SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE KARST: CLUES FOR STRUCTURAL CONTROL ON KARST DEVELOPMENT IN FLORIDA

Extensive dissolution of the Florida carbonate platform displays not only some of the best examples of surficial karst development such as dolines, uvalas, poljes, sinking streams, but also a complicated network of caves. This study aims to explore the connection between surficial and subsurface karst development and the extent of structural control in an eogenetic karst aquifer. A large set of spatial data was studied in a GIS environment for this purpose. Data include some 25,000 kartic depressions, passage centerlines for 22 caves, fracture systems, and photolineaments. Spatial distribution and orientation of these features suggest a wide range of cave development, from strongly fracture-controlled network-like caves to anastomoses and rudimentary branchworks developed within the matrix porosity, with various degrees of connection to surficial karst development. Structural control is readily observed especially on fracture-dominated caves and depressions around them.