karst

1) A German rendering of a Serbo-Croat term referring to the terrain created by limestone solution and characterized by a virtual absence of surface drainage, a series of surface hollows, depressions and fissures, collapse structures, and an extensive subterranean drainage network. 2) A type of topography that is formed on limestone, gypsum, and other rocks by dissolution, and that is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage. Etymology: German, from the Yugoslavian territory Krs; type locality, a limestone plateau in the Dinaric Alps of northwestern Yugoslavia and northeastern Italy. (Source: WHIT / BJGEO)