Urals, Russia

Part II: The Middle East and Central Asia

27 BayarA± CS, Özyurt NN, Törk AK, AvcA± P, Güner A°N, Pekkan E Geodynamic control of hypogene karst development in Central Anatolia, Turkey

28 Frumkin A, Langford B, Porat R The Judean Desert - the major hypogene cave region of the southern Levant

29 Vardanjani HK, Bahadorinia S, Ford D An introduction to hypogene karst regions and caves of Iran

30 Dublyansky Y, Mikhailov V, Bolner K, Hromas J, Szekely K, Hevesi AHypogene karst in the Tyuya-Muyun and the Kara-Tash massifs (Kirghizstan)

Part III: North America

31 DuChene H, Palmer A, Palmer M, Queen M, Polyak V, Decker D, Hill C, Spilde M, Burger P, Kirkland DW, Boston P Hypogene speleogenesis in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and Texas, USA

32 Stafford K Hypogene evaporite karst of the Greater Delaware Basin

33 Davis N, McMillan B Geology of quartz-lined hypogene caves of southeastern Arizona

34 Polyak V, Hill CA, Asmerom Y, Decker DD A conceptual model for hypogene speleogenesis in Grand Canyon, Arizona

35 Dublyansky Y, Klenke J, Spötl C Condensation corrosion speleogenesis in the Amargosa desert and the Tecopa Basin

36 Maslyn M, DuChene H, Luiszer F Hypogene caves and karst of the Southern Rocky Mts., Colorado

37 Palmer M, Palmer A, Davis D Hypogene caves of Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

38 Palmer A Hypogenic vs. epigenic aspects of the Black Hills caves, South Dakota

39 Broughton PL Hypogene karst collapse of the Devonian Prairie Evaporite Basin in Western Canada

40 Broughton PL Orogeny and hydrothermal karst: stratabound Pb-Zn sulphide deposition at Pine Point, northern Canada

41 Schindel G, Gary M Hypogene processes in the Balcones Fault Zone segment of the Edwards Aquifer of south-central Texas

42 Blackwood KW, Development and distribution of hypogenic caves and paleokarst features in the Arbuckle Mountains of South Central Oklahoma

43 Tennyson R, Brahana V, Polyak V, Potra A, Covington M, Asmerom Y, Terry J, Pollock E, Decker D Hypogene speleogenesis in the Southern Ozark Uplands, mid-continental United States

44 Olson RA Sulfides in the Mammoth Cave Area, Kentucky

45 Florea L Sulfur-based speleogenesis in the Cumberland Plateau, USA

46 Doctor D, Orndorff W Hypogene caves of the central Appalachian Shenandoah Valley in Virginia

47 Palmer A, Taylor P, Terrell L Hypogene karst springs along northern border of Appalachian Plateaus

48 Ford DC Carbonate-hosted massive sulfide deposits and hypogene speleogenesis: A case study from Nanisivik zinc/lead mine, Baffin Island, Canada

49 Upchurch SB Hypogene speleogenesis on the Florida platform

50 Gulley J, Polk J Hypogene Karst Influences in the Upper Floridan Aquifer

51 Mylroie J, Mylroie J Bahamian flank margin caves as hypogene Caves

52 Gary M Sistema Zacatón: volcanically controlled hypogenic karst, Tamaulipas, Mexico

53 Forti P The Naica Caves, Chihuahua, Mexico

54 Hose L, Rosales-Lagarde L Hypogene speleogenesis of Cueva de Villa Luz and area, Tabasco, Mexico

Part IV: South America, Africa, and Australia

55 Auler AS Hypogene caves and karst of South America

56 Auler AS, Klimchouk A, Bezerra FHR, Cazarin KL, Ennes Silva R, Balsamo F Origin and evolution of Toca da Boa Vista and Toca da Barriguda cave system in northeastern Brazil

57 Auler A, Souza TAR Hypogene speleogenesis in the Vazante Group, Minas Gerais, Brazil

58 Audra P Hypogene caves in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt)

59 Martini J Hypogene karst in Southern Africa

60 Stratford D A review of the geomorphological context and stratigraphy of the Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa

61 Osborne RAL Hypogene caves of the Tasmanic karsts of eastern mainland Australia