Karst Environments

With a focus on karren formation in high mountains, and specifically in the European Alps, this text summarizes the scientific results of systematic observations made during field trips, as well as the interpretation, using modern analytical methods, of the data collected. Márton Veress, who has been working in different types of karren landscapes for more than fifteen years, presents the conditions and processes of high mountain karren formation as well as the properties of karren features. The book analyzes karren phenomena, their development, and their formation under different environmental conditions.

Introductory chapters provide an overview of karren formations, in addition to charting the history of research into karst environments at high altitude. The author then provides details of the sampling sites and the localities he has studied, and experimental procedures undertaken. After covering the details of the age and rate of karren form development, Veress gives an in-depth explanation of the general characteristics of high mountain karren formations. The text then provides an overview of morphogenetic types of karren formations as well as karren assemblages, and an explanation of karren belts on slopes, emphasizing the key reconstruction role they play in slope development. The final chapters describe coalescing types and their origin, offer the reader a detailed description of karren cells and their characteristic features, and analyze the relationship between different karren formations.

Key themes: karst formation - karst assemblages - coalescence - pollutants - soil erosion - zonation - high mountains

Professor Márton Veress is Head of the Institute of Geography and Environmental Sciences, the University of West Hungary, Szombathely. He is a member of the Board of the Hungarian Karst and Cave Research Association, a member of the Board of the Hungarian Geographical Association, and Secretary of the Gemorphological sub-Board of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.