Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sub-Recent Microfauna Within Allogenic Sediments At The Bottom Of A Deep Cave, Njemica (Biokovo Mt., Croatia), Tomislav Kurečić, Valentina Hajek Tadesse, Lara Wacha, Marija Horvat, Nina Trinajstić, Ivan Mišur

International Journal of Speleology

Clastic sediments deposited at the bottom of the vertical, nearly 1000 m deep Njemica Cave (Biokovo Mountain, Croatia) were analysed. Owing to the vertical morphology of the cave, the occurrences of clastic sediments are sparse. Small, up to decimetre-thick, undisturbed sediment accumulations situated near the siphon lake revealed interesting palaeontological and mineralogical data. These data are used as a useful proxy for discussing depositional processes, the provenance of the sediments and paleo-habitats of the subterranean fauna.

The sub-recent assemblages of ostracods were discovered within the sediment, and they were shown to be correlative to the known endemic species in the …

Flow Regime Evolution Of A Major Cave System In The Eastern Alps (Hirlatzhöhle, Dachstein), Lukas Plan, Gottfried Buchegger, Eva Kaminsky, Gabriella Koltai, Tanguy Racine, Jacek Szczygieł

International Journal of Speleology

The 116 km-long and 1560 m-deep Hirlatzhöhle is one of the major cave systems in the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA; Austria). It is located in the NW part of the Dachstein, an extensive karst massif encompassing 576 km² with its highest point at 2995 m a.s.l. In contrast to most other caves in the NCA, Hirlatzhöhle comprises old (epi)phreatic passages located up to 1 km above the base level as well as two modern major drainage systems. The aim of this study is to define the palaeo- and the active flow conditions in combination with speleogenesis, and the age of …

Airflow Dynamics In Wind Cave And Jewel Cave: How Do Barometric Caves Breathe?, Annika K. Gomell, Andreas Pflitsch

International Journal of Speleology

Recent research on air pressure propagation through barometric caves has revealed various speleoclimatological processes, which cause a more complex relationship between surface air pressure changes and resulting pressure gradients between cave and surface air than previously assumed. So far, however, studies on barometric cave airflow have only been based on surface air pressure measurements. Thus, this study investigates and compares airflow at the openings of Wind Cave and Jewel Cave – two major barometric cave systems in South Dakota, USA – as a response to surface air pressure changes and air pressure gradients. Based on high-resolution long-term air pressure measurements …

Speleothems In Sandstone Crevice And Boulder Caves Of The Elbe River Canyon, Czech Republic, Jiří Adamovič, Jaroslav Kukla, Michal Filippi, Roman Skála, Noemi Mészárosová

International Journal of Speleology

A variety of speleothems are present in crevice and boulder caves developed in Cretaceous sandstones of the Elbe River Canyon in northern Czech Republic. A set of complementary instrumental mineralogical methods was applied to characterize the speleothems and cave dripwaters, including X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and microanalysis, Raman spectroscopy and optical emission spectrometry. Four morphological types were distinguished and characterized in terms of their mineral and chemical composition: 1, rusty brown mud-dominated coatings with micro-gours, composed of a mixture of clay minerals; 2, white “chalky” coatings (moonmilk) composed of calcite with minor gypsum; 3, cauliflower-shaped coralloids composed of …

Sulfuric Acid Speleogenesis And Surface Landform Evolution Along The Vienna Basin Transfer Fault: Plavecký Karst, Slovakia, Pavel Bella, Helena Hercman, Šimon Kdýr, Petr Mikysek, Petr Pruner, Juraj Littva, Jozef Minár, Michal Gradzinski, Wojciech Wróblewski, Marek Velšmid, Pavel Bosak

International Journal of Speleology

Hypogene caves in the Plavecký hradný vrch Hill (Western Slovakia, Central Europe) were formed by waters ascending along faults in fractured Triassic carbonates related to the horst-graben structure at the contact of the Malé Karpaty Mountains and the NE part of the Vienna Basin. The Plavecká jaskyňa and Pec caves mostly contain horizontal passages and chambers with flat corrosion bedrock floors, fissure discharge feeders, wall water-table notches, replacement pockets, as well as a few other speleogens associated with sulfuric acid speleogenesis. The low-temperature sulfuric acid development phases of the Plavecká Jaskyňa are also indicated by the presence of sulfate minerals …