• 标题：Preface: Five decades of advances in karst hydrogeology
• 关键词：IAH;Karst commission;Karst hydrogeology.
• 作者：

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Carbonate rocks have a worldwide distribution. Karst groundwater has been an essential resource for humanity since the establishment of civilization in the karstified areas of the Middle East and Mediterranean. Goldscheider et al. (2020) estimated that 15.2% of Earth’s continental surface is covered by karst aquifers, with 1.18 billion people (16.5% of the global population) living on karst areas. Karst aquifers supply drinking water to approximately 10% of the world’s population (Stevanovi? 2019).Interest in the intriguing nature of groundwater flow in karst has led to early scientific debates since the beginning of the twentieth century (Grund 1903; Katzer 1909; Martel 1910; Cviji? 1918). Exploring and explaining karst and its groundwater have always been challenging tasks, because of its inherent specificities: karst aquifer anisotropy and heterogeneity, mechanisms of recharge and their intensity, role of epikarst and soil cover, prevalence of turbulent regime rather than laminar flow in large channels and cavities, complex variations of karst dissolution rates depending on geochemical zoning, deep water recharge and circulation. Karst water storage and flow occur in three vastly distinct media: rock matrix, fractures and conduits, governed by radically different flow regimes. Conduits, in particular, are characteristic of karst. Conduits are relatively rare in relation to bedrock volume, and this results in limited water storativity; however, they are responsible for the majority of flow, conveying large volumes of fast flowing water under a turbulent regime. Quick infiltration of rainfall in karst commonly results in a shortage of surface water and lack of perennial streams in the mountainous areas and high plateaux. In contrast, drainage to the erosional base level of a karst hydrogeologic system can result in the world’s most powerful springs. However, even such high discharge springs may dry up during long recession periods due to the peculiar and dynamic karst hydrological regime.High permeability also results in high vulnerability to pollution, making mitigation and remediation difficult. Any construction in karst, especially creation of dams and reservoirs, is a very delicate undertaking since prediction of the location and size of karst voids remains challenging, resulting in leakages and even failures, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.The inherent difficulty in dealing with hydrogeology of karst terrains has led to the establishment of specialized research groups,mostly in the past 50 years. The founding of the International Association of Hydrogeology (IAH) Commission on Karst Hydrogeology (colloquially referred to as the “Karst Commission”) in 1970 reflected on, among other things, the need to collectively integrate this very specialized branch of hydrogeology. This Hydrogeology Journal special issue, “Five Decades of Advances in Karst Hydrogeology”, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the IAH Karst Commission. The evolution of all aspects of karst hydrogeology during these 50 years is reviewed in the following.