Caves and Karst Landscapes
Karst landscapes form when slightly acidic rainwater dissolves limestone, creating caves, sinkholes and underground rivers.
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Karst landscapes form when slightly acidic rainwater dissolves limestone, creating caves, sinkholes and underground rivers.
- Stalactites hang from cave roofs
- Stalagmites grow upwards from floors
- Limestone dissolves slowly
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is Caves and Karst Landscapes?
Within Earth & Environmental Science, which covers our planet, its resources and ecosystems, and how people can protect the environment, this topic explains Caves and Karst Landscapes. Earth and environment topics show how the planet’s systems shape landscapes, climate and life, with models that make these processes visible.
Check that you can explain Caves and Karst Landscapes in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding Caves and Karst Landscapes helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
Caves and Karst Landscapes in detail
Karst landscapes form on soluble rocks, mostly limestone, where slightly acidic rainwater (carbonic acid) dissolves the rock along joints and bedding planes, in a process called carbonation. Surface features include limestone pavements (clints and grykes), sinkholes (swallow holes), gorges and dry valleys.
Underground, dissolving creates caves and cave systems, where dripping water deposits calcite to form stalactites (hanging from the roof), stalagmites (growing up from the floor) and pillars. Rivers often disappear underground. Karst areas store groundwater but are vulnerable to pollution because water passes quickly through, and they are valued for tourism, caving and unique wildlife.
How the interactive helps you understand Caves and Karst Landscapes
Click a card to flip it and reveal the answer, then move on to the next one.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Caves and Karst Landscapes.
Real-life uses and examples
- Link Caves and Karst Landscapes to a real environmental problem and a possible solution.
- Use a diagram of Caves and Karst Landscapes to describe the steps of a process in order.
- Discuss how human activity changes Caves and Karst Landscapes, using a named example.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Presenting one cause as the only cause of an environmental change.
- Describing a process without the timescale it works over.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about Caves and Karst Landscapes
What is Caves and Karst Landscapes?
Karst landscapes form when slightly acidic rainwater dissolves limestone, creating caves, sinkholes and underground rivers.
What are the most important points about Caves and Karst Landscapes?
The main points are: Stalactites hang from cave roofs; Stalagmites grow upwards from floors; Limestone dissolves slowly.
Why is Caves and Karst Landscapes useful?
Understanding Caves and Karst Landscapes helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
How can I practise Caves and Karst Landscapes?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to Caves and Karst Landscapes?
Related topics in Earth & Environmental Science include Renewable vs Non-Renewable Resources, Pollinators and Food Security, The Sun.