Datasets > Minnesota > 2020-present

Minnesota Regions Prone to Surface Karst Feature Development [Minnesota]

Minnesota. Department of Natural Resources · 2024 Full Details

Full Details

Title
Minnesota Regions Prone to Surface Karst Feature Development [Minnesota]
Description
In Minnesota, surface karst features (including but not restricted to sinkholes, caves, stream sinks, and karst springs) are observed to primarily occur where 50 feet or less of unconsolidated material overlie Paleozoic carbonate bedrock and St. Peter Sandstone, or the Mesoproterozoic Hinckley Sandstone. This product can be used to outline such areas in a GIS environment. The GIS coverage is a superposition of Bedrock Geology and Depth to Bedrock maps prepared by the Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS). Two feature classes are included: surfacekarst_carbonate_sandstone and surfacekarst_carbonateonly. See Section 5 Overview for more details., Maps created using this product can be used as standalone products or can be used in conjunction with the Minnesota Karst Features Database for planning purposes (see Section 5 Detailed Citation). When combined with the Minnesota Karst Features Database this GIS coverage can be used to document the occurrence and distribution of sinkholes and other surface karst features for planning, environmental and risk management, hazard mitigation, scientific, and other purposes. The coverage outlines areas where karst features may form on the land surface and where karst conditions are likely present in the subsurface. Karst processes provide a direct, very rapid exchange between surface and ground waters and significantly increase groundwater contamination risk from surface pollutants. A field-verified sinkhole is direct evidence that karst processes are active both on the surface and subsurface. The absence of sinkholes on the land surface does not imply that karst conditions are absent in the subsurface. Subsurface karst conditions also occur in carbonate rock in areas where there is more than 50 feet of unconsolidated material over bedrock but those conditions rarely lead to karst surface feature development in Minnesota., Data were obtained from Minnesota Geological Survey reports and County Geologic Atlases completed between 1988 and Time Period of Content Date.
Creator
Minnesota. Department of Natural Resources
Temporal Coverage
2024-03-27
Rights
None
Access Rights
Public
Format
Files
Language
English
Date Added
April 26, 2021

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  • Citation
    Minnesota. Department of Natural Resources (n.d.). Minnesota Regions Prone to Surface Karst Feature Development [Minnesota]. . https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/2967fe1c-d8d5-42a4-8c28-e0a01dfa2052 (dataset)
  • BTAA Geoportal Link

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