POWER-LAW RELATIONSHIP OF SINKHOLES AND DEPRESSIONS WITHIN KARST GEOLOGY

The power-law relationship of sinkholes and depressions within karst geology is shown using state inventories and derived datasets. State inventories have been created using elevation data of differing resolutions, yet show a power law relationship. With the increase in high-resolution topographic data acquisition, such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), at county and state levels, we show that this power-law relationship extends to high-resolution datasets and less subjective delineation methods. This is done by subsetting large elevation datasets and then standard GIS fill tools are used to fill depressions within the DEM. The initial DEM is then subtracted from the filled DEM resulting in detected depressions or sinkholes. These results are then compared to the state inventories.