{"id":22,"date":"2021-02-02T17:54:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/driftless.caves.org\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2022-01-09T21:57:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T03:57:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/driftless.caves.org\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Karst?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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2021 \u2013 A Year for Something New…<\/span><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The International Year of Caves and Karst! So, what is the Driftless Area and Karst?<\/p>

The Driftless\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Paleozoic Plateau (also known as the Driftless Area) is famed for being the areas where the giant glaciers of the last ice age just barely did not cover the land. Because no enormous slabs of ice were present, they did not leave any material behind when they melted, known as glacial drift, hence the term \u201cDriftless\u201d.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The elevation here ranges from approximately 600 \u2013 1,700ft also means that there are many rare plants and animals that roam in this space. Because of its lack of glacial influence, this area did not get the incredibly thick coating of glacial sediment that areas with glaciers have. Those glacial drift coatings can be as thick as 600ft and the lack of it has caused many river valleys, caves, and sinkholes to be carved out by the power of water here in the Driftless Area.<\/p>

Karst Carvings\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As years and years go by with millions and millions of gallons of water rushing past, rock and stone eventually, slowly give way, dissolving into geologic features known as Karst features. Though this can happen with a variety of rock types, Limestone is the primary rock type to find the underground passageways that are typical of Karst features.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because of all the small secret tunnels that Karst features have and the lack of sediment above, water swiftly makes its way underground through the \u201cSwiss Cheese\u201d rock. Instead of staying aboveground and creating lakes and constant rivers, the water flows down into streams that flicker in and out of sight, hidden springs, sinkholes, underground caves, and blind valleys (the sudden ends to streams that vanish into sinkholes or depressions). Once the water makes its way down far enough, it merges with aquifers deep below or continues running as an underground river to flow further away.<\/p>

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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Karst and Cave Care\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>