The fearful karst collapses have been produced in succession since 1970s by the exploitation of karst water in the area of Tai'an-Laiwu, Shandong province. The limestone buried by Quaternary System grows into karst caves, and karst collapse brings enormous harm to the local society and economy development. The spatio-temporal distributing characteristics of karst collapse are summed up in detail. The geological condition, artificial function and forming mechanism of karst collapse are discussed. The cause mode of the karst collapse aiming at the existing questions is discussed and the idea for karst collapse studying in the future is given at last.