Modelling cockpit karst landforms

Cyril Fleurant (1) , G.E. Tucker (2) , H.A. Viles (3)

1 LETG - Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique UMR 6554
2 University of Colorado [Boulder]
3 School of Geography, University of Oxford

The purpose of this article is to present a model of the formation processes of cockpit karst landscapes. The CHILD software was used to simulate landscape evolution including dissolution processes of carbonate rocks. After examining briefly how the CHILD model operates, two applications of this model involving dissolution of carbonate rocks are presented. The simulated landscapes are compared with real landscapes of the Cockpit Country, Jamaica, using morphometric criteria. The first application is based on the hypothesis that dissolution of carbonate rocks is isotropic over time and space. In this case, dissolution is constant throughout the whole area studied and for each time step. The simulated landscapes based oil this hypothesis have morphometric features which are quite different from those of real landscapes. The second application considers that dissolution of carbonate rocks is anisotropic over time and space. In this case, it is necessary to take into account subsurface and under.-round processes, by Coupling surface runoff and water infiltration into the fractured carbonates.

Mots clés: limestone; morphology; diffusion; networks; dynamics; rocks; flow; aquifer evolution; landscape evolution

Domaines: Géomorphologie

Cyril Fleurant, G.E. Tucker, H.A. Viles. Modelling cockpit karst landforms. The Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2008, 296, pp.47-62. ⟨10.1144/SP296.4⟩. ⟨hal-00735524⟩