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In this lesson we are going to discuss the action of water in limestone arrears

Answer Text:
Action of Water in Limestone Areas (Karst Region)
Karst region - Region where the surface and the ground is covered with limestone rocks.
Karst scenery - Unique features in a Karst region resulting from the action of water e.g. Shimoni caves at the coast of Kenya.
- When calcium carbonate is exposed a weak carbonic acid is formed by rain water dissolving CO2 .It dissolves to form calcium hydrogen
carbonate which is removed from the rock in solution resulting in surface and underground features in a limestone region.

Factors Influencing Development of Karst Scenery
a) Surface rock and the rock below should be hard and well jointed for acid water to percolate and cause solution to happen e.g. limestone, chalk
or dolomite.
b) Climate should be hot to speed chemical weathering and humid for availability of rain which is a solvent.
c) Should have a lot of vegetation to release CO2.
d) Water table to be far below the surface so that the whole limestone rock is not dissolved and underground features fail to be formed.