Carbonate rock is the material basis of karst development. It recorded some environmental changes, stored most carbon and played an important role in the primitive atmosphere and life evolution during the earth evolution. Karst covers 22×10⁶ km² of the whole world, possessing~15% of the continent surface. The effects of the karst process on climate and environmental changes are considerable, and hence the karst dynamic system (KDS) is an important component of the Earth's Surface System. In this paper, the authors made a review on the progress of the karst science in the past 30 years, which includes the conception, intention and development of the karst dynamics, geological and ecological mechanisms of driving the KDS, and some new results and findings in the fields of KDS and carbon cycle, water cycle and calcium cycle. Finally, the karst critical zone and global karst was introduced.