This paper reports on a study of active tectonics undertaken in the intracratonic setting of central Europe in the junction zone between Eastern Alps and Western Carpathians. The study site is focused on the karstic system of Driny Cave in the Malé Karpaty Mts, Slovakia. A range of geological, geomorphological, and in situ displacement data are presented. From previous geological mapping and our slickenside analyses, it is clear that the cave system has developed along significant fault structures. Further geomorphological investigations pointed towards ongoing faulting and block movements. For example, a number of slope failures can be seen on the hillsides above the cave and numerous fresh speleothem breaks can be observed within the cave. To test this hypothesis, three optical-mechanical crack gauges were installed in 2005. These gauges confirmed and quantified the ongoing movements. The NNE-SSW striking fault has recorded a strike-slip trend of 0.1 mm/year and a normal fault trend of 0.03 mm/year. The NW-SE striking fault has recorded a strike-slip trend of 0.04 mm/year. In addition, it has been possible to define their precise kinematics. Moreover, different strike-slip mechanisms along two transverse fault systems point to a horizontal stress field orientation. These results confirm the existence of active tectonic structures within central Europe. It is considered that the methodology described here can also be applied in other intracratonic settings where karstic cave systems are present. This would help define potentially seismogenic areas where unambiguous evidence for active faulting is lacking.
Abstract:The EU-TecNet monitoring network uses customized three-dimensional extensometers to record transient deformations across individual faults. This paper presents the first results from two newly established monitoring points in the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. The data from Saeva Dupka, recorded across an EEN-WWS striking fault, show sinistral strike-slip along the fault and subsidence of the southern block. Much of the subsidence occurred around the time of the distal M W = 5.6 Pernik Earthquake. An important transient deformation event, which began in autumn 2012, was reflected by significant compression and following extension, across the monitored fault. The data from Bacho Kiro, recorded across a NE-SW striking fault, show sinistral strike-slip along the fault and subsidence of the north-western block. The same important deformation event was reflected by changes in the strike-slip, dip-slip, and horizontal opening/closing trends. These results have been compared to data from other monitoring points in the Western Carpathians, External Dinarides, and Tian Shan. Many of the sites show evidence of simultaneous displacement anomalies and this observation is interpreted as a reflection of the plate-wide propagation of a tectonic pressure pulse towards the end of 2012.
Five stalagmites from the Demänová Cave System (DCS, Western Carpathians, Slovakia), spanning the period from 13,000 to 500 a BP, were analyzed for their oxygen and carbon stable isotopic composition of the calcite. The isotopic data obtained from several stalagmites located in one cave system allow us to separate the changes of regional/global importance from the local changes. Oxygen isotope ratios point to dynamic changes in the environment at the onset of the Holocene. Despite the local differences, carbon isotope data express the gradual and steady development of vegetation on the surface above the cave from the beginning of the Holocene until 6,000 a BP. The oxygen isotope values in the DCS stalagmites are higher than that derived from the Rayleigh distillation model until approximately 9,000 a BP, suggesting (1) an increase in the isotopic gradient to the east of Europe, probably caused by a different seasonality in precipitation amount or (2) different sources of meteoric water, transported from the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, in Central and Eastern Europe compared to the Western, circum-Atlantic part of the continent. The younger part of the DCS records falls in the range described by the model and points to the increasing role of the westerlies in the determination of the climatic conditions of Central Europe during middle- and late-Holocene.
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