Development of a Business Park in Karst Terrain

Sinkholes and Karst windows are very common in southwestern Kentucky. Several sinkhole collapses over the past 20 years has resulted in the acknowledgement of the importance of an adequate subsurface characterization program for new construction projects. A large formally agricultural site was being considered for development into a large Intermodal Industrial Park. The several hundred acre site is north of Bowling Green, Kentucky and south of the Mammoth Cave National Park. The property had several small sinkholes scattered throughout the property. To quantify the risk of future dropouts, several geotechnical engineering evaluations were conducted. Following the conceptual planning, a microgravity subsurface study was conducted to; determine areas of incipient voids in the overburden soils, depth to bedrock and to located voids, caves or crevices in the bedrock. Microgravity surveys use a microgravity meter to measure the gravitational field of the subsurface. Variations in the gravitational field indicate anomalies within the soil overburden. Once these anomalies were located, they were explored using traditional geotechnical drilling and test pit excavations. Results from the microgravity survey and the accompanying geotechnical engineering exploration quantified the risk such that the local economic development agency invested in the construction of the project attracting several large industrial tenants and high paying jobs.