PROGRESS IN THE STUDY ON KARST PROCESSES AND CARBON CYCLE

The IGCP 379 project,“Karst Processes and the Carbon Cycles” was proposed and organiged by Chinese scientists.Its duration time is five years from 1995 to 1999.In this paper the research situation and its developments have been presented.(1)The developments about the carbon cycle of the epigenic karst system and the sources and sinks of CO 2 in the atmosphere have three aspects:Its study areas have been extended;The work processes of the carbon cycle of the epigenic karst system have been disclosed;The CO 2 amounts uptaken by the epigenic karst system have been evaluated.(2)There are three aspects about the developments of the CO 2 releasing from Earth's depth:The more CO 2 releasing zones have been discovered;The sources of CO 2 have been identified;The problems about the sources and sinks of CO 2 in the Tibet have been argued furtherly.(3)The developments about the paleoenviomental reconstruction with the karst records have three aspects:The temporal and spatial ranges have been enlarged remarkably; More and more new technologies and methods are used to attain more paleoenvironment information; The resolution has been promoted continuously.