SINKHOLE MORPHOLOGY FROM THE BLAINE FORMATION OF BARBER COUNTY, KANSAS

The gypsiferous Permian Blaine Formation contains many karst features; however, little work examining the distribution and morphology of karst features within the Blaine Formation of southern Kansas has been conducted. This study examines the various morphologies of sinkholes and their relative distribution from several locations in Barber County, Kansas. Sinkhole size and shape appears to be related to several factors including: age, stratigraphic position, and relation to surface and subsurface hydrology. In central and eastern Barber County, most of the sinkholes represent cover-collapse features that alter the local surface hydrology forming a dendritic drainage pattern. This dendritic pattern becomes superimposed on the general geomorphology due to the high solubility of the gypsiferous bedrock. Alternatively, sinkholes in western Barber County are commonly not associated with this dendritic surface geomorphology; instead, the insoluble mantling material appears to be too thick for the high solubility of the Blaine Formation to develop this same geomorphology at the surface. These sinkholes present interesting challenges to the traditional remote sensing methods of locating karst features in poorly vegetated regions because the sinkholes in central and eastern Barber County are often non-circular and appear to be non-enclosed at the current mapped scale.