Europe, North: Figure 3. The dry valley of Millington Pastures in the Yorkshire Wolds (England), with the rounded slopes and sheepgrazed short grass that characterizes the chalk karst. (Photo by Tony Waltham)

Metacarbonates (marbles) occur along the west coast of Spitsbergen and host relict caves and active hot springs. Almost all the caves are filled with ground ice, but their speleogenesis can be traced back to subglacial conditions as well as an important paleokarst legacy from the Devonian and to even earlier hydrothermal corrosion during the Caledonian. Active hot springs yield sulfide-containing waters of carbonate-sulfatechloride types, with temperatures as high as 15°C. Abundant Permian evaporites (anhydrite) give rise to high sulfate content of groundwater, and gypsum precipitates in icings. Although the karst is presently in a permafrozen state there are active subpermafrost aquifers, fed from the underside of polythermal glaciers. Hence, the area serves as a modern analog for subglacial karstification in northern Europe during the Pleistocene glaciations.