SURFACE-ROUGHNESS AND THE EVOLUTION OF KARREN FORMS AT LLUC, SERRA DETRAMUNTANA, MALLORCA

Despite being a fundamental property of limestone rock surfaces, rough ness at the mm scale has hitherto been largely neglected in studies of karren morphometry. The present paper presents a method for recording accurately and quantifying roughness at this scale, and demonstrates the value of surface roughness studies with reference to a range of ka rren forms at Lluc. The results show that individual karren possess di stinctive roughness characteristics that seem to be attributable to di fferences in the (assumed) nature of water flow, e. g. greater turbule nce in flow along rillenkarren and unstepped rinnenkarren long profile s produces rougher surfaces than those found on ausgleichsflachen, ste ps and stepped flats; and to the presence or absence of a litter/humic soil fill within kamenitza. They also provide insight into the mechan isms by which individual karren forms evolve, e.g. a development seque nce is proposed that links bevels and steps along the long profiles of rinnenkarren with unusual stepped flat features at Lluc.