Taking part in the planning and construction of motorways in the Slovenian karst has enabled us to record and study newly-discovered features, which are an important part of our karst heritage. Earthmoving works have revealed the cross-section of the Classical Karst, where 350 new caves were opened up on the low and mostly covered karst of the Dolenjska region with subsoil stone forests, and on the karst in the breccias of the Vipava Valley. We have supplemented our knowledge of the age of karst features and of karst waters. Our findings provided direct help to the builders. This excellent collaboration can serve as an example for planning and executing various activities on karst and for getting to know and protect our natural and cultural heritage. The experiences gained are also a great starting point for karstological collaboration on the construction of a new railway line between Divača and Koper.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38828077
A critical overview of the current environmental protection legislation in Slovenia has been prepared, with particular reference to karst areas (surface, caves, and groundwater). The major problem is a lack of harmonised multi-sector policies regulating land use and planning throughout the karst region, the absence of detailed guidelines, and insufficient observance of the karst in all its complexity and vulnerability. A comprehensive management approach for karst areas has been proposed and could subsequently be adopted by other karst-rich countries.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2658243
A particular ecotone between oxic and anoxic conditions has been created in a sulphidic spring, where mixing between precipitation and geothermal sulphidic water occurs. Copepods (Crustacea) in such geological settings can be used as an additional parameter to evaluate conditions in subsurface sulphidic habitats, their spatial connectivity and their responses to hydrological events.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37903917
In the cave Snežna jama we used different methods like paleomagnetism, paleontology, Th/U and radionuclides for dating fluvial allogenic cave sediments. This enabled us to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of the sinking river that flowed through the cave. Reconstruction of the catchment area of the paleoriver and dating of the sediments have shown that the entire area was tectonically uplifted by 1000m in the past 1.5 Ma.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38033197
Models of bedrock channel evolution typically assume that chemical erosion is negligible in comparison to mechanical erosion. While this assumption is reasonable for channels in silicate rocks, it is questionable in the case of highly-soluble strata such as carbonates. The magnitude and variability of calcite dissolution rates in streams has remained a critical unknown for models of bedrock incision and karst conduit formation. Here we used U.S. Geological Survey data to estimate calcite dissolution rates from 77 different streams located in a wide range of settings. The calculated rates are commonly on the order of ∼1 mmyr−1, which is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude larger than previous estimates. Typically, dissolution rates vary within a relatively narrow range, which has important implications for the relative importance of chemical and mechanical erosion.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38585901