This study investigates the spatial distribution of karst in Slovenia using advanced GIS technologies and accurate lithology, hydrology, and digital relief data. Previous approaches led to an ...incomplete understanding of karst distribution, as they focused on carbonate lithologies and surface features. Our integrated two-step identification method, involving GIS layer overlays and manual review of lithology data, resulted in a comprehensive digital spatial database. We found that karst covers 49.7% of Slovenia's total area, with a diverse range of associated lithologies. This research has important implications for managing and protecting karst aquifers, forest planning, agricultural subsidies, and glacial geomorphology studies, and enables further processing and enhancement by the karst research community.
Karst aquifers that supply manifold ecosystem services, such as freshwater resources, and possess unique underground biodiversity are characterized by peculiar flow processes and are thus ...particularly susceptible to destruction. Their efficient protection is based on artificial tracing results that are usually scattered among different sources. In the case of Slovenia, the results of 231 available tracer tests, performed between 1905 and 2019, have been assembled, arranged and georeferenced. The inventory of the geospatial database, which is unique on a global scale, contains 36 different pieces of data for each tracing that have been compiled using geographic information system tools. In this study, the basic concepts, the step-by-step workflow and a detailed mapping procedure have been presented. The thorough collection of available data that is freely accessible online includes data on the date, location and details of implementation of the tracer test and on the identified groundwater flow characteristics. Also available are the sources of the published or unpublished reports from which the data were taken. The database includes a comment on the tracer test implementation or results. The inventory is very useful in the process of the integrated management of karst water sources, and especially as an early-warning and monitoring system tool in cases where there is an imminent danger of pollution, which requires a fast and accurate response. The database production is transferable to other karst-rich countries.
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•An open GIS inventory of tracer tests results has been created and developed.•The tracer tests catalogue is a worldwide novel and exclusive interactive tool.•The database systematically compiles data and enables fast and easy access.•The paper describes the basic concepts, workflow and mapping procedure.•The inventory is a base for an early-warning system and water sources management.
Patterned ground is a characteristic periglacial landform in polar and alpine environments but has not been systematically studied in karst caves. Here we characterize the periglacial environment and ...sorted stripes within the Ledenica pod Hrušico ice cave, western Slovenia. The stripes were mapped, sediment depth and grain size were measured, and cave and outside air temperatures were monitored together with ground temperatures. Eleven sorted stripes of coarse limestone debris had developed on 1 m thick silt‐rich sediment, underlain by limestone bedrock. Silt‐rich cave sediments can accumulate as insoluble carbonate residue or during flood events, whereas coarse debris may result from frost shattering. Cold winter air entered the ice cave, but little air exchange occurred during summer, when the cave air temperature slowly rose to a maximum of 5°C. Winter temperature oscillations propagated efficiently to the snow‐free cave floor. Fourteen freeze‐thaw cycles were observed at the patterned‐ground surface during winter 2015/2016 and may cause the differential frost heaving necessary for sediment sorting. Such periglacial conditions and mixtures of silty and coarse sediments can produce sorted patterns in karst caves.
Na dinarskih kraških planotah Kočevskega Roga in Kočevske Male gore se je na kontaktu med kraškim in fluvialnim geomorfnim sistemom oblikoval t.i. kontaktni kras. Preučene so bile geomorfološke ...oblike in procesi na štirih območjih kontaktnega krasa. Na stiku med nekarbonatnimi in karbonatnimi kamninami so se razvile ponikve, slepe doline (aktivne in fosilne), konkavne oblike v bližini kontakta pa so zapolnjene z nekarbonatnimi sedimenti. Na kontaktu med različnimi karbonatnimi kamninami (dolomiti in apnenci) so reliefne oblike kontaktnega krasa manj jasno izoblikovane, mdr. ponori (aktivni in fosilni), ponorni zatrepi ter suhe doline.
The Planina Polje is located in the northwestern part of Notranjsko Podolje, Slovenia. Annual floods cover the flattened floor of the polje at elevation 445 m a.s.l. and reach the depth of ...approximately 8 meters. Loamy sediments which were found on surface and subsurface features from the inflow part of Planina Polje up to the elevations of about 495 m a.s.l., indirectly show that floods in the past must have been much more extensive than the recent ones. Radiocarbon dating of flowstone layer from side passage Tiha Jama in Planina Cave revealed that the last such extreme floods appeared around 5,706 ± 49 BP. The time frame of the flood roughly corresponds with the Altithermal (8,000–5,000 BP). More humid mid-Holocene climate might be the main cause for the high floods on Planina Polje.Keywords: geomorphology, floods, radiocarbon dating (14C), Dinaric Karst, Planina Polje, Planina Cave.
Na dinarskih kraških planotah Kočevskega Roga in Kočevske Male gore se je na kontaktu med kraškim in fluvialnim geomorfnim sistemom oblikoval t.i. kontaktni kras. Preučene so bile geomorfološke ...oblike in procesi na štirih območjih kontaktnega krasa. Na stiku med nekarbonatnimi in karbonatnimi kamninami so se razvile ponikve, slepe doline (aktivne in fosilne), konkavne oblike v bližini kontakta pa so zapolnjene z nekarbonatnimi sedimenti. Na kontaktu med različnimi karbonatnimi kamninami (dolomiti in apnenci) so reliefne oblike kontaktnega krasa manj jasno izoblikovane, mdr. ponori (aktivni in fosilni), ponorni zatrepi ter suhe doline.
Na slovenskem krasu je več različnih tipov kontaktnega krasa. Najpogostejši je ponorni tip kontaktnega krasa, ki se pojavlja med fliši in apnenci. Najdaljši kontakt te vrste v Sloveniji je na območju ...Matarskega podolja v zahodni Sloveniji, kjer se pojavljajo mnoge kraške globeli, ki so značilne za kontaktni kras. Reliktni vršaji so značilne oblike kontaktnega krasa, ki nastanejo s postopno denudacijo flišne naplavine in kemično denudacijo karbonatne podlage na območjih vršajev. V raziskavi so bile proučene oblike in procesi na vršajih ter vpliv vršajev na razvoj okoliškega krasa.
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