Frontiers of Karst Research: Proceedings and recommendations of the workshop held in San Antonio, Texas on 3-5 May 2007. Karst Waters Institute Special Publication 13

This project was a Workshop, held in San Antonio, Texas, May 3-5, 2007. The objective of the workshop was to assess the current state of knowledge of karst aquifers, caves, and the broader scientific values that could be derived from their study. The term karst is used to describe landscapes underlain by soluble rocks and as a result has developed landforms such as sinkholes, sinking streams, and caves. Such landscapes have special environmental hazards such as contaminated water supplies, sinkhole collapses, and other land instability. The caves that underlie such landscapes offer special opportunities for studies of biodiversity and species evolution in cave organisms. Cave deposits are being rapidly developed as archives for paleoclimatic information that extends from the present back into the ice ages. The description of ground water flow and contaminant transport in karst aquifers require advanced methods of analysis and modeling that have not yet been developed. The report of the workshop identifies specific investigations that would be scientifically important and identifies resources that would be necessary to carry out the research. Proceedings of Frontiers of Karst Research Workshop, San Antonio, TX on 3-5 May 2007. ISBN number 978-0-9789976-2-5. The original document contains color images.