Deposition and erosion stages in the Moravian Karst
Article PDFDeposition and erosion stages in the Moravian Karst
Moravian Karst represents the largest and the most important karst territory in the Czech Republic, with regard to its long scientific research and the excellent development of broad spectrum of surface and underground karst phenomena, including a number of active stream sinks and karst springs. Between Jurassic and Quaternary, the area underwent significant changes, different on the karstic surface and within the karst valleys and connected cave floors. Separate development of northern, central and southern part of Moravian Karst is under discussion. This publication reviews the complicated development of this region and its changes from Jurassic to the Quaternary (river valleys, open air and cave sediments and their periodical deposition and erosion).
The substantial part of karst formation took place before the Badenian transgression. The sedimentary record demonstrates repeated sediment deposition and erosion, especially within surface river valleys and cave corridors. Cave chimneys played the key role in processes of accumulation and subsequent erosion of loam sediments in cave corridors. Major part of the remaining, so far not eroded loam sediments originated during the last stage of accumulation, i.e. in the Late Last Glacial. Correspondingly, we must expect that similar repeated stages of accumulation and erosion of variable intensity took place in previous glacials and interglacials. These processes, well recognizable in the Last Glacial and Holocene, must have been characteristic for the whole Quaternary.
Rudolf Musil, Department of Geological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic. E-mail: rudolf@sci.muni.cz