Advances and challenges of GIS and DBMS applications in karst

In the past two decades, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Database Management System have been widely used to develop Karst Feature Databases (KFDs) for spatial manipulation and resource management (Angel et al. 2004; Doerfliger et al. 1999; Florea 2005; Florea et al. 2002; Gao 2006; Gao and Alexander 2003; Gao et al. 2005a, 2002, 2005c; Green et al. 2002; Hyatt et al. 2001; Murray and Hudson 2002; Taylor et al. 2005; Whitman and Gubbels 1999; Zhou et al. 2003). Several countries have built national KFDs to enhance data accessibility and resource management (ASF 2005; Cooper et al. 2001; Jiang et al. 2005; Lei et al. 2001). In the US, many state agencies and karst scientists have significantly updated the geologic information and karst feature inventories at local and regional scales (Florea et al. 2002; Gao et al. 2005b; Magdalene and Alexander 1995). In recent years, the US Geological Survey and the National Cave and Karst Research Institute have been collaborating to create a new karst map of the US. The new karst map of the US will use GIS technology to combine regional karst information and therefore will be easily accessible to land use planners and managers, educators as well as karst scientists (Bailey 2001; Epstein et al. 2002; Hose 2005; Orndorff et al. 2001; Weary 2005). A preliminary version of such a map was published by the American Geological Institute (Veni et al. 2001) and the Cave and Karst GIS special issue of the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies (Veni 2002). Following the success of the 2002 Cave and Karst GIS special issue by the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies (Szukalski 2002), the journal of Environmental Geology is publishing this special issue of GIS and DBMS Applications on Karst. Contained in this issue of Environmental Geology are 13 research papers which apply GIS and DBMS technologies to scientific studies and environmental conservations in different karst regions. In this issue, four papers represent studies of karst hydrology using GIS technology. Brosig et al. present a travel time based method for the estimation of karst groundwater vulnerability. They develop a Transit Time Method based on lateral water flow along the slope within the epikarst towards final infiltration points in dry valleys/ wadis. This method is accomplished by applying the hydrologic module (ArcHydro) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in a GIS platform (ArcGIS 9.1). A vulnerability map is created within the catchment area of the Qunayyah Spring, Northern Jordan. Croskrey and Groves use Digitally Vectorized Geologic Quadrangles (DVGQs) and DEM to identify areas of varying groundwater sensitivity for a ten county area of south central Kentucky at a scale of 1:100,000. This method is highly effective to identify zones of ‘‘high risk runoff’’ where contaminants could be transported in runoff from low sensitivity to high sensitivity (particularly karst) areas. McCoy and Kozar assess structural, lithologic, and topographic influences on the groundwater flow system of Great Valley, West Virginia using a database of 687 sinkholes and 350 specific capacity tests. They investigate relationships between geologic features of the karst aquifer and two spatial Y. Gao (&) Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA e-mail: gaoy@etsu.edu