Karst

Imaggeo On Monday: Ice caves in high altitude karstic areas

Renato R. Colucci December 13, 2021

Ice caves in high altitude karstic areas. Credit: Renato R. Colucci (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

High altitude karstic environments often preserve permanent ice deposits within caves, representing a lesser-known portion of the cryosphere. Despite being not so widespread and easily reachable as mountain glaciers and ice caps, ice-caves preserve a great deal of information about past environmental changes and paleoclimatic evolution. Since one of their main characteristics is to have ground-ice ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Mondays: The valley along the fault

Cyril Mayaud June 22, 2020

The valley along the fault. Credit: Cyril Mayaud (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The Idrija fault is a an active fault crossing Slovenia for more than 100 km in a NW-SE direction and is responsible for several important geological features in the country. Among them, we can mention the former-active mercury mine of Idrija which has registered as a Unesco World Heritage site since 2012. Another example that demonstrates the impact of this fault is it’s effect on th ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The polje between sky and Earth

Cyril Mayaud September 23, 2019

The polje between sky and earth. Credit: Cyril Mayaud (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Poljes are one of the most impressive features existing in karst landscapes. These large flat closed depressions are prone to regular flooding that can form temporary lakes on their surface. Planinsko Polje [in Slovenia] is surely the most famous example of polje existing. The highest floods can reach up to 8 metres above the gauging station and last for more than two months. The lake is then more ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Exploring ice in the deep

Renato R. Colucci December 3, 2018

Exploring ice in the deep. Credit: Renato R. Colucci (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The occurrence of sporadic permafrost in the Alps often needs challenging fieldwork in order to be investigated. Here in the high altitude karstic plateau of Mt. Canin-Kanin (2587 m asl) in the Julian Alps (southeastern European Alps) several permanent ice deposits have been recently investigated highlighting how also in such more resilient environments global warming is acting rapidly. Important ...[Read More]