Doline Morphometry as a Morphogenetic Tool: New Zealand Examples JN. JE NINGS LTHOUGH the beginnings of karst morphometry go back to last century (e.g. Cvijié, 1893), this branch of geomorphology has lagged behind others in the last two decades in the quantitative approach to landform study. However, recent effort, both with regard to surface forms (c.g. La Valle, 1968; Williams, 1972a) and to underground ones (e.g. Curl, 1966), has started to redress the balance. Williams (1972b) has most usefully surveyed this field which he has himself pioneered. DOLINE ORIGINS Dolines, the simplest kind of karst closed depression, are nevertheless of several and often composite orig hbouring ones, superficially similar, may have formed differently (c.g. Jennings et al., 1969), and the determina. tion of their manner of formation is often difficult (cf, Jennings, 1963). Though not comprehensive, the five-fold classification of Cramer (1941) provides a useful framework with which to approach the subject (Figure 1): 1) Solution dolines are chiefly due to surface solution of karst bedrock and to removal of both solutes and insoluble residues down solution-widened planes of weakness in the rock in place. Removal beyond this may be by way of cave 2) Collapse dolines are primarily due to the falling in of the roofs of cav developed in karst bedrock. 3) Subsidence dolines are due to gradual creep, spasmodic slumping and cluviation of covers of soil, gravel or other superficial deposits into pipes or solution-widened joints in underlying karst rock, Again ultimate evacuation may take place through caves. 4) Subjacent karst dolines develop by collapse of non-karstic bedrock at the surface through removal of support from below by solution of underlying karst rock. 5) Streamsink dolines in alluvial land occur where streams go underground into karst rock underlying alluvium in which hollows have been formed by fluvial transport. Provided not much time has clapsed after bedrock collapse, types 2 and 4 are readily distinguishable from types 1 and 3 by steep walls of fractured bedrock, angular plan, floors of fallen rock, and the nature of entries into caves from them. But with increasing age afterwards, the sides of types 2 and 4 weather back to soil-covered slopes, the bottom gets covered by fine detritus, *Dr J. N. Jennies is Professorial Fellow in Geomorphology at the Research School of Pacific Studies, n National University, Canberra, The research for this article was in part carried out when Dr Jennings held a visiting position at the Univer- sity of Canterbury. New Zealand Geographer, 31, 1575, 6-28.DOLINE MORPHOMETRY 7 apertures become blocked, and the plan becomes smoothed to a circular or oval form. Thus med by all these four kinds, and laborious excavation or drilling may be necessary to distinguish one mode of origin from another. ilar appearances may be MAJOR GENETIC TYPES OF DOLINE Solution doline Young collapse doline Subsidence doline Young subjacent karst doline Surface of alluvial pla Streamsink doline in alluvium Fig. 1. Schematic sections of major doline types8 NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER QUALITATIVE THEORY OF SLOPE DEVELOPMENT IN DOLINES Coleman and Balchin (1959) used depth /mean diameter ratio as a criterion for morphogenesis. Their theoretical argument retains validity even though their specific application has not done so (Ford, 1964). Their theory will be elaborated here. Surface solution, aided by eluviation, soil creep and other mass movements, should lead to development of an equilibrium slope of constant angle early in the development of a solution doline and so a depth/mean diameter plot should give a cluster along a straight line. It is presumed that saturation equilibrium will not dominantly occur before the bottom of the dolines is reached; this condition is considered to be the general case, even though several studies have shown that a large proportion of limestone solution takes place at and near the surface. Progressive subsidence of superficial covers into relatively small bedrock outlets in the karst rock should induce shape modality and equilibrium slopes (no doubt at a different angle from that of solution slopes and perhaps less uniform in detail). This assumes that the bedrock outlet can cope with growing output from the slopes as the doline enlarges. If this is not the case, the tendency for arrest of material at the base of the doline will transform an enlarging subsidence doline from conical to bowl shape and cause a reduction in the depth /mean diameter with increasing size. In contrast, collapse dolines will be variable in their initial shape since the area and thickness of roof collapse are likely to be diverse. More importantly, from the time of collapse there will be weathering back of the doline sides towards equilibrium solution slopes. Thus a wide range in depth/mean diameter ratio must result unless all the collapses occur simultaneously, an un- likely event. If collapses go on occurring, there can be no marked shape mo- dality. If collapses cease, sides will eventually assume equilibrium angles and there will be much more tendency after a time fora common depth /diameter ratio. However in that event surface solution will have contributed at least as much to the formation of the doline field as the original phase of cave collapse. Similar arguments apply in part to subjacent karst dolines due to collapse of non-karst rocks into a karst cavity below. But equilibrium slopes will not readily be established since the great bulk of insolubles from non-karst rock will require considerable capacity for removal below, Without further collapse, shallowing through infill by slope material and, hence slope re- duction, will ensue, A dynamic balance accompanying shape modality may only occur when the features are very gentle with a small depth/mean diameter ratio accompanied by small throughput of material. THE CRAIGMORE KARST OF SOUTH CANTERBURY The Craigmore karst about 20 km inland from Timaru consists of Craigmore Limestone from the Landon Formation of Oligocene (Waitakian) age (Gair, 1959). It is a semi-crystalline glauconitic limestone, some 33 m thick, with a purity between 80 and 94 percent. The rocks are folded into an anticline pitching SSW from the Pareora R. valley (Figure 2). The South Branch of the Pareora R. has breached the anticline along a broad strike valley just east of the fold axis. Bottleneck valleys down the dip have cut up theDOLINE MORPHOMETRY 9 steeper NW limb of the fold into several small limestone plateaux, with underlying weaker siltstone, sandstone and shale exposed between. The plateaux decline in height from 380 m at the NNE end to 300 m at the SSW end. It is in this limb that dolines are the more numerous. ‘The mean annual precipitation is about 7oo mm. Snow does not lie for long and the liability to frost is about 150 days CROOKSTONg ‘Christchurch Craigmore Limestone ms Older Rocks Fig. 2. Simplified geology map of the Craigmore karst (based on 1 inch to 1 mile Geological Survey map)Fig. 3. Oblique aerial view towards SSW of the NW limb of the Craigmore anticline with doline field selected for study in middle ground, Bottleneck valleys visibl (Photo by Professor R. Ho) After brief reconnaissance of the whole Craigmore karst and of neighbour- ing limestone areas, attention was concentrated on an entire field of dolines in the middle part of the western limb at about 320 m (Figure 3), and on the dolines along a dry valley crossing a larger doline field in the southernmost part of the same limb (Figure 4). Here doline measurements and augering were carried out by students of the Department of Geography of the University of Canterbury as part of field courses (Fourth Year, April 1968; Second Year, May 1972). Doline measurement method The following measurements of doline size and shape (Figure 5) were made with surveying tapes and prismatic compass: L_ = length (longest diameter) W_ = width (greatest diameter perpendicular to L) D_ = height difference between the lowest lip of the doline margin and the lowest point within Az = bearing of L measured only when the ratio of L to W is greater than 1.3 L and W are slant distances; horizontal equivalents were not determined because of small departures from the horizontal and of uncertainty in locating the doline margin, The measurement of D depended on levelling by eye that part of a tape strung across the doline which extended from the lowest lip to a second tape hanging vertically down to the lowest point. Inaccuracies in the measurements are’ probably less than those arising in other ways de- scribed below. By trial and error it was found that unless the L/W ratio was more than 1.3 it was difficult to decide what was the direction of elongation.Fig. 4. Oblique acrial view towards NNW of the dry valley doline chain selected for study at Craigmore. (Photo by Professor R. Ho) Subjectivity in deciding what point on a convex slope constitutes the limit of a doline is accentuated at Craigmore by the presence of ploughing banks which margin the dolines on one or more sides in many cases (Figure 6). The ploughing has been carried to the steep flanks of the dolines, sharpening a more gradual convex break of slope by building berms of soil shifted downhill. Inevitably in many cases the edge of a ploughing bank was selected for measurement of doline dimensions. The choice of the unit doline was also partly a subjective decision. Some dolines are complex through inosculation, Moreover the measured dolines puncture a far from planar surface; smaller sharp depressions are nested within much larger and shallower closed depressions (Figure 7). The criterion employed to distinguish unit dolines is that where the divide between neighbouring depressions lies clearly below this upper gentler surface, the larger complex depression is taken as the unit. In the case of the dry valley, this question becomes one of deciding whether the di s below a Measurements Fig. 5. Doline dimensions employedFig. 6. Measurement of a Craigmore doline in progress. Here the ploughing bank on the right will not affect the width measurement as the bank and the margin of the doline are separate presumed former thalveg. Where there remained doubt about the proper unit, the smaller constituents as well as the larger complex depressions were measured, The presence or absence of bedrock outcrops was also noted. Results from the doline field Three parties measured the dolines comprising the field, one party measuring the northern third and the other two the rest in an interlocking manner. There are no significant differences at the ¢ percent confidence level (Student’s ¢ - test) between the results of the three parties in the arithmetic means of L, W, D and the dimensionless ratios, L/W and 2D/(L+W), except between two parties for W. It can be argued therefore that there was no significant variation in operator bias in locating doline margins. These consistencies, however, do not preclude the possibility that the observing parties were all similarly biased by the ploughing banks. Doline 38 Doline 49 Doline 6: aaa = Fig. 7. Profile through three dolines in the Craigmore doline field showing their relation to gentler, larger depressions of the general surface. Surveyed under the direction of, and drawn by, Mrs P. ButterfieldDOLINE MORPHOMETRY 13 There were no significant differences in the proportions of simple and complex dolines for the three parties (Chi-square test at 0.05 P). For the field as a whole, the constituent dolines making up the complex dolines (about which there was doubt concerning their unity) are significantly smaller at the 1 percent level in L, W and D than the simple plus the complex dolines, but the dimensionless ratios are not significantly different at the 5 percent level. Substituting these constituent dolines for the complex ones in the full set fails to make a significant change at the ¢ percent level in L, D and the dimensionless ratios, Width is significantly smaller at 0.0 P but not at 0.01 P. It can be accepted therefore that unit identification is not appreciably affecting the overall analysis. Accordingly the following discussion relates to the slightly smaller population made up of the simple dolines plus the complex. One depression with an exceptionally small cross-section ratio (2D /(L-+W)) combined with a high elongation ratio (L +W) was regarded as anomalous; reference to the landowner confirmed a suspicion that it is an artefact, a former silage pit now grassed over. It is therefore excluded from the following calculations, 1) Elongation ratio. The length /width ratio ranges from 1.0 to 2.63 but a mean of 1.32 with a small standard deviation of 0.32 illustrates a strong tendency to circularity. Consequently the elongation direction was measured in only 28 cases out ‘of 90. These elongate dolines included a significantly greater proportion at 0.05 P of ones with rock outcrops than did the more circular dolines. Allocation of the elongate dolines to 8 direction classes gave the circular distribution shown in Figure 8, but application of the method of testing significance of polymodality of Tanner (1955) as recommended by Williams (1973) gave the results set out in Table I. Thus the NNE peak is significant but not that in the SE. ELONGATION DIRECTION NEAREST NEIGHBOUR VECTOR w— eee Wee ae : F 100200 s s Fig. 8. Direction roses for elongation and nearest neighbour vectors of the Craigmore doline field14 NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER TABLE T ‘Tests FOR SIGNIFICANCE BY TANNER’'S METHOD (1955) OF ORIENTATION IN CRAIGMORE DOLINE FIELD Direction Numbers of Elongate Nearest Neighbour class Dolines Vector 348°45° — 11g 11°15 — 332452 0.68 (p)* 0.68 (p)* ao c4GceetsOndicg 0.68 (p)* 56°15° — 78°45 78°45° — 101152 0.68 (vy ro11g° — 123°4 5° 123°45° — 146°1 oe 146°1 5° — 168945 Significant orientation peaks (p) or voids (¥) at given confidence level. 2) Mean diameter. Because of infrequent elongation, there is no need to (L+W) 2 from 2.7 to 72.1 m; its arithmetic mean is 21.8 m and its standard deviation is 12.7 m. There is a strong mode in the 10-20 m class (Figure 9). consider length and width separately. The mean diameter ranges 3) Depth, D ranges from 0.4 to 12.9 m, with a mean of 4.3 and a stand- ard deviation of 2.34. The distribution is strongly modal (Figure 9). 4) Depth in relation to mean diameter. The mean value of the cross-section ratio, 2D/(L+W), is 0.207 with a coefficient of variation of 28 percent. There is a strong modal class of 0.1 5—0.20 (Figure 9). Regression of depth on mean diameter gives a highly significant direct relationship (at 0.001 P) (Figure 10a). DOLINE FIELD CRAIGMORE ¥02090405060708 9 24 6 sio2 14 00 01 a2 03 Oa 05° 06 ORY VALLEY, DOLINES | f ONL ES ES A 6 10 2030 40 50 60 0246810 COM ewy2 b 2D (LEW) Fig. 9. Histograms of mean diameter, depth and cross-section ratio for the Craig- more doline field and dry valley doline chainCRAIGMORE DOLINE FIELD 10) ee a 5 y = 0181x 40°79 r=0-869 o| Be M a 0 70 20 Diya 40 30 60 “| DRY VALLEY DOLINES ie a yaO115x + 2-07 120-733 ol M b To 20 3B Lvwy/240 50 6 DOLINE FIELD y=0-082x +153 1d ‘ 120559 of : a Moc OTe 70 pibtance 8 neaRest nefGupouk” O30 *) DOLINE FIELD 5 AO| a y=0°500x-+5:12 z 1=0-622 an To 30 DISTANCE TONEAREST NEIGHB: Fig. 10. Regression of depth on mean diameter for the Craigmore doline field (a) and dry valley doline chain (b), and of depth (c) and mean diameter (d) on distance to nearest neighbour for the doline field16 NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER 5) Nearest neighbour analysis. Nearest neighbour analysis (Clark and Evans, 1954), based on an enlargement of an aerial photograph to a scale of 1:3540, gives an R value of 1.395. This implies a departure from random distribution towards uniform distribution significant at the 1 percent confidence level. i) The results of the nearest neighbour vector analysis (Williams, 1972a) are set out in Figure 8 but Tanner’s test for s that the peaks in NNE and NE di that in the SE is not (Table 1). ignificance shows ection classes are significant whereas ii) Regressions on distance to nearest neighbour (x) of both mean diameter (y =0.5x + 5-12) and depth (y—0.08x + 1.53) have ‘r’ values significant at 0,001 P (Figure 10 c & d), whereas an inverse regression of the cross-section ratio on this distance is not significant at 0.05 P. Thus despite the fact that there is undisturbed surface between the dolines, the closer they are together the smaller and shallower they are; this suggests they hold back one another's growth. However this mutual in- terlerence does not affect the maintenance of shape through size growth. 6) Dolines with and without rock outcrops. Comparison between the dolines with rock outcrops and those without shows that the former are significantly larger and deeper than those without (by Chi-square test at 0. 5P). There is ‘gnificant difference between the two kinds in elongation ratio but there is in cross-section ratio, those with rock having slightly gentler slopes. By eye it appeared that there was an increasing proportion of dolines with rock outcrops from south to north along the field. However the field is oriented more along the axis of the Craigmore anticline in grid bearing 28. 5° than along grid north. Therefore for analysis of this pattern, the rectangular coordinates of the dolines based on grid north were transformed to rectangular coordinates with a Y-axis parallel to the anticlinal axis. This provides a false north, The false northings derived by this transformation for the dolines were then meaned for the two sets, The mean false northings for the dolines with the rock outcrops was 159 m north of the mean for those without outcrops. This difference is significant at 0.001P and substantiates the visual estimate of the distribution pattern. Regre ion ratio against the false northings of the dolines failed to reveal any significant relationships ; nevertheless these negative results will be shown to bear on the geomorphic interpretation (p.20 below) These various shape and size measures, and their interrelationships define a homogencous population. If there had been serious mis-identification of the proper units for measurement, there would have been more dispersion of values, Additionally it can be inferred that the ploughing banks did not affect doline measurement significantly. Since some of the dolines are entirely surrounded in this way, some partially and some not at all, the bank effects, if any, should be variable and cause dispersion of ratios. It is true that the banks are large enough to have affected small dolines more than large; this may reduce their horizontal dimensions and so increase their cross-section ratio disproportionately. However there is no significant evidence that such has been the case and for a reason given below (p. 25) ploughing is not thought n of mean diameter, depth and cross-sectDOLINE MORPHOMETRY Wy to explain any morphometric The threshold angle on the downward increasing convexity which stops the ploughing must correspond with the natural break of slope defining the depression and so the anthropogenic factor seems to have operated only in the sense of sharpening the doline limits without shifting them much at all. characters identified in this. analysi Application of morphometry to the genesis of the field. ‘The strong tendency of the dolines to a’particular average side slope, as indicated by the pronounced modal class of the cross-section ratio (Figure 9), suggests that surface processes have played the dominant role in their develop- ment. A population of solution dolines can be expected to yield a strong linear regression of depth on mean diameter such as is found here (Figure 10). The same is also true of dolines produced by progressive uniform subsidence of superficial covers, As limestone comes to be exposed in the doline sides by this and other slope processes, differences in slope angle are likely to super- vene. Although bedrock is exposed in 30 percent of the dolines, ona small scale; therefore shape cannot be effective as a disc these two categories of origin in the case under study. However, it can be concluded that collapse dolines, if there are any, are so few and collapse has contributed so little to present shape that there has been no significant effect by it on the shape characteristics of the population. Subjacent karst dolines and streamsink dolines in alluvial land are excluded by the context described above (p. 6). A further conclusion of importance from the shape characteristics is that relative homogeneity of the doline population is such that more detailed study of a few individuals can be applied to the field as a whole with a strong probability of validity. The relationships between the size and shape of dolines on the one hand and distance to nearest neighbour on the other are considered to be significant but appear for their explanation to require more subsurface information than it was possible to obtain by augering alone (p. 18 below). tis usually minant between Relationship to caves Caves below the doline field could provide evidence about the origins of the surface features (cf. Jennings et al., 1969). However, no shafts were found in the bottoms of the dolines, though undisturbed bedrock fissures up to 9 m deep were found in dolines elsewhere in the Craigmore karst. On the q and SW of the doline field in the largest bottleneck valley, three springs occur at the base of the limestone 27~31 m below the plateau surface. Cave entrances are absent, however, and indeed in two cases the presence of penetrable caves is unlikely because of the small flows of the springs. The most substantial spring issues from a talus slope which may conceal a cave Elsewhere in the Craigmore karst there are other spring discharges also great enough to be suggestive of the presence of caves. Doline distribution The non-random pattern of the doline field also bears on its origins. The analyses of nearest neighbour vectors and of elongation direction agree with the general appearance of the field on air photographs, indicating that the18 NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER dolines tend to lie along two sets of parallel lines, one along the strike nearly parallel to the anticlinal axis and another of the order of 70° from it, The pattern is that of conjugate joints but poverty in bedrock exposure prevents direct verification of this. If this arrangement of the dolines reflects a cave pattern, the cave system must be a rectilinear network. Such networks are usually regarded as the products of true phreatic solution by slowly moving water beneath the level of groundwater saturation. OF itself such phreatic cave development is not likely to lead to cave roof collapse, which is commonly the result of vadose modification after water levels have lowered. Such action by free-surface underground streams is not likely to take place generally throughout a network; rather will particular routeways through the network be preferred to develop a more dendritic system. Collapse due to the action of such rivers would therefore not assume the kind of pattern which this doline field possesses. Caves near Pleasant Point and Raincliff Bridge farther northwest in the same limestone have either a simple vadose passage or a dendritic pattern. Doline sections g and augering to reveal the form and nature of the bedrock surface in dolines are invaluable in determining their origins and evolution (cf. Aubert, 1966). However such an attack on the problem is expensive in time and labour and, if on a large scale, damaging to pasture and crops. Given a doline field such as that at Craigmore where the individuals belong to a coherent group in their shape, study of a small number by such methods should be applicable to the whole population. At Craigmore augering was carried out with Jarrett heads of so and 100 mm diameters and a shipwright’s auger head of 50 mm. One problem anticipated, namely that of recognising when bedrock is reached, did not arise; the contact between soil and bedrock is very sharp and there is almost complete absence of floating boulders. The results of augering three dolines are shown in Figure 11. Doline 49 lies at the northern end of the field and lacks exposures of bedrock or rock rubble. A section across the strike shows that: Trenel 1) The doline proper lies within a more shallow but larger closed de- pression. 2) A superficial cover up to 4.75 m thick contains the doline in its en- tirety. 3) There is, nevertheless, a shallow depression in the bedrock, which only just escapes cropping out at the surface. 4) The slopes of the inner depression are more irregular in detail as a result of terracing due to slumping and creep than the gentle slopes of the outer depression. Al these features recur in a section in continuation across the neighbouring doline 64 (Figure 11). In this latter instance, the hidden bedrock depression is larger and deeper than in doline 49, matching the outer surface depression from which the doline is sharply delimited by abrupt breaks of slope. Doline 19 is located in the southern part of the field and was chosen as an example with bedrock exposure. Two sections almost at right angles to onew Doline 49 — SW by N Doline 19 oO 10 20 30 40 50 60 M Fig. 11, Cross-sections of selected Craigmore dolines from the field studied another were made (Figure 11). The average thickness of the superficial cover is less here, though up to 2.5 m was penetrated. Again a bedrock doline underlies the surface feature which is partly in bedrock and partly in cover. The bedrock doline may itself be composite with an inner steeper depression set within a shallower one. In all cases the cover is a buff-coloured silty clay, varying in bulk density and penetrability. It is in fact loess although the geological maps of the area do not include Craigmore within the loess they show, and Vucetich (1969) describes loess as of minor occurrence on the ‘Canterbury hills, Craigmore, however, does lie within the bounds of loess deposition on the smaller scale distribution map of Racside (1964). Although no buried soils indicative of multiple phases of aeolian deposition such as Raeside demonstrates were recorded in the Craigmore loess, such a complexity is not precluded since the detailed analysis of the loess cover was not pursued. THE NATURE AND HISTORY OF THE CRAIGMORE DOLINE FIELD Although a more complicated history may have taken place, the following sequence accommodates all the evidence gathered: 1) Solution dolines developed in the limestone. 2) A loess cover was laid down sufficiently thick to reduce the local re- lief markedly and possibly to merge the surface expression of some adjacent, bedrock dolines. Large, shallow, smooth-surfaced dolines remained in the loess surface. Probably at this stage no bedrock outcrops survived.20 NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER 3) Subsidence of the loess through solution fissures and pipes in the buried bedrock created a second generation of dolines within these larger surface dolines, These subsidence dolines tended to coincide with bedrock dolines below. Unequal development of this second generation has brought about variation between dolines in the amount of rock exposed in a given doline. The larger and deeper a doline grows the more likely it is that the sides of the underlying solution doline will be encountered and so rock will begin to crop out. When rock crops out, the greater is the tendency for side slopes to flatten slightly with increasing doline size, The fact that proportionately more dolines have rock exposed towards the northern end of the field without a corresponding crease in the area and depth of the dolines suggests that the loess cover is in general thinner in this direction, As rock crops out, there is a tendency for the dolines to become more elongate. Results from the dry valley A greater proportion of the dry valley dolines than of the field dolines Gignificant at o.0sP) presented problems of unit identification. This could be due to operator variance since a different party measured them. However a chain of dolines along the bottom of a valley is inherently more likely to give rise to this kind of difficulty than a scattered pattern. Although the constituent dolines in complexes are significantly smaller in length, width and depth than the whole set including complexes as wholes, there is no significant difference in the dimensionless ratios. No significant difference at the 5 percent level is found in any character between the dry valley set with complexes treated as wholes and the set with constituent dolines replacing complex ones; therefore the first set only will be considered hereafter. he dry valley dolines are strongly unimodal in their dimensions (Figure 9). Although’ their’ mean length, width and depth are all slightly greater than those for the doline field, the differences are not significant at 6.05P. Nor are there any significant differences in the two dimensionless ratios for the two sets. A direct relationship between depth and mean diameter similar to that for the doline field holds for the dry valley chain, not quite as strong but nevertheless significant at the 0.1 percent level (Figure 10b). Between the dry valley chain and the doline field, there are no significant differences at 0.1P in the proportions of rock outcrop dolines from those without, and of elongate dolines from more circular ones, It can be concluded therefore that the dry valley dolines are likewise similar in origin and history, even though a substantial spring below the hanging lip of the dry valley is suggestive of a cave beneath it. THE MT, COOKSON KARST, NORTH CANTERBURY Mt. Cookson karst north of Waiau was selected for comparative study on the grounds that it possessed a more rigorous climate arising from its higher altitude and more inland position. A consequence of this is that the native short tussock has not been replaced by exotic grasses, so that there has been no ploughing which might modify the minor relief. There is a small-scale pitting, evidence of tree-fall; broadleaf podocarp forest present in. pre-THE PIMPLE Pimole Hill ati pares a (J 2%s0* Rocks Formation Limestone Fig. 12. Simplified geology of the Mt, Cookson karst (based on Gregg, 1965) Polynesian times was cleared before the coming of the pakeha (Molloy, 1969). The Mt. Cookson karst is developed in Isolated Hill Limestone of the Oligocene Landon Formation (Duntroonian-Waitakian) (Gregg, 1965). The limestone is up to 60 m thick and consists of a cream, hard, massive biosparite, with 95-99 percent calcium carbonate. It forms a roughly tab- ular range some s00 m wide and nearly 5 km long, trending NNE in the eastern limb of the faulted Wandle Syncline (Figure 12). Transverse faults cause dips and relief to vary along the range. The mean annual rainfall is about joo mm. There is a frost liability of 200 days and snow may lie for several weeks, The Battery at the northern end of the range is the scene ofFig. 13. Oblique aerial view looking SE of the doline field at Mt. Cookson selected for study large scale rotational slumping, the limestone sliding in huge slabs over Mt. Cookson Volcanics. The largest doline field of the Mt. Cookson range at 600-450 m was selected for measurement (Figure 13). Although it had been intended to measure all of its population, bad weather allowed only the northern third to be done. Analysis of the data did not call for completion of the measure- ment for reasons evident below and reconnaissance of the whole field gave no indication of any systematic variation in the character of the dolines along its length. There is a fairly uniform surface slope downwards to the SSW end of the field, steeper than in the case of the Craigmore field. The mean of six dip measurements gave 6.5° to the SE (133°); there was no cross-slope to match this however. Higher ridges enclose the field to the NW and SE, and this renders dolines towards these flanks asymmetrical. Springs near the SW and SE corners of the field probably drain it; caves back both of them. In the case of the larger spring to the SE, the cave is waterfilled from the start and in the other penetration is blocked by a tight, waterfilled, passage a few metres inside A loess of variable thickness covers virtually all the ground between the dolines, yet only three of the 45 dolines measured lack rock exposures. Indeed 32 of them have shafts, fissures or shallower pits (afterwards all subsumed under ‘shafts’) set within the main conical hollows. Their presence had not been detected in prior air photo stereoscopic examination because the shafts are concealed by remnant pockets of thick bush in the lower parts of the dolines. Bedrock occurred in all shafts and in most of them it was possible to determine that these inner cavities are developed in undisturbed bedrock. These observations alone determine that the primary origin of the dolines is by surface solution. Sections across dolines 18 and 28 exemplify this (Figure 14). Angular rock rubble, sometimes concealed beneath vegeta- tion and soil, occurs in many doline floors and shafts.N Doline 13 Ss Doline 18 0 10 20 30 40 60M Fig. 14. Cross-sections of selected Mt. Cookson dolines from the field studied However the section across doline 13 (Figure 14) demonstrates that it is like the Craigmore dolines (Figure 11). It consists of a conical hollow in loess, with a very small pit in the bottom leading laterally into the bedrock. The auger holes show that the loess doline is off-centre with respect to an underlying shallow bedrock doline. Therefore some at least of the Mt. Cook- son dolines have probably had a history like that of the Craigmore dolines wherein earlier solution dolines were buried in loess and younger subsidence dolines were formed in the loess cover. Whether dolines at Mt, Cookson,24 NEW ZFALAND GEOGRAPHER such as 28 where rock not only walls the inner shaft but also crops out over much of the slopes of the outer conical hollow, were ever completely buried in loess is uncertain, In the neighbourhood of The Pimple, a residual outlier of an overlying siltstone formation towards the northern end of the range, the surface has a substantial proportion of bare karst. Here some of the dolines are unassociated with loess so there is the possibility that as loess fell into these dolines, it was removed by washing down through fissures and pipes. It is equally likely, however, that some of the dolines with shafts and little loess could have ‘been exhumed by subsequent evacuation of loess through the limestone. The story has also been complicated by a period of pronounced frost shattering; the age relationship of this gelifraction and of the loess deposition was not elucidated MT COOKSON 0 1020 30.40 (ray? oe 48 si a bs ol leg ge i H | é ae BT" 20 §o' on 02 03 os doo; 0203” 2502/4 W) 2001L4W) 203(L4W) Fig. 15. Histograms of mean diameter, depth and cross-section ratio for the Mt. Cookson, doline field sample Note: (i) D2 includes the depths of shafts of shafted dolines together with those of shaftless dolines. (ii) Dr portrays the depths of shaftless dolines and the depths of shaft rims of shafted dolines (as for Figure 16c). Gili) D3 portrays the depths of shaftless dolines and the reconstructed depths of shafted dolines (as for Figure 16d). Morphometry of part of the Mt. Cookson doline field and its significance In the light of these uncertainties, comparison of the size and shape characteristics of these dolines with those at Craigmore promised to be useful.DOLINE MORPHOMETRY 25 In only one case was there doubt as to what unit to measure; 14 of the 45 dolines measured were elongate, a proportion not significantly different from that of the Craigmore field. In length and width also the two sets of dolines were not significantly different at the ¢ percent level of confidence (Figure 15). There was uncertainty in the measuring of some of the shafts at Mt. Cookson where it was not possible to view the bottom and these were literally ‘sounded’ with a weight on the end of a tape. From internal evidence in the results, it is thought that these inaccuracies do not affect the argument which follows. Including the shafts, the dolines range in depth from 1 to 26 m, much greater than with the Craigmore field. The coefficient of variation of cross- section ratio based on the maximum depths for all dolines is 76 percent compared with 28 percent for the Craigmore field. However, for the shaftless dolines alone, there is a strong direct relationship between depth and mean diameter significant at the o.1 percent level of confidence (Figure 16a). Plotting depth of shafts against mean diameter for those with shafts gives a wide dispersion (Figure 16b). The correlation coefficient is not significant at the 5 percent level. If depths to the bottoms of the dolines without shafts is combined with depths to the lips of shafts where these occur, a reduced range of 1-10 m results for the whole sample, comparable with that at Craigmore and with a coefficient of variation of 33 percent not significantly different either. There is quite a strong regression between these depths and mean diameter sig- nificant at 0.01 P (Figure 16c). Another depth was derived by producing the slopes of the upper hollow in short cross-section to meet within the inner shaft where this is present. Errors as great as + 0.2 m may occur in these reconstructed depths. Never- theless, these depths coupled with the measured depths for the shaftless do- lines have a coefficient of variation of only 28 percent and the regression of this depth on mean diameter is strong and significant at 0.1 percent (Figure 16d). The slopes of the two regressions, employing respectively the depths to the lips of shafts (Figure 16c) and the reconstructed depths in the cases of the shafted dolines (Figure 16d), are very similar, Both of them lie close to the slope of the equivalent regression for the doline field at Craigmore and not quite so close to that for the dry valley chain. There is no significant difference at 0.¢ P in mean diameter and elongation ratio between the dolines with and without shafts at Mt. Cookson, though there is a significant difference in depth and cross-section ratio when depth to the shaft lip is employed in the case of the shafted dolines. However when reconstructed depth is used instead, there cease to be significant differences in these characters also. Since there are no ploughing banks at Mt. Cookson, the various similarities in dimensions and dimensionless ratios between the dolines there and the Craigmore dolines provide firm evidence for inferring that ploughing at Craigmore has not significantly affected the measurement of doline form there. In combination with the presence of shafts in most of the Mt, Cookson dolines and the small thicknesses of loess on their sides in many cases, their overall morphometric similarity to the Craigmore dolines suggests that theM Mt COOKSON 1 G ® Pa 4 7 & : 5 = y=0188x +188 ~ 20956 a : a gy 30 y =0136x+ 7-85 1 =0-263 20, 68 (ao & i < = 21d 3 10 y 20-148 41-47 : = 20-753 . oe a a ba 39 yeo1sax+196 - ae a F=0-788 : . - 0 50 (L+w) /2 Fig. 16. Regression on mean diameter of the Mt. Cookson dolines of (a) depth of shaftless dolines (b) depth of shafted dolines, (c) depth of shaftless dolines and depth of shaft rim of shafted dolines, and (d) depth of shaftless dolines and reconstructed depth of shafted dolinesDOLINE MORPHOMETRY 27 equilibrium slopes for solution dolines and for subsidence dolines differ unexpectedly little in these contexts (cf. p. 6). This is supported by the fact that the Mt. Cookson depth /mean diameter regression (Figure 16d) has a slope close to that for the Craigmore doline field and not far removed from that for the dry valley chain, though it is qualified to a modest degree by the difference between the mean cross-section ratios for the dolines with and without rock outcrops in the Craigmore field (p. 14). The striking correspondences between the dolines from the two areas point to the strong possibility that many of the shafted dolines of the Mt. Cookson field may have suffered burial and subsequent exhumation. Converse- ly they also underline the possibility that buried shafts may be revealed by more intensive investigation at Craigmore. CONCLUSION This doline study has demonstrated that where considerable numbers of a simple landform type develop under closely similar conditions, favourable circumstances obtain for the successful employment of simple dimensions and of form ratios. Even when no great measuring precision is achieved, thi approach within the karst domain has been shown to be effective in two way: On the one hand, size and shape analyses can in particular contexts validate the extrapolation over a whole area of the more detailed study of a few cases. On the other hand, the results of such analyses can provide important con- straints on genetic hypothe: ing and furnish tests whereby some explanations can be favoured and others eliminated, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This study would not have been done but for the invitation by Professor W. B. Johnston to lecture for a term in 1968 in his Department of Geography in the University of Canter- bury. Professor Jane Soons, Dr R. McLean, Mrs Pat Butterfield and Mr D. Harrowfield helped greatly with the organisation of the field work at Craigmore where many students of the Department cheerfully carried out repetitive and laborious tasks. Professor M. Gage and Dr G, Warren gave me information about Mt. Cookson, Mr Peter Elworthy indy allowed us to work on ‘Craigmore’ and generously provided accommodation. In 197? Mr R. S. Martin of the Canterbury Geography Department assisted me in the field at Mt. Cookson where Mrs O. M. Dalmer of Annandale’ and Mr D. Fergusson of ‘The Gates’ courteously gave access. Finally Professor P. W. Williams criticised the text most valuably. T thank all these people most sincerely for their assistance. REFERENCES CITED Aubert, D. 1966: Structure, activité et évolution d'une doline. Bulletin de 1a Sociéte Neuchateloise des Sciences Naturelles, 89, 113-120. Crark, P. J. and Evans, F. C. 1954: Distance to nearest neighbour as a measure of spatial relationships in populations. Ecology, 354 445-453- Coteman, A. M. and Barcnin, W. G. V. 1969: The origin and development of surface depressions in the Mendip Hills. Proceedings of the Geolagists Association, 70, 291-309. Cramer, H. 1941: Die Systematik der Karstdolinen. 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