Karst without boundaries / Карст без границ

Karst covers more than 13% of the continental ice-free surface of our planet, with major coverage in the Middle East and Central Asia where it occupies approximately 23% of the land surface. According to some estimates more than 20% of the world’s population is consuming groundwater originated from karst aquifers. At the same time, the management of karst aquifers and their water resources is more problematic compared to any other aquifer type due to uncertainties in defining their boundaries, often irregular drainage regime, and vulnerability to pollution. All these problems are closely related to high heterogeneity of karst aquifers and their locally very high permeability <...>