Temporary freshwater rockpools in the Maltese Islands : formation, ecological processes and implications for management and conservation

Abstract

Temporary freshwater rockpools of the Maltese Islands generally form in karstified solution hollows in coralline limestone substrata. Not all hollows are potential rockpools as they are subject to infilling by allochtonous sediment transported by runoff water and to a lesser extent by wind. The dynamics of sediment in solution hollows is a function of rates of infilling and rates of depletion, which are in turn influenced by the surface area to volume ratio (A:V) of the depression. A continuum of solution hollows described by A:V therefore occurs on karst terrain.