Geological Perspective on Karst Landuse Planning

Tantan Hidayat
Geological Agency, Indonesia

Karst is a landscape formed due to dissolution of limestone by water. Indonesia has widespread
distribution of limestone areas that can be used as a raw material in industries (e.g., cement
industry). However, in a certain level karst area also has several strategic functions that must be
protected, such as hydrological, aesthetics, and educational . Therefore, arrangement and evaluation
of the karst management are very demanding. The management is not only about protection, but
also a better management. The methods used in this evaluation include: mapping the distribution of
limestone; mapping the distribution of eksokarst and endokarst; evaluating the boundaries by
considering the existence of endokarst and eksokarst in certain criteria; and mapping the presence
of landuses in the limestone areas (e.g., mining, settlement, farming, etc). As a study case, based on
the evaluation on the management of karst area in Pangkalan, Karawang, West Java Province, has
been set up a Karst Landscape Region covering 375.60 hectares of land, formed by limestone reefs
from the western part Parigi Formation. The formation consists of massive reef limestones in the
west, but clastic limestone in the east. The lower part of the Parigi Formation interfingering with
Jatiluhur Formation, while in the upper part with the Subang Formation. The karst landscape consists
of eksokarst and endokarst. Eksokarst comprises of conical hills, Dolina, Ponds, and Permanent
Spring, while endokarst consists of aqueous caves with Speleotem. In addition, the aqueous caves is
estimated to be connected with the Underground River flow. Limestone aquifer system has a typical
characteristics, i.e., groundwater flowing through cracks/fractures and dissolution channels.

keywords: geology, karst, landuse, management, and strategic function.