KENTUCKY KARST
meters below the surface and in several areas, vehicles can easily be heard on the road above. A small stream exists in the cave and has been traced to the Lost River Resurgence at Lampkin Park. During construction of a new apartment complex over By-Pass cave building construction broke into the cave roof, creating a sinkhole. A concrete plug was installed to prevent further collapse (Figure 7) during ongoing building con- struction. Although the cave system is small, the creation of a sinkhole and the building of further developments could create even greater implications for the area. Any change in the flow of surface water that occurs could impact the poten- tial for flooding and contamination in the area. The cave is now more susceptible to future collapse due to an increase in roof instability.
The 2002 and 2014 collapses described above affected infrastructure and were remediated at great expense. The 2016 collapse was much less extensive and was remediated by the construction company fairly quickly. Despite these
Table 1
incidents, a lack of understanding of karst systems as a geo-hazard exists: thus, there exists a lack of regulations for building over karst terrain as well as a lack of plans to mitigate and prevent potential sinkhole collapse.
Methodology
A combination of field work, analy- sis of remote sensing data, and GIS
were used to identify areas within Bowling Green, Kentucky that are at risk for sinkhole collapse. GIS data and cave maps were acquired from the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) and the Kentucky Speleological Survey (KSS). Cave maps were georeferenced and map points and polygons were digi- tized into feature classes. Orthophotos, photos that detail structure and devel-
Figure 8 - Warren County has a karst aquifer system that influences the flow of groundwater and cave development. Warren County caves are connected to this system and sinkhole development within the system can greatly impact water flow and drainage. Understanding the system and knowing where cave streams exist makes it easy to indicate areas prone for future collapse. .
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