Journal
GEOMORPHOLOGY
Volume 68, Issue 3-4, Pages 201-212Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2004.11.014
Keywords
limestone dissolution; denudation rate; mass balance; karst; Hochschwab
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Carbonate dissolution rates were investigated by measuring the mass difference of carbonate tablets exposed to natural dissolution for 1 year. 70 tablets were distributed over 13 test sites on the north slope of the Hochschwab Massif in the Austrian Alps. The influences of altitude, subsoil vs. sub-aerial exposure, vegetation, karst morphology, soil humidity, sample lithology, and sample surface morphology were investigated. The observed dissolution rates varied between 13 and 40 mu m/a for subcutaneous samples and about 11 mu m/a for sub-aerial exposure. Outstandingly high rates of 48 mu m/a were observed in a doline and nearly zero rates were measured at a site influenced by seeping spring water. A mass balance, using high-resolution hydrological data, was calculated for the Klaffer Spring, which has an average outflow of 4.8 m(3)/s. It indicated a loss of 21 x 10(6) kg of carbonate rock per year which gives an average dissolution rate of 95 mu m/a for the catchment area of 83 km(2). The dissolution rates of similar to 10 mu m/a from the sub-aerially exposed samples are comparable to values from limestone pedestals, which were protected from dissolution by glacial erratics for the past 15 ka. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available