The Karst Landscape of Yucatan

The study provides a descriptive regional analysis of the physical aspects of Yucatan\u27s karst landscape. Two themes dominate this description of Yucatan\u27s tropical lowland karst landscape. First, it is established that different types of karst land forms characterize individual segments of the horizontal limestone which underlies Yucatan. Secondly, it is established that distinctive micro-environments characterize the individual types of karst land forms. Such micro-environments result when a karst land form produced varying hydrologic, soil, and micro-climate conditions. Distinctive floristic communities are associated with these micro-environments. The areal distribution of the different types of karst land forms yields a pattern which provides the regional framework used in this study. Three regions occur in Yucatan\u27s karst landscape. Each region possesses a distinctive karst land form assemblage. Appendices include a brief survey of karst literature, representative climatic data for Yucatan, and a selected glossary of Maya and Spanish land scape terminology