Groundwater Karst Data Ireland (ROI/NI) ITM
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| Theme | Science |
|---|---|
| Date released | 2012-01-02 |
| Date updated | 2021-10-22 |
| Dataset conforms to these standards | The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment. |
| Rights notes | ['Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)', 'Data that is produced directly by the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) is free for use under the conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.\n\nhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\n\nhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode\n\nUnder the CC-BY Licence, users must acknowledge the source of the Information in their product or application.\n\nPlease use this specific attribution statement: "Contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence".\n\nIn cases where it is not practical to use the statement users may include a URI or hyperlink to a resource that contains the required attribution statement.', 'license'] |
| Update frequency | Other |
| Language | English |
| Landing page | https://gsi.geodata.gov.ie/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d333a8a9b6ab44378411fc0d973db4ef |
| Geographic coverage in GeoJSON format | {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-11.0, 50.0],[-11.0, 56.0], [-5.0, 56.0], [-5.0, 50.0], [-11.0, 50.0]]]} |
| Spatial Reference Systems (SRS) | Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM, EPSG:2157) |
| Vertical Extent | {"verticalDomainName": "sea level", "minVerticalExtent": "0", "maxVerticalExtent": "0"} |
| Provenance information | Karst Landforms 1:40,000 Ireland (ROI/NI) ITM The Karst landform Database consists of point features, locating the centre (or, in the case of a cave, the entrance) of the karst landform, and records details of the landform’s dimensions and functioning. The Geological Survey Ireland’s (GSI’s) karst landform database was set up in 1998 as part of a research M.Sc. carried out by Morgan Burke. The title of the research project was ‘Assessing karstification in Ireland’ and it was conducted in order to address the issues of a great lack of knowledge of the extent and degree of karstification over much of the country. This thesis was a joint project with Geography Department, Trinity College Dublin and Groundwater Section, Geological Survey Ireland. One of principal aims of the project was to collate empirical data on the location, spread and types of karst features in the Irish landscape. This database was created in customized version of Microsoft Access and was an inventory of karst features in the Republic of Ireland. Information was recorded in the database for a variety of karst feature types including caves, enclosed depressions, dry valleys, turloughs, swallow holes, karst springs, estavelles, limestone pavements and epikarst. General details relevant to these features, such as grid references, county names, townland names, OSI 1:10560 (six-inch) map numbers and the limestone lithology type, in which the features occur, were recorded in the database for all features. The grid reference was originally taken as a four figure ING reference. This was found using a physical ING grid reference overlay on a OSI 1:10560 printed map. Each of the defined karst feature types in the database also had specific characteristics. Some features, such as caves, have length and volume whilst other karst phenomena do not. A distinction was also be made between those features which have aereal extent and those that have point occurrence. As a result of this, specific details pertinent to each of the karst feature types were also stored, such as overall passage length of a cave or the response time of a karst spring to a rainfall event. The karst features database was updated as new information became available gathered. Data were compiled from a variety of sources including maps, literature and company reports, but the majority of entries came from interpretation of the OSI 1:10,560 scale map series. Subsurface karst data were also obtained from borehole records and a telephone survey of active limestone quarry operators. At the end of the project there was a record of 547 caves, 680 springs, 410 enclosed depressions, 353 swallow holes and 241 turloughs in the Republic (Burke, 1998). The next significant phase of data collection and population of the database was initiated in the mid-2000s, during work on the Roscommon Groundwater Protection Scheme and PhD thesis on the Karst of Roscommon (Hickey 2008). This resulted in the addition of over 1,200 new karst features entered in the Access database. About half of these features were recorded during field surveys. Where possible, landforms were revisited in different weather conditions and seasons to understand their functioning. Each karst landform was located using a GPS system, which has an accuracy of 10m. Each feature was located and attributes and functioning details recorded in the GSI’s karst database. Just under one quarter of all karst landforms found during this research were first located using the Ordnance Survey of Ireland’s 1:10,560 (six-inch to one mile) maps. The main disadvantages of the six-inch map series as a data source are firstly, no details such as feature size, functionality, response to rainfall or permanency can be determined from the map and secondly, many of the landforms needed ground truthing to be sure they still existed and to verify landform type, as some landforms were entered incorrectly as a different type of landform. Any remaining areas in this study not mapped in the field were studied using stereo-pairs of full colour aerial photographs, taken by the Ordnance survey in the 1990’s. One of the key recommendations of Burke (1998) was that the database be integrated into a Geographical Information System (GIS), a technology which was then in its infancy in terms of use and manipulation, at the time, in State bodies in Ireland. The features logged in the database included grid references, but there was no way to display them as points or areas on a base-map. The integration into a GIS happened in subsequent years in Geological Survey Ireland in the early 2000s, and features were continually added to the database as they were submitted by consultants and academics working in the field. The database was easily incorporated into a GIS program. As all records in the database were entered as a 6-figure reference using the Irish national grid, these x, y co-ordinates were easily displayed on a digital map. Each feature type was assigned a special symbol from a specially designed style file for karst landforms. Since then, surges of data input have occurred when detailed source protection studies have been undertaken by Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency (2008-2014) and the National Federation of Group Water Schemes. The these data have been entered directly into the GIS database. Further input from consultants working on karst throughout the country have also bolstered the point data details. The karst dataset was re-projected in ArcGIS from Irish National Grid (IG) to Irish transverse Mercator (ITM) projection. Any karst information collected by Geological Survey Ireland’s own projects and activities has also been input regularly, with a large amount of karst feature mapping undertaken by the Groundwater Vulnerability Mapping project (2008 – 2013) and the GW3D project (2015–present). In 2015, Geological Survey Ireland funded the compilation of similar karst databases in Northern Ireland. This work was led by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and resulted in the first all-island karst landform and water tracing databases. These were published in 2016 with an additional 820 karst landforms. In more recent years Geological Survey Ireland have started a review of the karst databases. This means integrating, updating and fixing locational and other errors due to advances and availability in remote sensing datasets. Many of the previously unmapped areas are not being mapped remotely. However the mapping is not complete and data gaps still exist. It is important to note that it is NOT a comprehensive database and represents only areas that have been mapped by GSI, or third parties whose data have been processed. Although we try to ensure the information is as reliable as possible, the GSI takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the data or for decisions made on the basis of using the data. Due attention must be paid to the location accuracy given with each record. Digital files are live-updated periodically and users are responsible for obtaining the latest version of the data. There are many kinds of karst landforms, ranging in size from millimetres to kilometres. These landforms are grouped into nine main types outlined below. Enclosed depression: These are the most common landform type found in karst landscapes. Dolines are small to medium sized closed depressions, ranging from metres to hundreds of metres in both diameter and depth. These can sometimes be referred to as sinkholes (commonly used in North America, to describe dolines that appear dramatically). In Ireland dolines are commonly small and shallow features. They are usually bowl shaped depressions with sides ranging from gently sloping to vertical. Larger enclosed depressions, known as uvalas and poljes are also found. The karst database records details such as size, morphology and shape, presence of a solution pipe (a discrete hole for concentrated water to sink underground), type and formation. Swallow hole: The point where surface stream sinks underground is called a swallow hole. This can occur all at once or gradually over several metres or tens of metres, via losing streams. The karst database recorders details such as whether the inflow is permanent or intermittent and the discharge of the inflowing water. Turlough: Turloughs are seasonal lakes formed by both karstic and glacial processes. They are a type of enclosed depression, mostly found in central and western Ireland, and are especially common in lowland karstic landscapes. They fill and empty with water from underground passages in the bedrock via springs, swallow holes or estevelles. Some turloughs, however, are known to fill or partly fill by surface streams. The karst database records details such as size, morphology and shape, presence of swallow holes or estevelles and seasonality of the wet and dry periods. Estevelle: Estevelles can act as springs or swallow holes. Depending on the local water level in the ground they can allow water to flow out of the ground and on to the land surface or they can act as a swallow hole with water flowing into the ground from the surface. Estevelles may be found in stream sinks, or as unique features not connected to surface rivers. They are commonly found in the floors of turloughs in Ireland. Spring: Springs occur where groundwater comes out at the surface; they occur in all rock types. However, karst springs are usually much bigger than other springs and often have a highly variable discharge and quality. This is because water is being transmitted very rapidly underground to these springs. Karst spring discharges can range over several orders of magnitude, from small seeps to flows exceeding 50 m3/s. The karst database records details such as permanency of the flow and discharge of the spring Dry Valley: Dry valleys are similar to normal river valleys except they do not have a stream flowing at the bottom. They are formed by surface water, which later sank underground, leaving the dry valley shape on the surface. Dry valleys can be intermittently flooded or permanently dry and can contain a series of swallow holes or dolines along the bottom of them. Cave: A cave is a natural underground opening in rock large enough for a person to enter. Caves can be formed on any rock type. However, caves formed by karst processes are the largest, most numerous and most complex. Solution caves are formed by the dissolution of bedrock by circulating water. The karst database records details such as total length, passage shape and cross section, active or fossil, in-fill and speleothems Superficial Solution Features cover a whole range of processes and conditions and range from microkarren (1mm) to karrenfelds (100s of metres). Karren is the term used to describe small-scale dissolution pit, groove and channel forms at the surface and underground. Limestone pavements are also in this group and are described as generally exposed bare rock surfaces, which are broken into blocks (clints) by grikes (solutionally widened joints or fissures). Evidence of karst found in boreholes: This feature type records karst found in boreholes or wells. These are usually discovered during the drilling of the borehole and can be found by a sudden drop in the drill bit (through an air filled void), large volumes of water coming out of the hole at a certain depth or evidence of clay or rounded pebbles in the returns. The karst database records attributes like of the depth of the karst, the estimated thickness of the conduit and what the evidence for the karst is. In 2021, the data structure was reviewed and a new database was created in ArcGIS Enterprise. Using ArcGIS Pro 2.6.3, the dataset was renamed as part of a GSI data standardisation process. A standardised dataset alias was added. A unique id field was added. A new unique identifier was added for each record using an attribute rule. Most fields were renamed and an alias added. Domains were created for relevant fields to ensure attribute integrity for those fields. The attribute values can only be added from pre-defined GSI tables in the form of drop-down values. Attribute rules were set up to automatically insert certain values eg unique identifier. The data was cleaned using a GSI notebook. This checked the attribute values contained valid domain values and a spell check was carried out. Some manual cleaning of obvious errors was also carried out. Metadata was updated to the new GSI standard based on INSPIRE and ISO standards. Karst Traced Underground Connections 1:40,000 Ireland (ROI/NI) ITM This database was created in 2007 to compile and detail water tracing experiments carried out in Ireland. The data sources used were academic, scientific and caving journals, public sector, engineering and company reports and personal communication. The reports were reviewed and details of the trace were entered into the database. The positive traces were digitised as a straight line using ArcMap and the direction of the flow was marked by an arrow. It is linked to the GSI national karst landform database. The input feature name and number relates to the historic karst feature number for the input karst feature and the output feature name and number relates to the historic karst feature number for the output karst feature. The line was digitized to start at the input karst feature from the karst landform database and end at the output karst feature from the karst landform database. It is an inventory of all known water trace experiments and it stores details for each trace. Fields were created in the attribute table to record details of each trace. The fields are: name of input feature, corresponding historic input karst feature number from the karst database, name of output feature, corresponding historic output karst feature number, the date of the tracer input, the weather conditions, the type and quantity of tracer used, who carried out the trace, the results and peak concentration, county, straight line length, direction and comments. The tracer database is continuously revised and updated and new tracer experiments are carried out. In 2021, the data structure was reviewed and a new database was created in ArcGIS Enterprise. Using ArcGIS Pro 2.6.3, the dataset was renamed as part of a GSI data standardisation process. A standardised dataset alias was added. A unique id field was added. A new unique identifier was added for each record using an attribute rule. Most fields were renamed and an alias added. Domains were created for relevant fields to ensure attribute integrity for those fields. The attribute values can only be added from pre-defined GSI tables in the form of drop-down values. Attribute rules were set up to automatically insert certain values eg unique identifier. The data was cleaned using a GSI notebook. This checked the attribute values contained valid domain values and a spell check was carried out. Some manual cleaning of obvious errors was also carried out. Metadata was updated to new GSI standard. |
| Period of time covered (begin) | 1999-01-01 |
| Period of time covered (end) | 2019-01-10 |
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