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The Swabian Alb - a range of Karst MountainsAfter a long hike through one of the many valleys of the Swabian Alb, which are lined with splendid beech woods, one often comes across a bubbling spring. Only then does one realizes that the whole section of the valley through which one has just walked was without water, i.e. was a dried-up valley. It is now that one becomes aware of the fact that there was no flowing water to be seen far and wide on the alb plateau.
This spring produces on average 2,300 liters of water per second. At high water as much as 32,000 liters per second have been measured! Where does this terrific amount of water come from if water is so scarce in this mountain range? this is one of the results of karstification the scientists say. They call the Swabian Alb a Karst Mountain range. Many people will know the barren limestone mountains in Yugoslavia from holidays spent there. It was there, in the Karst mountains, that research was first done into the phenomena known as "Karst phenomena" These include the caves, the springs with large amounts of water, the subsidences or dolinas, the cushions of cal-tufa and the dried-up valleys. Karstification is a process which affects whole areas of countryside or ranges of mountains. In the course of time this process causes the water which formerly drained off above ground to drain off underground. All it takes is a stone which can be karstified i.e. a stone which is chemically soluble, tin which rainfall can enter along the crevices and cracks. Limestone, dolomites and gypsum are all examples of Karst rocks.
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