Broken Speleothems as Indicators of Tectonic Movements

Abstract

In karst caves broken and non-ideal speleothems are very wide­spread. Mostly they develop because of the instability of the ground due to its composition (loose sand or loam). The pres­ence of recent cryoturbation in some caves in higher altitudes suggests that some ancient breaks of the speleotheme can be caused by ice in the cave. And we also have some good proofs for recent and past tectonic activity in karst caves. In many cases it is very difficult to determine the real reason for broken speleothems, because several reasons could be interacting. In Postojna Cave some examples related to tectonics were stud­ied.