Acta Musei Moraviae

Cenozoic history of the Moravian Karst Karst (northern segment): cave sediments and karst morphology

Cave systems of the Moravian Karst were formed by subsurface streams in dependence on the morphology of karst valleys representing a local base level before the Lower Badenian marine transgression. During the Cenozoic, stream activity in the caves alternated with speleothem deposition. Fluvial bodies formed in the Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene are preserved in ponor caves in the N segment of Moravian Karst. However, fluvial sediments filling the caves near resurgences of subsurface streams were deposited only in the Late Pleistocene. Reconstruction of the Cenozoic karst processes was proposed on the basis of the morphology of karst valleys filled with sediments as shown by geophysical survey and cave deposit datings.

Filling of cave corridors with sediments was induced by local events in many cases (e.g., the collapse of the Macocha Chasm roof). These events considerably inhibited the flow of subsurface streams in the cave systems. As a result, bodies of fluvial sediments in the caves of the Moravian Karst cannot be correlated with fluvial terraces formed by surface streams.