The problem of road route evaluation in the process of planning and designing is reduced to making a decision regarding route selection which is preceded by a detailed analysis of each potential ...alternative assessed by experts. The aim of this paper is to show that conclusions regarding the evaluation and selection of the adequate road transport route can be obtained by the application of the multi-criteria analysis. In order to fulfill our research aim, a model which includes criteria and sub-criteria for road route selection is set. The defined model can be applied in the decision-making process related to the road route evaluation and selection. Its value lies in the elaborated methodology of the multi-criteria optimization applied in the transport planning and designing. The defined model was applied in the evaluation and selection of the Jelsane - Postojna highway route by using the PROMETHEE II method for the multi-criteria ranking of alternatives.
Black deposits covering speleothems, cave walls and floors in Postojna Cave and Predjama Cave (SW Slovenia), and charcoal found in soil outside the Postojna Cave, were studied in order to establish ...their origin and age. SEM/EDS analysis of these deposits from both caves indicated that they are charred plant remains, very similar to oxidised charcoal in soil. Stable carbon isotope δ13C values of −29.41‰ (Črna Jama, P1), −26.9‰ (Predjama), and −25.1‰ (charcoal in soil) confirm their origin from biomass burning. Radiocarbon dating from Postojna Cave (Črna Jama (P1) 8394±35calyrB.P. and Pisani Rov 8235±25calyrB.P.) suggests that the oldest analysed black deposits formed in the Early Holocene (Mesolithic). The age is consistent with soil charcoal found at 1m depth in the surrounding area. Black deposits from Predjama were dated to 4095±25calyrB.P. (Eneolithic) and were caused by burning fires at the cave entrance, as supported by archaeological remains. Prehistoric (2375±20calyrB.P.) charcoal from the upper part of the soil profile (0.5 to 0.6m) and historic (1240±29calyrB.P. or 745calyrCE) black deposits from Postojna Cave (Črna Jama, P2) are related to forest fires, which are most likely human-induced. We interpret the oldest dated black deposits in Postojna Cave as traces of Early Holocene natural forest fires, since fire activity inside Črna Jama and Pisani Rov is not supported by archaeological remains. Favourable cave entrance morphology and microclimate allowed smoke to enter the cave during the winter period and deposit on speleothems. But an anthropogenic cause of forest fires cannot be excluded, since there are well-documented Mesolithic archaeological cave sites located close to the area. The study shows that black deposits on speleothems in caves are an important palaeoenvironmental record and proxy for Holocene climate.
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•Black deposits on speleothems and charcoal in soils in karst area were studied.•SEM/EDS, 14C dating, C stable isotope analysis, organic matter analyses were applied.•Black deposits and charcoal in soil proved forest fires event dating 8200calyrB.P.•Black deposits on cave speleothems are important proxy for Holocene climate.
The manuscript name Chelifer longimanus Kollar, 1848, most often cited as Obisium longimanum Kollar, was first introduced in a note by Kollar (1848) that has been overlooked in the taxonomic ...literature on pseudoscorpions. No description or indication has been associated with this name, which is therefore a nomen nudum. It corresponds to the valid pseudoscorpion species Neobisium spelaeum (Schiödte, 1847), having been found at one of the type localities of the latter (Postojna Cave, Slovenia). Two specimens originally identified as O. longimanum (probably by V. Kollar) are present in the collections of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien.
Prispevek v uvodnem delu prinaša pregled zgodovine raziskav prazgodovinskih najdišč na Notranjskem. V nadaljevanju so predstavljene tri arheološke lokacije, ki dobro zaobjamejo pozno bronasto in ...starejšo železno dobo notranjske halštatske skupnosti. Strateško pozicijo v sklopu Postojnskih vrat je imela v pozni bronasti dobi ali morda še nekoliko prej naselbina na Soviču nad Postojno. Naselbina na Cvingerju pri Dolenji vasi pri Cerknici je verjetno nastala med 10. in 9. st. pr. n. št. nad ponikalnico Velika Karlovica na obrobju Cerkniškega jezera. Prispevek se zaključi s predstavitvijo najdišča na Trnovem pri Ilirski Bistrici, kjer je bilo leta 1978 raziskano grobišče. Predstavljeni so grobovi, ki nakazujejo časovni okvir pokopovanja med 9. in 6. st. pr. n. št.
In Slovenia in the 19th century, poor harvests and consequently the shortage of food and seeds for sowing were a localised and completely normal periodic phenomenon. The weather had a profound impact ...on the emergence of regional life-threatening crises. Since forever, farmers had been especially worried and afraid of hail. The menacing icy precipitation had the potential of devastating the fields. The Swiss historian Christian Pfister rightfully described it as an exogenous shock that can trigger sequences of events that would otherwise have not happened. The present study focuses on the regionally restricted example of a severe hailstorm that caused enormous damage in the district of Postojna in the summer of 1864, as it almost completely destroyed the crops. During the agrarian crisis, the majority of the peasant population had already barely lingered on in profound poverty. Apart from the unusually cold and rainy weather in 1864, the damages caused by the hail even exacerbated the severe distress, and ten villages in the district faced severe food scarcity. The head of the district turned to the Provincial Presidency in Ljubljana for help, and it provided aid in the usual manner: by collecting donations for the purchase of food and seeds.
There are a total of 22 caves and karst wells with more than 25 specialized species resident (stygobionts and troglobionts). In this Special Issue, 14 of these sites are described in detail, along ...with the specialized fauna. An additional paper describes the richest known cave in China. A summary paper puts all 22 subterranean biodiversity sites in context.
A recent slip-rate of an active fault is a very important seismotectonic parameter, but not easy to determine. Idrija fault, 120 km long, is a prominent geomorphologic feature with large seismogenic ...potential, still needed to be researched. Measurements of tectonic micro-displacements can provide insight into its recent activity. The Učja valley extends transversally to the Idrija fault and was therefore selected for the installation of TM 71 extensometer. Measurements on the crack within its inner fault zone are conducted from the year 2004. In 14 years of observations a systematic horizontal displacements with average rate of 0.21 mm/year and subordinate vertical displacements of 0.06 mm/year were established, proving the activity of this fault. An overview of methods of displacement measurements related to active faults and of newer interdisciplinary investigations of the Idrija fault is given. Displacement rates are beside for geodynamic interpretations important for improvement of seismotectonic models and thus for better seismic hazard assessment.
Postojna Cave is the largest of 21 show caves in Slovenia. The radon concentration there was measured continuously in the Great Mountain hall from July 2005 to October 2009 and ranged from about 200 ...Bq m−3 in winter to about 3 kBq m−3 in summer. The observed seasonal pattern of radon concentration is governed by air movement due to the difference in external and internal air densities, controlled mainly by air temperature. The cave behaves as a large chimney and in the cold period, the warmer cave air is released vertically through cracks and fissures to the colder outside atmosphere, enabling the inflow of fresh air with low radon levels. In summer the ventilation is minimal or reversed and the air flows from the higher to the lower openings of the cave. Our calculations have shown that the effect of the difference between outside and cave air temperatures on radon concentration is delayed for four days, presumably because of the distance of the measurement point from the lower entrance (ca. 2 km). A model developed for predicting radon concentration on the basis of outside air temperature has been checked and found to be successful.
Carbonate dissolution and precipitation are important geological processes whose rates often require quantification. In natural settings, these processes may be taking place at a slow rate, and thus, ...it may not be easily visible which of these processes is occurring. Alternatively, if the effects of precipitation/dissolution are visible, it may not be clear if they are still underway or an artefact of past conditions. Moreover, these two opposing processes may flip states depending on the environmental conditions, such as, on a seasonal basis. Here, we present the technical details and preliminary results of a method using carbonate tablets and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to evaluate which process (carbonate dissolution or precipitation) is occurring, using as an example, a cave environment. Our method involves making tablets by encasing blocks of carbonate rock into resin and polishing these to form a completely flat and smooth “zero surface”. These tablets are observed under SEM in exactly the same points both before and after exposure to the field environment, using a system of marking lines at specific locations on the resin. Our results show significant differences in the before and after images of the tablet surface after just six weeks in the cave. Furthermore, the use of the insoluble resin zero surface permits a comparison of the starting height with the new dissolved/precipitated surface that can be used to quantitatively estimate the rate of dissolution/precipitation happening at a field location in a relatively short time-frame (weeks/months). This method could be used in numerous natural and industrial settings to identify these processes that can be caused purely geochemically, but also through microbialmediation and physical weathering.
In this study a multi-tracer test with fluorescent tracers was combined with time series analyses of natural tracers to characterize the dynamics of the solute transport through different recharge ...pathways and to study hydraulic behaviour of a binary karst system under low-flow conditions. Fluorescent tracer testing included the introduction of uranine, amidorhodamine G, or naphthionate at three injection points. Sampling and monitoring took place at two karst springs (Malenščica, Unica) and at two underground rivers (Pivka, Rak) recharging the Unica River at the Polje of Planina, SW Slovenia. Other monitored parameters included precipitation, spring or underground river discharge, water temperature, and electrical conductivity. Water samples were collected and analyzed for total organic carbon, Mg
2+
, SO
4
2−
, and NO
3
−
in the laboratory. In the study area, results of the tracer test suggest that contaminant transport in karst may be retarded for several weeks during low-flow conditions followed by increases in contaminant concentrations after subsequent rainfall events. Based on interpretation of tracer concentration breakthrough curves, low apparent dominant flow velocities (i.e., between 5.8 and 22.8 m/h through the well developed karst conduits, and 3.6 m/h through the prevailing vadose zone with a dominant influence of a diffuse recharge) were obtained. Together with analyses of hydro-chemographs the artificial tracing identified different origins of water recharging the studied aquifer. During prolonged low-water conditions the Malenščica spring is mainly recharged from the karst aquifer and the Unica spring by the sinking Pivka River. After more intensive rainfall events allogenic recharge from Cerknica prevails in the Malenščica spring, while the Unica spring drains mainly the allogenic water from the Pivka Valley. These findings of alternating hydraulic connections and drainage areas due to respective hydrological conditions are important and should be considered when monitoring water quality, implementing groundwater protection measures, and optimizing future water exploitation.
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