Timing of uplift at the Periadriatic Line evidenced by cave sediments

Abstract

Subhorizontal epiphreatic caves are good morphological markers of valley deepening or uplift processes, since they reflect the position of the spring, which is related to the valley bottom. In Northeast Slovenia, transpressional activity along the Periadriatic Fault System caused dextral strike-slip as well as possible uplift of the areas adjacent to the fault. The presence of four cave levels near the Periadriatic Fault System documents uplift processes; and, the datings presented here of two levels indicate a Plio-Pleistocene incision history. These dates are in accordance with cave and sediment datings in other parts of NE Slovenia, and they are in line with more recent activity of the conjugated Salzach-Enns-Mariazell-Puchberg (SEMP) Fault in the Northern Calcareous Alps. The major fault systems, therefore, seem to be active not only in the Miocene (as postulated elsewhere), but up to the recent Quaternary.