A Way to Predict Natural Hazards in Karst

Flooding, ground collapses, subsidence and contamination are hazards often encountered in a karst environment. All are strongly associated to water. A good knowledge of the distribution of groundwater potentiometric heads and fluxes in space and time is necessary to predict and prevent these hazards. A series of karst-specific approaches are being developed by SISKA (Swiss Institute for Speleology and Karst-Studies) in order to provide this type of information within a reasonable effort. Most of these are based on a key-approach (KARSYS) and could be successively applied to address issues in karst environment. Applications for flood and sinkhole hazards are presented. These approaches are organized in a Karst toolbox which is being developed first and mainly for karst in temperate and mountainous regions (as we have in central Europe). Adjustments and extensions for other contexts (e.g. lowland karst or hypogenic karst areas) could be developed