5 Conclusions
It is well known that drought has a significant impact on karst
dissolution. However, it is not clear how much karst dissolution will be
lost under the influence of different intensity droughts. With the help
of field control comparative experiments, we provide relatively detailed
results for the first time to answer the question. We clearly know the
karst dissolution loss caused by different intensity droughts for
different land types and in different regions through the investigation.
Although there may be some limitations in the study, the experiment
results confirmed that the drought has a considerable impact on karst
dissolution from the quantity point of view.
Controls of mechanism analysis suggest that the effect of drought on
karst dissolution is mainly achieved by reducing soil water.
Specifically, drought leads to a decrease of precipitation and, in turn,
reduces the soil water, weakens the karst dissolution process, and
finally causes the loss of karst dissolution. This results very clearly
implies an essential role of precipitation and soil water on the karst
dissolution. Previous studies have also demonstrated this argument.