Sediments in collapse dolines on the Kras plateau, Slovenia

Uroš Stepišnik

doi:10.3986/AGS51201

Authors

Uroš Stepišnik

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS51201

Keywords:

geography, karst, collapse doline, loamy sediment, electrical resistivity imaging (ERI), Slovenia

Abstract

The article presents a detailed geomorphological analysis of collapse dolines on the Kras plateau in Slovenia with particular stress on the morphogenetic development of their floors covered with loamy sediment. Granulometric and mineral composition of the loamy sediment were analysed and the depths of sediment fills were established with electrical resistivity imaging (ERI). Collapse doline development and transformation processes are discussed, and various formation mechanisms of flat loamy doline floors are considered in the article. The results of the study revealed that loamy fills may represent sedimentation of suspended material from floodwaters that inundated the lower parts of the collapse dolines, or could have originated in now-demolished cave passages on the slopes that were filled with finer material. Some sediment has been accumulated as an aeolian deposit.

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