Karst bauxite refers to a specific and economically important geological type of bauxite deposit that forms within carbonate karst terrains — landscapes developed on soluble limestone, dolomite, or marble bedrock through the dissolution action of mildly acidic groundwaters. These deposits, also known as Mediterranean-type or terra rossa bauxites, are found infilling dissolution cavities, sinkholes, dolines, and irregular karst surface depressions, forming lenticular or pod-like ore bodies with highly variable thickness and lateral continuity. Classic examples of karst bauxite deposits are found in the Mediterranean region (southern France, Hungary, Croatia, Greece, Turkey), the Caribbean (Jamaica, Haiti), and parts of China.
The genesis of karst bauxite is interpreted as a two-stage process: the residual accumulation of insoluble aluminium-rich material left behind after the dissolution of underlying carbonates, potentially combined with the transport and concentration of bauxitic material from adjacent lateritic source areas into the karst depressions. The mineralogy is typically dominated by diaspore or boehmite (higher-temperature aluminium oxyhydroxides) rather than the gibbsite more common in tropical lateritic deposits, reflecting different weathering and burial histories. From a mining engineering perspective, karst bauxite deposits present significant challenges including highly irregular orebody geometry demanding dense drilling programs for resource definition, difficult geotechnical conditions at the ore-limestone contact, unpredictable hydrological behaviour due to karstic groundwater systems, and the potential for sudden ground collapse or subsidence during mining operations.