Tracing of the Stream Flowing Through the Cave Ferranova Buža, Central Slovenia

Abstract

The article discusses the characteristics of the recently discovered ground water stream in the cave Ferranova buža and its possible karstic hydrological system. Its upstream connections have been narrowed to few possible springs by means of logical exclusion and have yet to be confirmed. For the purpose of establishing its linkage to the downstream springs around Vrhnika a water tracing experiment has been performed. Uranine was used as a tracer and sampled in intervals of eight hours at Primc’s spring, Bečkaj’s spring and Kožuh’s spring. The connection was proved in all three observation points, with Kožuh’s spring draining the largest quantity of the tracer. The tracer experiment evidenced that the dye was completely flushed downward in single transition curve almost without any retention.