Dr. Cílek on the Bohemian karst

2005-03-04 | CGS Admin

Dr. Cílek, the Director of the Czech Republic’s Academy of Sciences Institute of Geology delivers a fascinating talk about the Bohemian Karst region of the Czech Republic, around Beroun, that weaves the human historical, mystical, and mythological elements with the underlying geology and speleology.

Most people don’t know that Colorado has a small but significant areas that are underlain by Mesozoic and/or Paleozoic evaporite deposits.

From a geologic hazard standpoint, the most important characteristic of evaporite bedrock is that they dissolve in the presence of fresh water. The dissolution of evaporite rock alters ground and surface water flows, and creates subsurface voids such as caverns, open fissures, and solution pipes. Collapse of these subsurface voids manifests itself at the surface as subsidence — a geologic hazard and risk for overlying structures. Ground and surface water can be captured by the subsurface voids to create closed topographic basins and disappearing streams, subterranean rivers, and re-emergent springs. These landforms are described collectively as karst morphology.