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Karst in Kentucky
By James S. Dinger (slides by James C. Currens)
KentuckyGeological SurveyUNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
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McConnell Springs The Springs were named after
William McConnell who led
some fellow frontiersmen
from Pennsylvania to explore
the "Kentucky Country in 1775.
The men were camped here at
the Spring when news of the first
shots of the Revolutionary War
reached them from nearby
Fort Boonesborough.
Lexington, Kentucky, was thereby
named by these frontiersmen in honor
of the city of Lexington, Massachusetts,
where "the shots heard round the world“
were fired and the American Revolutionary War began.
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What Is a Karst?
Karst is a landscape, not any single geomorphic feature
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Generalized Block Diagram of Karst Terrain
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Karst in Kentucky:
55 percent of the state has
potential for karst • Areas shown in dark
blue have high
potential for karst
• Areas shown in light
blue have moderate
potential for karst
• Areas shown in
yellow have limited
potential for karst
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Why Are Karst Aquifers
Important?
• Large numbers of Kentucky’s rural
residents get their drinking water from
springs and wells in karst aquifers; many of
these people are farmers
• Springs contribute a significant part of the
flow to streams, which supply public water
systems
• Both underground and surface ecological
systems depend on karst aquifers
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• Sensitivity of karst aquifers to
groundwater contamination
• Flooding of sinkholes
• Cover-collapse sinkholes
• Pinnacled bedrock (construction)
• Radon
Karst Geologic
Hazards
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Karst Spring Polluted by Crude Oil
from a Broken Pipeline
Photograph by J.C. Currens, January 28, 2000
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Groundwater Sensitivity to Pollution
• Recharge through large openings, which bypass the
filtering capability of soil
• Pollutants move through conduits with little
opportunity for filtration
• The pollutants cannot be observed and springs
become affected without warning
• Flow paths resurface at an unexpected locations
• Flow in karst aquifers is fast, allowing little time to
warn downstream water users following a reported
spill
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Sinkhole Flooding
Source: Center for Cave and Karst Studies, WKU
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Sinkhole Flooding Can Persist for Weeks—
Sinking Creek, Jessamine County
Photograph by J.C. Currens, February 14, 1989
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Cover-Collapse Sinkhole in Boyle County
Photograph by J.C. Currens, 2001
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Home Damaged by a Cover-
Collapse Sinkhole, Bullitt County, Ky.
Photograph by J.C. Currens, March 2001
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Depth to
Bedrock?
Photograph by J.C. Currens, 1990
Deep? Shallow?
After Sowers, G.F., 1996,
Building on sinkholes: fig 2.6
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High Radon Levels in Karst Areas
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/zonemap/kentucky.htm
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Building on Karst Costs More
• Higher construction cost
• Increased maintenance cost
• Human health and safety
• Environmental damage
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Estimates of the Economic Cost
of Karst Hazards in Kentucky • Increased construction cost: several million??
• Property damage Minimum of $500,000/year
from cover-collapse alone is suggested by
anecdotal evidence (buildings, livestock,
vehicles)
• Sinkhole repair Maximum of $20 million/year:
$2,000 average cost, one sinkhole/square
mile/year, 10,098 mi2 in the intensively
karstified 25% of the State)
• Flooding may add an average of $500,000/year
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Can these Costs Be
Avoided or Reduced?
(1) Status quo: Belief that karst-related problems cannot be avoided. Cost overruns are to be expected.
(2) Build elsewhere: Assume that for all facilities, the expense of making them structurally and environmentally safe on karst terrain is economically dubious.
(3) Build Smart: Use planning, designing, and building techniques that recognize the conditions that occur in karst.
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Groundwater Dye-Tracing in the Inner
Bluegrass Karst
Photograph by J.C. Currens, January 2002
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Logsdon River, Turnhole Spring Basin,
Flows through Mammoth Cave National Park
From Ray
and Currens,
1998
Mammoth Cave National Park
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Completed
Recent revision
In progress
Karst Groundwater Basin Maps Status “Plate Number 1” of the Karst Atlas
TELL CITY
BEAVER
DAM
LEXINGTON
CAMPBELLS-
VILLE SOMERSET
HOPKINS-
VILLE
HARRODS-
BURG
BOWLING
GREEN
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For more information on geology
and environmental issues
www.uky.edu/KGS/