karst
nounUK /kɑːst/ · US /kɑɹst/
Etymology Borrowed from German Karst. The German term and the Slovene placename Kras (the Karst Plateau) are from Proto-Slavic *korsъ, from Italo-Dalmatian carsus (cf. Italian carso), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“hard; rock”). More at Karst. The metathesis in the Slovene term precludes German borrowing from Slovene.
1
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences A type of land formation, usually with many caves formed through the dissolving of limestone by underground drainage.
- In the time available to us on our geomorphological tour we were not able to see the higher and younger karsts of Kweichow and Yunnan and Kunming.1978, M. M. Sweeting, “The Karst of Kweilin, Southern China”, in The Geographical Journal, volume 144, number 2, page 200:
- The shells are just 0.04 inch (one millimeter) long and were found on a karst formation where conditions are damp, but the snails that inhabit them have yet to be observed.2009 May 29, “Katherine Harmon”, in Top 10 New Species Discovered in 2008^([ScientificAmerican.com]):
- Derived terms
- endokarst, epikarst, exokarst, glaciokarst, karstic, karstification, karstify, karstology, karst spring, palaeokarst, paleokarst, phytokarst, pseudokarst, thermokarst