5. Slovarček / Glossary

Just a few terms are explained in detail here (text from on-line glossary, please, see reference No.4 & 5 at the References page).

For a complete on-line glossary visit Speleogenesis web site or download it in pdf format from United States Environmental Protection Agency web site.

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karst

Internationally used term, originally the German form of the Slavic word kras or krs, meaning a bleak waterless place; it is the German name for a district east of Trieste having such terrane. A terranie, generally underlain by limestone or dolomite, in which the topography is chiefly formed by the dissolving of rock, and which may be characterized by sinkholes, sinking streams, closed depressions, subterranean drainage, and caves. The term karst unites specific morphological and hydrological features in soluble (mostly carbonate) rocks. Morphological features include karren, dolinas (sinkholes), jamas, ponors, uvalas, poljes, caves, caverns, etc. Hydrological features include basins of closed drainage, lost rivers, estavelles, vauclusian springs, submarine springs, more or less individualized underground streams and incongruity of surface and underground divides. Karst is understood to be the result of natural processes in and on the earth's crust cause by solution and leaching of limestones, dolomites, gypsum, halite, and other soluble rocks.

Synonyms: (French.) karst; (German.) Karst; (Greek.) karst; (Italian.) carso, carsismo; (Russian.) karst; (Spanish.) karst; (Turkish.) karst; (Yugoslavian.) krs, kras. See also buried karst; cone karst; covered karst; exhumed karst; Halbkugelkarst; Holokarst; Kegelkarst; Merokarst; microkarst; naked karst; paleokarst; pseudokarst; relict karst; Spitzkegelkarst; subjacent karst; syngenetic karst; thermokarst; tower karst.

doline; sinkhole

A basin-or funnel-shaped hollow in limestone, ranging in diameter from a few meters up to a kilometer and in depth from a few to several hundred meters. Some dolines are gentle grassy hollows; others are rocky cliff-bounded basins. A distinction may be made by direct solution of the limestone surface zone, (solution dolines), and those formed by collapse over a cave, (collapse dolines), but it is generally not possible to establish the origin of individual examples. Solutional enlargement is either circular in plan, if there is one dominant vertical joint, or otherwise irregular if there are several and can achieve dimensions of up to 1,000 meters in diameter and 100 meters deep. Where a karst bedrock is covered by superficial deposits, solutional enlargement permits the latter to subside into vertical fissures, creating subsidence cones or alluvial dolines, whose slopes are unstable because of the unconsolidated nature of the surface material. The bedrock remains covered in the first instance. Dolines are also formed by the large-scale subsidence caused by cave roof-collapse of near-surface caverns; in this instance, the collapse doline, the sides are cliff-like and the floor composed of the irregular blocks from the fragmented roof. Cave roof-collapse is considered a relatively rare phenomenon. Closed depressions receiving a stream are known as swallow holes or stream sinks. A doline which is largely dependent upon snow for solution-enlargement is known as a kotlici or Schneedoline. In America most dolines are referred to as sinks or sinkholes. See also jama; pit; ponor; sink, sinkhole; stream sink; swallet; swallow hole; sumidero.

Synonyms: (French.) doline; (German.) Dolinen, Karsttrichter; (Greek.) tholene; (Italian.) dolina, pozzo naturale; (Russian.) karstovaja voronka, karstovaja kotlovina; (Spanish.) dolina; (Turkish.) duden, kokurdan, huni; (Yugoslavian.) vrtaca, ponikva, dolac, do, duliba, kotlic, konta.

ponor (Slavic)

1. Hole or opening in the bottom or side of a depression where a surface stream or lake flows either partially or completely underground into the karst ground-water system. A seaponor is where sea-water flows or is drawn into an opening by a vacuum in karstified rock.

2. Hole in the bottom or side of a closed depression through which water passes to or from an underground channel.

Synonyms: (British.) swallet, swallow hole, stream sink; (French.) ponor, aven, gouffre, perte; (German.) Schlund, Saugloch, Schlinger, Ponor; (Greek.) katavothra; (Italian.) inghittitoio, capovento; (Russian.) ponor; (Spanish.) sumidero, ponor, perdida; (Turkish.) su yutan; (Yugoslavian.) ponor, utok, poziralnik, pivka. See also swallow hole

polje (Slavic word for field)

1. A large, flat floored depression in karst limestone, whose long axis is developed parallel to major structural trends and can reach tens of kilometers in length. Superficial deposits tend to accumulate on the floor. Drainage may be by either surface watercourses (when the polje is said to be open) or swallow holes (a 'closed' polje.) Their development is encouraged by any impedance in the karst drainage.

2. Polje or karst polje signifies the flatbottomed lands of closed basins which may extend over large areas, as much as 1,000 km2. The flat floor of the polje may consist of bare limestone, of a nonsoluble formation (and so with rolling topography), or of soil. The polje will show complex hydrogeological characteristics such as exsurgences, swallow holes, estavelles, and lost rivers. In colloquial use, the term polje is applied to flat- bottomed lands which are overgrown or are under cultivation.

3. Large flat-floored closed karst depression, with sharp slope breaks between the commonly alluviated floor and the marginal limestone. Streams or springs drain into poljes and outflow is underground through ponors. Commonly the ponors cannot transmit flood flows, so many poljes turn into wet- season lakes. The form of some poljes is related to the geological structure, but others are purely the projects of lateral dissolution and planation. The Dinaric Karst has many poljes; the Livansko polje is around 60km long and 7km wide. The word is Slovene (common also to other Slav languages) for a field, reflecting the agricultural value of the alluvial polje floor soils.

Synonym: interior valley; (French.) polje; (German.) Polje; (Greek.) polye; (Italian.) polje; (Russian.) polje; (Spanish.) polje; (Turkish.) golova, polye; (Yugoslavian.) polje

pocket valley

1. The reverse of a blind valley, extending headwards into the foot of a calcareous massif. The upstream end is terminated by a cliff, frequently lunate, from whose base emerges a subterranean karst stream meandering across a flat, steep-sided valley below the resurgence.

2. A valley that begins abruptly and has no headwaters, having formed from and below the site of a spring.

Le nekaj izrazov je podrobno obrazloženih spodaj

(prevod iz angleščine ("on-line-glossary"), Vane)

kras (mednarodno: karst)

Mednarodni izraz, v originalu nemška oblika slovanske besede "kras" ali "krš", kar pomeni pusto sušno območje; Nemški izraz za pokrajino vzhodno od Trsta, ki je takšna. Površje, običajno z apnenčasto ali dolomitno podlago, katerega oblike je v veliki meri oblikovalo raztapljanje kamnine; značilni so ponori, ponikujoči vodtoki, zaprte doli, podzemni odtok vode in jame.