Origin of the term “karst,” and the transformation of the classical karst (kras)

Abstract

The limestone region northeast of Trieste Bay is named “kras” in Slovenian, “karst” in German, and “carso” in Italian, from a pre-Indo-European word “karra” meaning stony. The natural vegetation was deciduous forest. Clearance and burning to create pasture for sheep began in the first millenium BC and resulted in considerable losses of soil into underground karstic channels. By the Middle Ages, the region was known as a rocky, treeless land; the first legislation to conserve or re-establish forests was passed but it did not succeed. In the 19th century the regional name came to be adopted as the generic name for all dissolutional landscapes and hydrogeological systems, whether natural or modified. During this period a change from sheep rearing to dairying with cattle, plus new legislation and experimental plantings with black pine (Pinus nigra), began the restoration of the forests in the Karst itself. Since 1945 their extent has more than doubled again, partly as consequences of rural depopulation and the banning of goats; approximately 50 percent of the region is now covered by woodlands. Soil erosion is much reduced, but evapotranspiration losses have probably increased. It is hypothesized that there will be effects of restoration upon such karstic parameters as the discharge of springs or rates of travertine deposition in the caves.