Karst Feature Inventory Points
Go to Section:- Overview
- Data Quality
- Data Organization
- Coordinate System
- Attributes
- Distribution - Get Data
- Metadata Reference
Section 1: Overview
Originator:University of Minnesota; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Title:
Karst Feature Inventory Points
Abstract:
Southeastern Minnesota is part of the Upper Mississippi Valley Karst that includes southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa. In Minnesota, surface karst features (including but not restricted to sinkholes, caves, stream sinks, and karst springs) are observed to primarily occur where 50 feet or less of unconsolidated material overlies Paleozoic carbonate bedrock, the St. Peter Sandstone, or the Mesoproterozoic Hinckley Sandstone.
The University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Geological Survey have been mapping karst features since the early 1980s. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources became involved in the process in the 1990s and is now responsible for maintaining the karst feature inventory and continuing mapping. The Karst Features Inventory (KFI), formerly known as the Karst Features Database, contains both reported and field verified karst feature locations and additional remarks, measurements, and other historical data for features where available.
Purpose:
This product can be used as a standalone product or can be used in conjunction with the Minnesota Regions Prone to Surface Karst Feature Development for planning purposes. This GIS coverage can be used to document the occurrence and distribution of sinkholes and other surface karst features for planning, environmental and risk management, hazard mitigation, scientific, and other purposes. Karst processes provide a direct, very rapid exchange between surface and ground waters and significantly increase groundwater contamination risk from surface pollutants.
Field-verified sinkholes are direct evidence that karst processes are active on both the surface and subsurface. However, the absence of sinkholes on the land surface does not imply that karst conditions are absent in the subsurface. Subsurface karst conditions also occur in carbonate rock in areas where there is more than 50 feet of unconsolidated material over bedrock but those conditions rarely lead to karst surface feature development in Minnesota.
This dataset provides an inventory of karst features. It has many uses, including 1) to look for large-scale patterns in the sinkhole distribution, 2) to conduct statistical tests of hypotheses about the formation of sinkholes, 3) to create web-accessible management tools for land-use managers and planners, and 4) to deliver geomorphic and hydrogeological criteria for making scientifically valid land-use policies and decisions in karst areas of southeastern Minnesota.
Time Period of Content Date:
06/04/2026
Currentness Reference:
Time Period of Content date indicates the date which the user can be confident of accuracy and completeness of the dataset.
Progress:
In work
Maintenance and Update Frequency:
Weekly
Spatial Extent of Data:
Minnesota
Bounding Coordinates:
-97.23
-89.53
49.37
43.5
Place Keywords:
Minnesota, southeast Minnesota
Theme Keywords:
karst, karst feature, sinkhole, stream sink, blind valley, quarry, outcrop
Theme Keyword Thesaurus:
Access Constraints:
None
Use Constraints:
None
Contact Person Information:
Holly Johnson,
GIS Specialist
Minnesota DNR - Ecological and Water Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
Saint Paul,
MN
55155-4025
Phone: 651-259-5693
Email: holly.je.johnson@state.mn.us
Browse Graphic:
Section 2: Data Quality
Attribute Accuracy:
1:24,000
Logical Consistency:
Data are topologically correct
Completeness:
The karst feature inventory is an incomplete database, as karst features form and are remediated over time. Feature inventory points and associated data are updated on a regular basis. Sinkhole data in Fillmore, Goodhue, Mower, Olmsted, Pine, Wabasha, and Winona counties are relatively more complete than in other karst areas of southeastern Minnesota.
Horizontal Positional Accuracy:
Vertical Positional Accuracy:
Lineage:
Karst features have been added to the inventory for decades, primarily by researchers at the University of Minnesota and by the Minnesota DNR. Locational data varies from field verified visits, topographic surveys, reported locations (from county staff, SWCD, and the public), historic aerial imagery analysis, and from visual reconnaissance of shaded relief Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) images and GIS analysis of one-meter resolution LiDAR rasters.
The geodatabase contains three elements: karst_feature_inventory_points feature class, remarks table, sinkhole_measurements table. The geodatabase contains two relationships: from karst_feature_inventory_points to remarks and from karst_feature_inventory_points to sinkhole_measurements. These relationships mean feature(s) in one feature class can be used to determine related feature(s) in another feature class. For example, a selected karst_feature_inventory_point can be used to find its related remarks.
ESRI has information about how to use related tables or feature classes: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.6/manage-data/tables/accessing-related-records.htm
Section 3: Spatial Data Organization (not used in this metadata)
Section 4: Coordinate System
Horizontal Coordinate Scheme:
Universal Transverse Mercator
UTM Zone Number:
15
Horizontal Datum:
NAD83
Horizontal Units:
meters
Vertical Datum:
Vertical Units:
Depth Datum:
Depth Units:
Section 5: Attributes
Overview:
This dataset shows the location of surface karst features in Minnesota and is a revised and updated version of the Karst Features Database (Gao and others, 2002). It includes the locations of karst features from Alexander and Maki (1988), Shade and others (2002), submitted by the public and county collaborators, and features determined from lidar analysis (Rahimi and Alexander, 2013).
Detailed Citation:
Alexander, E.C., Jr., and Maki, G.L., 1988, Sinkholes and sinkhole probability, pl. 7 of Balaban, N.H., ed., Geologic Atlas of Olmsted County: Minnesota Geologic Survey, County Atlas Series C-3.
Gao, Y., Alexander, E.C., Jr., and Tipping, R.G., 2002, The development of a karst feature database for southeastern Minnesota: Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 64, no. 1, p. 51-57.
Shade, B.L., Alexander, S.C., and Alexander, E.C., Jr., 2002, Karst features in Pine County, MN, in Boerboom, T.J., Project Manager, Contributions to the geology of Pine County, MN: Minnesota Geological Survey, Report of Investigations 60, 91 p.
Rahimi, M.H., and Alexander, E.C., Jr., 2013, Locating sinkholes in LiDAR coverage of a glacio-fluvial karst, Winona County, MN in Thirteenth Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst, p. 469-480.
Table Detail:
karst_feature_inventory_points| Field Name | Valid Values | Definition | Definition Source |
|---|
| Relate ID | - | Relate ID number | |
| globalid | - | software generated unique id used as primary key for relationship to tables | esri |
| Feature Label | - | Relate ID with extraneous zeroes removed | |
| Name | - | Name of feature | |
| Feature Code | enumerated | Type of feature | |
| D | sinkhole | |
| B | stream sink | |
| X | miscellaneous | |
| T | tile outlet | |
| I | tile inlet | |
| F | quarry | |
| O | outcrop | |
| V | blink valley | |
| Field Check Date | - | Date of field check | |
| Field Check Observer | - | Name of person who completed field check | |
| Field Check Observer Organization | - | Organization of person who completed field check | |
| Locate Date | - | Date of feature location | |
| Locate Method Code | - | Method by which the feature was located | |
| Location Observer | - | Name of person who located the feature | |
| Location Observer Organization | - | Organization of person who located the feature | |
| Geolocate Date | - | Date geographic coordinate was obtained | |
| GCM | - | Geographic coordinate method | |
| Geolocate Observer | - | Name of person who obtained geographic coordinate | |
| Geolocate Observer Organization | - | Organization of person who obtained geographic coordinate | |
| Deposit Type | - | Deposit type at location of feature | |
| Depth to Bedrock (Ft) | - | Depth to bedrock at location of feature | |
| First Bedrock | - | First bedrock at location of the feature | |
| Top Formation | - | Top formation at location of the feature | |
| Bottom Formation | - | Bottom formation visible in outcrop | |
| Elevation (Ft) | - | Elevation of the feature in feet | |
| Elevation Method | - | Method by which elevation was obtained | |
| Vertical Datum | - | Vertical datum of elevation | |
| County | - | County in which the feature is located | |
| Township | - | Township in which the feature is located | |
| Range | - | Range in which the feature is located | |
| Range Direction | enumerated | Direction of range in which the feature is located | |
| E | East | |
| W | West | |
| 2 | 1/2 | |
| Section | - | Section in which the feature is located | |
remarks| Field Name | Valid Values | Definition | Definition Source |
|---|
| Relate ID | - | relate ID number | |
| Remarks | - | description(s) tied to point feature | |
| karst_guid | - | software generated unique id used as foreign key for relationship to point feature class | esri |
| Observer | - | name of observer | |
| Observer Organization | - | organization of observer | |
| Observation Date | - | date of observation | |
| Created User | - | name of person who entered data | |
| Created Date | - | date of data entry | |
sinkhole_measurements| Field Name | Valid Values | Definition | Definition Source |
|---|
| Relate ID | - | relate ID number | |
| Observer | - | name of observer | |
| Observer Organization | - | organization of observer | |
| karst_guid | - | software generated unique id used as foreign key for relationship to point feature class | esri |
| Observation Date | - | date of observation | |
| Size | - | adjective descriptions of sinkhole size (diameter) ranging from very small (<1 meter) to extra-large (>30 meters) | |
| Shape of Sinkhole Walls | - | general descriptions used to classify sinkhole wall shape | |
| Length (Meters) | - | length of long axis of sinkhole | |
| Width (Meters) | - | length of short axis of sinkhole | |
| Depth (Meters) | - | depth of sinkhole | |
| Dimension Method | - | description of how sinkhole measurements were taken | |
| Sides | - | generalized descriptions of sinkhole walls | |
| Setting | - | physiographic description of sinkhole location | |
| Trend of Sinkhole's Long Axis | - | projection of the sinkhole's long axis (degrees) | |
| Activity | - | generalized description of how active the sinkhole is, ranging from inactive to active recent collapse | |
| Treatment | - | generalized description of sinkhole treatment ranging from untreated (natural) to filled | |
| Treatment Date | - | date of treatment (if known), formatted to month, day, year | |
| Contents in Sinkhole | - | generalized description of contents (if any) observed in the sinkhole | |
| Sinkhole Formed Before | - | date (month, day, year) that the sinkhole formed before | |
| Sinkhole Formed After | - | date (month, day, year) that sinkhole formed after | |
| Created User | - | name of person who entered data | |
| Created Date | - | date of data entry | |
Section 6: Distribution
Publisher:
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Publication Date:
09/07/2016
Contact Person Information:
Zeb Thomas,
GIS Data Systems Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
Saint Paul,
MN
55155
Phone: 651-259-5637
Email: zeb.thomas@state.mn.us
Distributor's Data Set Identifier:
geos_karst_feature_inventory_pts
Ordering Instructions:
Please visit the download page for this dataset on the Minnesota Geospatial Commons website using the web link below (Online Linkage). Online Linkage: I AGREE
to the notice in "Distribution Liability" above. Clicking to agree will either begin the download process, link to a service, or provide more instructions. See "Ordering Instructions" above for details.
Section 7: Metadata Reference
Metadata Date:
04/12/2024
Contact Person Information:
Holly Johnson,
GIS Specialist
Minnesota DNR - Ecological and Water Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
Saint Paul,
MN
55155-4025
Phone: 651-259-5693
Email: holly.je.johnson@state.mn.us
Metadata Standard Name:
Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines
Metadata Standard Version:
1.2