karst

views updated May 14 2018

karst / kärst/ • n. Geol. landscape underlain by limestone that has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes, and other characteristic landforms. DERIVATIVES: kars·tic / ˈkärstik/ adj.kars·ti·fi·ca·tion / ˌkärstəfiˈkāshən/ n.kars·ti·fy / ˈkärstəˌfī/ v. (-fies, -fied) .

karst

views updated May 08 2018

karst
1. Area of the Dinaric Alps of Yugoslavia underlain by limestone.

2. Any region underlain by limestone and characterized by a set of land-forms resulting largely from the action of carbonation.

3. By extension, regions in which other processes produce similar types of landforms, e.g. thermokarst in the periglacial environment.

karst

views updated May 23 2018

karst Specifically, an area of the Dinaric Alps of Bosnia Hercegovina that is underlain by limestone. By extension, any region that is underlain by limestone and characterized by a set of land-forms resulting largely from the action of carbonation or of other processes produces similar types of land-forms (e.g. thermokarst in the periglacial environment).