 Acta Carsologica
ISSN 0583-6050
Contact: Andrej Kranjc kranjc@zrc-sazu.si
Website: http://www.zrc-sazu.si/izrk/carsologica/
Recent issue: January-July 2005, 34 (1)
Szunyogh G. 2005. A Theoretical Approach to Establish the Duration of Denudation on Limestone Surface without Soil Cover.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 9-24. ISSN 0583-6050.
This paper deals with the question of how the duration of karstic denudation depends on the dip angle, the annual amount of precipitation, the rain intensity, and the prevailing wind direction and speed in case of an initially plane, sloping limestone surface without soil cover. The answer is given by the solution of a differential equation system describing the lowering speed of the rock surface. It turns out that the rate of the denudation does not increase in proportion to the intensity of precipitation and that it can never exceed a maximal value. Furthermore, long, soft rains result in higher annual denudation than short, abundant downpours. With increasing wind-speed the corrosion rate also increases, but above a certain wind speed the dissolution does not become faster. This paper presents numerical examples with diagrams about how these factors affect the expected duration of denudation.
Gams I. 2005. Tectonics impact on poljes and minor basins (Case studies of Dinaric Karst).
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 25-41. ISSN 0583-6050.
The aim of this study is to show tectonic features in selected poljes and minor basins in the Dinaric Karst. Boreholes and gravimetric measurements show thick Neogene loose sediments and the rocky bottom below the sea level - real cryptodepressions. The sediments make parts of a large plain that subsided at the end of the low Pliocene. The recent seismic activity in this area proves the ongoing tectonic process. The deepest (more than 100 m) and the smallest polje in the Slovenian Dinaric karst, Globodol is a dry polje in the piezometric level. Quaternary subsidence of the bottom is the only reasonable explanation of its genesis. On Planinsko polje there are signs ob suballuvial corrosion and the indicators of the Holocene tectonic subsidence. Four poljes in the Ravni kotari (Dalmatia) are shallow basins in the first stage of development. They prove the process of the bottom levelling below the shallow cover of alluvial sediments. An extremely deep small basin is about 450 m deep Red Lake (Hercegovina) and small basins at Čmomelj and Kočevje (Slovenia), 300 m and 100 m deep below the sea level.
Hauselmann Ph. and Granger D. E. 2005. Dating of caves by cosmogenic nuclides: method, possibilities, and the Siebenhengste example.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 43-50. ISSN 0583-6050.
Cosmic rays produce nuclides at and near the Earth's surface. 10Be and 26Al in quartz are of particular interest for dating cave sediments. These two nuclides are produced at the surface at a fixed ratio. If the quartz is carried from the surface into a cave, the sediment is shielded from additional cosmogenic nuclide production, and the inherited 10Be and 26Al decay radioactively. Because 26Al decays more rapidly than 10Be, the ratio of these two nuclides indicates the time since the sediment was washed underground. The burial dating method can be applied to sediments in the age range of approximately 0.1 to 5 Ma. In ideal cases, we get information about valley lowering rates. If the provenance of the sediment is known, averaged erosion rates of the source area can be estimated. The oldest cave phases of the Siebenhengste system, Switzerland, were dated using cosmogenic nuclides. The oldest sediment is 4.4 ± 0.6 Ma and thus indicates Pliocene karstification of the Siebenhengste.
Osborne R. A.L. 2005. Dating ancient caves and related palaeokarsts.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 51-72. ISSN 0583-6050.
There are few cases of open caves that have been reliably dated to ages greater than 65 Ma. This does not mean that such caves are extremely rare, rather it is difficult to reliably establish that a cave, or palaeokarst related to a cave. is this old. Relative dating methods such as: - regional stratigraphic, lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, relative climatic, relative isotopic, morphostratigraphic, and regional geomorphic are very useful. They suffer however from significant difficulties, and their results lack the impact of a crisp numerical date. While many of the methods used to date younger caves will not work over the required age range, some isotopic methods and palaeomagnetic methods have been applied with varying degrees of success. While finding something to date and having it dated is difficult enough, producing the date is rarely the end of the story. The difficult issue is not the date or relative correlation itself, but what the date or correlation means. Demonstrating that caves are ancient seems to rapidly become beset with the old adage that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The presence of a well-dated or correlated sediment in a cave does not necessarily mean that the cave is that old or older. Perhaps the dated material was stored somewhere in the surrounding environment and deposited much more recently in the cave. A lava flow in a cave must be demonstrated conclusively to be a flow, not a dyke or a pile of weathered boulders washed into the cave. It must be conclusively shown that dated minerals were precipitated in the cave and not transported from elsewhere. There seems little doubt that in the future more ancient caves, or ancient sections of caves, will be identified and that as a result our perception of the age of caves in general will change.
Kovačič G. and Ravbar N. 2005. Mapping of hazards to karst groundwater on the Velika planina plateau.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 73-85. ISSN 0583-6050.
The present paper presents the hazard mapping of groundwater on the Velika planina alpine karst plateau. There are no permanent residents on the plateau. Nevertheless, some serious hazards to the quality of the respective karst springs are arising from sports, tourist and farming activities. Some pollution has been already recorded in springs, showing the shortcomings of drinking water management also in uninhabited alpine karst areas, which are ordinarily very favourable for water protection.
Angelova D., Beloul M.A., Bouzid S. and Faik V. 2005. Karst and cave systems in Bosnek region (Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria) and Wintimdouine (High Atlas Mountain, Morocco).
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 87-111. ISSN 0583-6050.
The study of both endokarstic systems Bosnek (Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria) and Wintimdouine (High Atlas Mountain, Morocco) is presented in this work. Both regions are standard for the study of geodynamic processes in Bulgaria and Morocco, and they could be used as geodynamic polygons in the Mediterranean region. The karst is developed in Triassic and Jurassic limestones. The karst processes in both endokarstic systems occur under the conditions of active Quaternary and recent tectonics. A typical structural karst is formed. The present work shows also the results of the comprehensive studies performed in the field of geology, tectonics, geomorpholody, hydrology, climatology, etc., of the karst. It is accented on the genesis and the evolution of the greatest cave systems in Bulgaria (Duhlata cave - more than 17 km) and Morocco (Wintimdouine cave - more than 19 km long). Both cave systems are situated in zones with high seismicity, with open surface and sud-surfase paleoseismic disruptions. The karst study and monitoring of its processes has great practical value in Bulgaria and Morocco because they are related to one of the largest urbanized territories (Pernik and Sofia for Bulgaria, and Agadir for Morocco) and they are protected natural objectives as well.
Car J. and Zagoda B. 2005. Structural position of the shaft Habeckovo Brezno (Idrijsko, Slovenia).
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 113-133. ISSN 0583-6050.
With detailed geological mapping at a scale 1:5 000, beside general geological data also the structural and tectonical circumstances of the surrounding of Habeckovo brezno were recognised. The complicated tension deformations developed in compressive condition and the thrust contact are the main reasons for developement of hydrological and surface karst features. With kinematical reconstruction we recognised that 400 m deep Habeckovo brezno has a special structural and hydrological location.
Parise M. and Suarez M.V. 2005. The show cave at "Gran Caverna de Santo Tomas" (Pinar del Rio province, Cuba).
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 135-149. ISSN 0583-6050.
At Gran Caverna de Santo Tomas, one of the longest karst system of Cuba, a part of the cave is exploited since 1994 as show cave. It corresponds to the sixth level (out of the total of seven) of the complex karst system, which lowest part is still active today, being the present course of Arroyo Santo Tomas. Even with the difficulties related to great distance from the main tourist routes of the island, Gran Caverna de Santo Tomas was visited in the last 10 years by a significant number of tourists and scientists, due to its remarkable variety of karst landscape, at the surface as well as within the cave, and the important archaeological discoveries therein carried out. Management of the show cave is a good example of low-impact effect of tourism in a karst cave, as many features point out. Among these, the limited number of visitors allowed for each group, the choice in using only wooden ladders and passages to reach the cave entrance, and the adoption of rechargeable electrical light (without realizing any fixed light system in the cave). Gran Caverna de Santo Tomas, therefore, has a high potentiality for becoming one of the best location in the Caribbean to develop an ecological sustainable tourism and, at the same time, due to its size and length, to allow international and Cuban cavers and scientists to continue carrying out speleological and karst research.
Zhang C., Li W. and Michael Day. 2005. Towards establishing effective protective boundaries for the Lunan Stone Forest using an online spatial decision support system.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 151-167. ISSN 0583-6050.
The Lunan Stone Forest is the World's premier pinnacle karst landscape, and was established as a national park in 1982. The existing boundaries are essentially arbitrary, based on notional scenic value, and take into consideration neither the physical landscape nor the existing pattern of urban development. Moreover, the location of the boundaries is not clear to the local community, rendering them largely ineffective. Developing an online Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) potentially provides a way to establish protective boundaries that are meaningful from the perspective of karst science, yet also readily identifiable by the local community within the context of the existing urban fabric. The 7km2 "core area" of the Stone Forest Park is used to illustrate the use of the SDSS.
Novak T. 2005. Terrestrial Fauna from Cavities in Northern and Central Slovenia, and a review of systematically ecologically investigated cavities.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 169-210. ISSN 0583-6050.
In the years 1977-2001, the fauna of and ecological conditions in 55 cavities - caves and artificial tunnels - in northern and central Slovenia were systematically investigated. Zoogeographically, this is the meeting point of the Alpine, Pannonian and Dinaric biome. This article lists 321 terrestrial genera, 456 species and 100 subspecies belonging to 183 families, that had been recorded by 2005 in cavities of this region in the course of our own investigations, and that have been cited in the references. This taxonomical review serves as a foundation for understanding ecological and other treatise on the terrestrial fauna in the hypogean habitats of northern and central Slovenia, those that have been published ones, as well as those in preparation. The overview of the systematically investigated cavities, and the review of the methods and techniques used has been added to provide general information about the morphology of these caves, and the ecological research within them.
Juznic S. 2005. Babbage's Calculating Machines, the Proteus From Postojna Cave, and the Carniolan Museum Society.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 211-220. ISSN 0583-6050.
We verified some data in Shaw's description of Babbage's visit to Postojna. To compare with, we calculated the exact date of Babbage's voyage from his own descriptions. We researched the motives for his interests in the Proteus anguinus. We described other Babbage's scientific activities at the time of his visit to Camiola. We claimed his surprising incompetence in geography. In Babbage's time, Carniolan scientific research of the Proteus anguinus began under Dezman's leadership of the Museum Society. For the first time we researched the early Carniolan contribution to the Proteus research. We discussed possible reasons for the previous neglect of the Museum Society work and Dezman's publications in particular.
Kempe S. 2005. The inscriptions of the Tartarus Panel and the 1833 Fercher-survey, Postojnska jama.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 221-235. ISSN 0583-6050.
The history of the discovery of the main parts of Postojnska jama that began in 1818 is not well documented. The article reports about the most interesting inscriptions of the "Idrianer" left on February 7th, 1833, including Johann Fercher, Aloys Urbas, Valentin Tracha, and Johann Wruss near the end of the then known main passage. Fercher was a mine supervisor at Idria. He conducted the first thorough survey of the cave, published first by Schaffenrath (1834). In the archives of Postojnska jama, kept by the Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU in Postojna four documents survive illustrating the background of this survey. These documents, written in the 19"' century German Current handwriting are transcribed here for the first time. They not only list the participants of the survey (which also included surveyor Michael Glantschnigg and coachman Johann Leskovitz) but also report costs.
Shaw T.R. 2005. Škocjanske jame, Slovenia, in 1891 - an alpine club excursion.
Acta Carsologica, 34 (1), 236-260. ISSN 0583-6050.
The excursion after the 1891 general meeting of the Deutsche und Osterreichische Alpenverein (DOAV) was to their Section Kiistenland in Trieste which was then actively exploring Skocjanske jame. J. Sigrist-Herder of Switzerland was one of those who visited the cave and he compiled an album containing contemporary publications and also 25 photographs by Francesco Benque of Trieste, 15 of which are published here for the first time. They show the 1891 festivities as well as scenes at the cave entrances and in the dolines. The visit is described here from newspaper articles by Sigrist-Herder supplemented by publications of the DÖAV. A comparison is made with a similar visit in 1885 when less of the cave had been explored. In 1891 the visitors were taken to Müllerjeva dvorana but a few people went along the walls as far as Dvorana planinskega drustva, only discovered in 1887 |
