Knowledge exchange project: karst aquifers
Dates: 2016–2022
Scheme: NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship
Overview
Karst results from the dissolution of rocks and is usually associated with cave systems and landscapes characterised by rocks sculpted by dissolution, large surface depressions, disappearing rivers and major springs. However, karst processes occur in all soluble rocks, resulting in high vulnerability to pollution. This work focuses on the Chalk and Jurassic and Permian limestones of England, soluble carbonate aquifers in which caves are uncommon and karst was generally not well recognised. These aquifers provide vital water supplies, and sustain rivers and wetlands. The knowledge exchange work brings together data and knowledge on karst in these aquifers from research and industry to develop a new understanding of karst, and to enable karst to be considered more widely in groundwater management and protection.
Participants include water companies, the Environment Agency, hydrogeological consultants and university academics.
Karst information and resources
The BGS karst report series is a set of reports providing an overview of the evidence of karst in different regions of England with Chalk or Jurassic or Permian limestone geology. The new understanding of karst in the Chalk is presented in the paper Karst hydrogeology of the Chalk and implications for groundwater protection with many other references on karst provided below, listed by topic. Additional information can also be found on the Karst hydrogeology of the Bedhampton and Havant springs.
Karst in the Chalk and Jurassic and Permian limestones is also discussed by Lou Maurice in a presentation to the Thames Valley Regional Group of the Geological Society: Karst — an unexpectedly widespread phenomenon in England (YouTube).
UK karst aquifers
In the UK, karst is usually associated with Carboniferous limestone, in which there is extensive cave development. The longest known cave is more than 80 km in length, and there are more than 170 explored caves that are more than 1 km. In contrast, caves are uncommon in the Chalk and the Jurassic and the Permian limestones of England. The longest known cave in the Jurassic limestones is around 3.8 km, although many areas of Jurassic limestones have no known caves. The longest known cave in the Chalk is 360 m, and that in the Permian limestones is 290 m. Despite the limited cave development, complex networks of smaller-scale dissolutional voids occur in these aquifers enabling rapid and/or long distance pollutant transport. Evidence for karst in the Chalk and Jurassic and Permian limestone aquifers includes the presence of stream sinks, dolines (sinkholes), solution pipes, conduits (observed in quarries or boreholes), large springs, tracer tests and microbial contaminants and turbidity.
Useful references by topic
These reference lists are not comprehensive but provide a starting point for scientists interested in the karst hydrogeology of the UK karst aquifers in which cave development is limited (the Chalk and the Jurassic and Permian limestones). Some more general references on karst are included for context. Further references can be found in the BGS karst reports.
Agbotui, P Y, West, L J, and Bottrell, S H. 2020. Characterisation of fractured carbonate aquifers using ambient borehole dilution tests. Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 589, 125191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125191
Allshorn, S J L, Bottrell, S H, West, L J, and Odling, N E. 2007. Rapid karstic bypass flow in the unsaturated zone of the Yorkshire chalk aquifer and implications for contaminant transport. 111–122 in Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards in Karst Areas: Recognition, Analysis and Mitigation. Parise, M, and Gunn, J (editors). Geological Society of London Special Publications, Vol. 279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP279
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Ballesteros, D, Farrant, A, Nehme, C, Woods, M, Todisco, D, and Mouralis, D. 2020. Stratigraphical influence on chalk cave development in Upper Normandy, France: implications for chalk hydrogeology. International Journal of Speleology, Vol. 49, 187–208. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.49.3.2319
Banks, D, Davies, C, and Davies, W. 1995. The Chalk as a karstic aquifer: evidence from a tracer test at Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, UK. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, Vol. 28(1), S31–S38.
Edmonds, C. 2008. Improved groundwater vulnerability mapping for the karstic Chalk aquifer of south east England. Engineering Geology, Vol. 99(3–4), 95–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2007.11.019
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Farrant, A R, Maurice, L, Mathewson, E, Ascott, M, Earl, G, and Wilkinson, D. 2021. Caves and karst of the Chalk in East Sussex; implications for groundwater management. Cave and Karst Science, Vol. 48(2), 65–83.
Farrant, A R, Maurice, L, Nehme C, and Ballesteros, D. 2021. The genesis and evolution of karstic conduit systems in the Chalk. In The Chalk Aquifers of Northern Europe. Farrell, R. P, Massei, N, Foley, A E, Howlett, P R, and West, L J. (editors). Geological Society of London Special Publications, Vol 517. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP517-2020-126
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Massei, N, Lacroix, M, Wang, H Q, Mahler, B J, and Dupont, J P. 2002. Transport of suspended solids from a karstic to an alluvial aquifer: the role of the karst/alluvium interface. Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 260, 88–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(01)00608-4
Maurice, L, Farrant, A R, Mathewson, E, and Atkinson T. 2021. Karst hydrogeology of the Chalk and implications for groundwater protection. In The Chalk Aquifers of Northern Europe. Farrell, R P, Massei, N, Foley, A E, Howlett, P R, and West, L J (editors). Geological Society of London Special Publications, Vol. 517. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP517-2020-267
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Maurice, L D, Atkinson, T C, Williams, A T, Barker, J, and Farrant, A R. 2010. Catchment scale tracer testing from karstic features in a porous limestone. Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 389(1–2) 31–41. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.05.019
Maurice, L D, Atkinson, T A, Barker, J A, Bloomfield, J P, Farrant, A R, and Williams, A T. 2006. Karstic behaviour of groundwater in the English Chalk. Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 330, 53–62. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.04.012
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Contact
Contact Lou Maurice for further information.
