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The Results of 15 Years of Intimate Scientific Exchange Yuan Daoxian Marjorie Sweeting’s ( photo ) last volume Karst in China: its Geomorphology and Environment is highly appraised by her former Chinese collaborators. Not only is it a detailed description of the colourful and varied karst features in China, but also and more importantly, it is an excellent attempt at linking the academic thinking of Chinese and Western karst researchers. This is not an easy job, as the author said "karst studies in China developed seperately from the West" (p.32), but she did it very well by following the line of learning, introducing, observation and cooperation, comparison and suggestion in 15 years (1977-1992) of hard work. Marjorie learnt with enthusiasm the achievements of karst research in China, both modern and ancient. She even did a Chinese course for that, and could manage many Chinese characters. Like Joseph Needham, the late professor at Cambridge University, and an old friend of China, she evaluated highly the results of karst research in ancient China noting, for example, that "a map drawn in 168 B.C. (Han Dynasty) is the first map of tower karst in the world" (p.33), and that Xu Xiake (1587-1641 A.D.) "was the first person in the world to discuss tower karst and to describe the different types of landscape in S China, particularly the tower karst (peak forest) of Guilin" (p.35). Chinese colleagues feel proud to see that Marjorie had integrated into her book many Chinese ideas of karst formation which have developed in recent years, such as the origin of peak forest in Guilin (p.87-92); the stone forest in Yunnan (p.129-135); the tufa dams in Huanglong (p.187-193), the comparison between karsts of Yunnan and the Dinaric region (p.124), and the heterogeneity of karst waters (p.232-235). Moreover, from the structure of the book, we see the closing of our respective stands on karst research. Unlike many other Western classic karst books, including Marjorie’s own Karst Landforms (1973), which usually start from a discussion of dissolution processes and of the lithological characteristics of carbonate rocks, this book starts from a comprehensive analysis of the geological, climatic, hydrological background of karst formation in China. This approach runs through the whole book. It fits the modern Earth System Science and is exactly the common methodology of the UNESCO/IUGS IGCP 299 project "geology, climate, hydrology and karst formation" (1990-1994), of which Marjorie asserted her book as a part. Marjorie’s first visit to China was in 1977, when "open to the outside" policy was just resumed in this country and Chinese scientists were anxious to learn the new development of science abroad. She did her best to introduce the new ideas, methodologies, techniques, and results of karst research in the world achieved in the past decades. During her 11 visits to China over 15 years, she gave a series of lectures in different institutions of China, and initiated and was involved in many Sino-British cooperative karst research projects, such as caving expeditions, paleoenvironmental reconstruction with karst deposit in Guilin, and karst research in Tibet. Many new techniques, such as SRT for caving, cave diving, SEM analysis, U-series dating of speleothems, and karst geochemistry were introduced into our karst research through these cooperative activities. Perhaps the most important event in exchanging Chinese and Western ideas in karst was her involvement in a month long discussion on the Glossary of Karstology that took place in 1983 at the Institute of Karst Geology in Guilin. Word by word, a draft including 160 terms in karstology were went through. The meanings, historical background of each term, and the understanding on the origin of various karst features were explained mutually. Typical sites and distribution areas were given, followed by on the spot discussion in the field. Participants were impressed by Marjorie’s great patience in the discussion. Sometimes, we spent even a few hours on one term. However, it really benefitted greatly the exchange of Chinese and Western ideas on karst (the Glossary was published later by the Geological Publishing House in Beijing, 1988) and to some extent influenced the form of this book. It is the hard compact old phase carbonate rocks, the remarkable Cenozoic uplift, the monsoon climate, and the escape from ice sheet scouring that make the karst in mainland China so spectacular. The author shows great ingenuity to pay more attention to the more representative karst regions in China, such as Guilin, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, and some parts in North China. One chapter is given to each region. Most of the discussions are based on the author’s first hand observation in the field. Her devotion to science, and strong will in field work are highly acclaimed by Chinese colleagues. In 1988, she joined a Sino-British karst expedition in Tibet. Overcoming all the hardships, she got first hand ideas on the debatable relict tropical peak forest on the Plateau. In 1991, regardless of the problems with her legs, she was involved in the 6700 km long IGCP 299 excursion in China, which she regarded as "the most ambitious karst trip ever made". The trip passed through the subtropical karst in south China, semiarid karst in north China, and high mountain karst on the Tibet Plateau, and included many remote and harsh areas. All the trips are the data sources of this book, but for some important regions, she paid visits time and again, integrating with local karst experts. She knew and had discussions in person with most of the 72 Chinese colleagues quoted in the References of the book. Perhaps the highlight of the book is the point she makes after a thorough comparison of karst and its research in China and the West. I believe both sides will benefit from her point if we can really appreciate it. Taking the book Karst: Important Karst Regions of the Northern Hemisphere (HERAK STRINGFIELD, 1972) as an example, Marjorie made an apropos remark on the European and American ignorance of karst in China until quite recent decades (p.33). In the Preface she notes that karst thinking, at times stultified in Europe, might gain from the Chinese approaches and ideas in two respects: the first concerns the more easily recognizable fluvial origin of Chinese karst and the second relates to the huge area covered by karst in China. After a comparison of hydrological features of karst in China with those in other countries, she concludes that "Nowhere else in the world is there such a combination of karst limestones and large actively dissecting rivers with such enormous discharges" (p.11). From this point she re-evaluated the concept of Holokarst made by Cvijic and Roglic as "detrimental", considering that it "held up European thinking on karst" (p.245). Then with regard to the large areal distribution of limestone in China, she suggests that the spectacular areas of karst "have focussed our attention upon the fundamental issues of karstification, rather than upon the endless discussions on the origin of the small and less significant landforms in the karst". On the other hand, we also appreciate Marjorie’s remarks on the shortcomings of karst research in China, such as "each group of workers in the institutes and universities tends to work in isolation", "a tendency to explain landscape phenomena in terms of their own local experience", and "Chinese karst study is more pragmatic and less theoretical ", and "less analytical, more descriptive than in the West". We should acknowledge all the problems in spite of her making many excuses for us. Her point about possible intense cyclone activity in Guilin (p.50) in the Quaternary may be a key to karst formation in the area. Her suggestions on how our work may be improved have been followed up. In the past 5 years after Marjorie finished her first manuscript, stimulated by the implementation of IGCP 299 "geology, climate, hydrology and karst formation" (1990-1994) and IGCP 379 "karst processes and the carbon cycle" (1995-1999), fundamental study on karst in China has made headway with the continuous support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) and the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources (MGMR). Readers who are interested can find these new developments reported in international journals, such as Episodes, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Quaternary International, and Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie. Marjorie would very glad to see all the progress. In Marjorie’s 15 years of work in China she proved herself a model of scientific cooperation between China and other countries. Her book will be read all over the world by people interested in karst. Not only does it provide the most important source of karst information on China, but also it contains treasures of thinking in karst research. We will think seriously and conscientiously about all the points which Marjorie Sweeting kindly brought to our attention.
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