CO2 partial pressure, Karst dissolution rate and karst micro-landforms on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest, largest and youngest plateau in the world. Its arid and cold climatic conditions are not suitable for the development of karst landforms based on the principles of climatic geomorphology. However, the authors have found many micro-forms of karst features in most places on the plateau. The international standard tablets for examining limestone dissolution rate have been in place for 12 years and the experiment reveals that the karst dissolution rate on the plateau is the lowest in the world. With the reference to the CO2 partial pressures that were measured at different elevations, the authors believe that the lower CO2 pressure on the plateau, which is caused by high altitude, is one of the major causes responsible for the lowest dissolution rate. Other causes include arid and cold conditions. Based on the results from calculation of the dissolution rates and analysis of karst geomorphology, it can be concluded that the active micro-landforms belong to bio-karst features and the appearance of other micro-landforms may be related to the warm periods in Holocene.