Which landscape type is common in rainy regions with limestone near the surface and features caverns, sinkholes, and valleys?

Which landscape type is common in rainy regions with limestone near the surface and features caverns, sinkholes, and valleys?

• A. Karst topography
• B. Desert pavement
• C. Glacier
• D. Soil

Answer: (A)

In regions with abundant rainfall and limestone near the surface, the landscape that forms through the dissolution of soluble rock is karst topography. Rainwater, which becomes a mild carbonic acid as it absorbs carbon dioxide, slowly dissolves calcium carbonate in limestone. Over long periods this chemical weathering creates underground networks of caverns and passages. When the cave rooms grow or the overlying rock collapses, surface depressions appear as sinkholes. Water may travel underground, leaving streams to disappear into the ground and reappear elsewhere, often carving distinctive valleys along fracture zones. This combination of caves, sinkholes, and interconnected drainage is the hallmark of karst landscapes. Other options don’t fit because desert pavement forms in dry deserts with little chemical weathering, glaciers produce U-shaped valleys and moraines from ice movement, and soil is a general term that doesn’t specifically describe the cave and sinkhole features driven by limestone dissolution.

In regions with abundant rainfall and limestone near the surface, the landscape that forms through the dissolution of soluble rock is karst topography. Rainwater, which becomes a mild carbonic acid as it absorbs carbon dioxide, slowly dissolves calcium carbonate in limestone. Over long periods this chemical weathering creates underground networks of caverns and passages. When the cave rooms grow or the overlying rock collapses, surface depressions appear as sinkholes. Water may travel underground, leaving streams to disappear into the ground and reappear elsewhere, often carving distinctive valleys along fracture zones. This combination of caves, sinkholes, and interconnected drainage is the hallmark of karst landscapes.

Other options don’t fit because desert pavement forms in dry deserts with little chemical weathering, glaciers produce U-shaped valleys and moraines from ice movement, and soil is a general term that doesn’t specifically describe the cave and sinkhole features driven by limestone dissolution.