tower karst

{{Short description|Tall structures of soluble rock}}

File:1 li jiang guilin yangshuo 2011.jpg, Guilin, China]]

Tower karst are tall rock structures made up of soluble rock such as limestone. Tower karst forms as near-vertical joints and fractures are eroded downward by solution, leaving parts of a previously coherent rock mass isolated from each other. Tower karst is most common in tropical regions,{{cite encyclopedia|title=Cave: Cone and tower karst|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/tower-karst|accessdate=April 8, 2019}} although it may form in other climates as well.{{cite journal |last1=Brook |first1=G. A. |last2=Ford |first2=D. C. |date=1978 |title=The origin of labyrinth and tower karst and the climatic conditions necessary for their development |journal=Nature |volume=275 |issue= 5680|pages=493–496 |doi= 10.1038/275493a0}}

Examples include Khao Phing Kan, also known as James Bond Island, in Thailand, and Cat Ba Island in Vietnam.{{cite web |url=https://blogs.agu.org/waterunderground/2017/11/04/karst-short-episodes-karst-3/ |title=Of Karst! – short episodes about karst |last=Gleeson |first=Tom |date=November 4, 2017 |website=Water Underground |publisher=American Geophysical Union |access-date=November 23, 2020}}