Characterizing and Modelling Fractures and Karst in Carbonate Units - The Porocarste Project

We investigated the Quaternary epigenic karst system in the Jandaíra Formation, a Turonian–Campanian carbonate platform in the Potiguar basin, northeastern Brazil. We concentrated our investigation in the vadose zone of the present-day karst, but also used borehole data. The leaching zones are preferentially concentrated along pre-solution openings composed of faults, joints, and bedding planes. These dissolved and enlarged faults and beddings form a system of caves and sinkholes, which must be included in the architecture of karst systems. This controlled-karst architecture presents a predictable geometry. This process occurs when the carbonate platform is exposed for a long period and can be thus affected by surface processes such as dissolution of erosion. The Quaternary epigenic karst features we describe may correlate with paleokarst systems in other carbonate platforms.