show caves in croatia – present condition and perspectives [PDF]

SHOW CAVES IN CROATIA – PRESENT CONDITION AND PERSPECTIVES Neven Bočić1 & Aleksandar Lukić2 & Vuk Tvrtko Opačić3 Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia, E-mail: [email protected] 2 Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia, E-mail: [email protected] 3 Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia, E-mail: [email protected] 1

Abstract Touristic valorisation of caves has a long tradition in Croatia. Research has been carried out in order to: identify the show caves in Croatia (13), make an overview of their basic geomorphologic characteristics and study their role as tourist attraction. Among other factors, ownership relations and management have been recognized as an important for touristic valorisation of the show caves. These elements as well as linkages of the show caves with local economy, have been examined in more detail in case studies. The paper ends with an overview on the current tourist development of show caves in Croatia and proposes some future actions in that respect. Keywords: show caves, management, local economy, sustainable development, Croatia

INTRODUCTION Speleological features as special natural phenomena in karst make the components of tourist attraction basis. The caves having geomorphologic, geological, biological, archaeological, paleontological, landscape and/or other significances, can be touristically valorised. People visit caves out of aestheticemotional, recreational, educative and sometimes medical reasons. Speleological phenomena can be touristically valorised in several fundamental ways. Classical tourist cave arrangement is the most often. It implies accommodation of a cave and its surroundings to a visitor, who has no experience in walking in the country and by caves. Tradition of tourist cave valorisation is long in Croatia. Gospodska špilja near the source of the river Cetina can be considered the first touristically arranged cave. It was arranged for organised visits as early as 1855 but it never became show cave in today’s sense. The longest tradition of belongs to the Modra špilja on the island of Biševo (visited since 1884) and the Gornja Baraćeva cave near Rakovica, first arranged in 1892, and reopened in 2003. The research purpose is to state, on the basis of standard criteria, which speleological features in Croatia are included in the category of tourist caves, how and to what extent they are touristically valorised and what possible role they play in the local economy of the surrounding area.

METHODS The first task was to define the show cave on the basis of previous domestic and foreign experiences and to single out such phenomena in Croatia. Dealing with the defined show caves we had to collect the data about: their location, total length, length of the touristically arranged path, year of the first opening, number of visits, way of management and protection category. On the basis of the collected data, especially about the management of a speleological phenomenon, four case studies have been worked out. Besides the basic comparison of geomorphologic and other features, the greatest part of the research was done in the field. By a questionnaire survey of the tourist cave management there were determined initiatives and beginnings of the cave`s introduction into the tourist offer, modern way of tourist valorisation (number and structure of visitors, incomes, seasonality, etc.), the cave`s

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role in the tourist offer of the destination, connection with the local area, ways of protection and orientation towards sustainable development.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION On the basis of the defined criteria (arranged and secured path, lighting, guides, arranged approach and the management body controlling the cave`s work) thirteen show caves in Croatia have been determined. It was found that arrangement, way of valorisation, inclusion into tourist destinations, protection and linkages with the local economy primarily depended on the management form. Four distinctive types of cave management have been identified: a) management by Board of protected area, b) private entrepreneur through concession for cave on public land, c) private entrepreneur through concession for cave on private (own) land, d) local authorities through local public institution.1 Because of differences among the analysed parameters, especially dealing with the way of management, there were elaborated case studies for the following show caves: the cave Veternica on Medvednica near Zagreb, Lokvarka near Lokve in Gorski Kotar, Baraćeve caves near Rakovica and the pit Baredina near Poreč Example 1. Veternica cave – operated by management board of protected area The cave Veternica, situated on the south-western part of Medvednica is 7,100 m long. In 1951, it was opened for tourists in the length of 380 m. Since, as a geomorphologic monument of nature, it is situated in the protected area, the Public Institution Park of Nature Medvednica is responsible for its management. As this is a protected area, the basic purpose of its management is its protection, then tourist, i. e. educative visits, in the course of which the sustainable development postulates are especially taken into account. Therefore, the cave Veternica should not be considered as a part of the Zagreb city tourist destination, but as a tourist locality in the Park of Nature Medvednica, where the sojourn tourism is still in the background. The majority of visitors are organised groups of pupils, families, mountaineers - in one-word hikers, primarily from Zagreb, who visit the cave from the beginning of April to the beginning of November. Maximal number of visits is registered during spring (April, May, the beginning of June) and autumn months (the end of September, October), which corresponds with the school year, as well as with the weather conditions favourable for excursions. Although the number of visits is relatively small (2,500-3,000 in recent years), the Park`s management board thinks that in the future cave`s management more care should be taken about its protection than about eventual tourist visits enlargement. The share of the Veternica cave in the total independently realised profit of the Park of Nature Medvednica decreased from 22% in 2002 to 12% in 2005. Example 2. Lokvarka cave – managed by private enterpreneur through concession for cave on public land The cave Lokvarka is located in Lokve, a settlement in Gorski Kotar near Delnice. It was discovered in 1911/1912, and in 1935, a part of it was electrified and opened for visits. The cave was arranged on several occasions (1961, 1973-74). The Tourist Community Lokve ran the cave till the first half of the 1990s, when the public institution Croatian Forestry overtook the management for a short time, and by the mid-1990 it was overtaken by a private concessionaire. The concession was approved for three years, and then it had to be prolonged every year. In 2005, the number of sold tickets amounted to some 7,000, although the number of visits was somewhat larger (free entrances for associations, etc.). In that time, the cave was permanently opened from 1 May to 1 October, and the visits accompanied by guide services were fixed from 10 to 19 o’clock. In the remaining months the cave could be visited having made a preliminary announcement. Group visits of the school groups from Croatia dominated in the visit structure. As to the other group visits, we must single out foreign guests (especially the German), who visited the cave in the course of one-day trips to Gorski Kotar organised by the travel agency, which managed the cave. Between 20 June and 1 September (during school holidays), individual guests from the country and abroad dominated. During his management, the concessionaire According to croatian Nature Protection Law (NN 70/2005.) all speleological features are in the state property. They can be managed through public institution for protected area or through concession. 1

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did only the necessary infrastructure maintaining (staircase handholds, painting, electric power, and similar), because he had no finances for greater interventions, e. g. a complete replacement of three steep staircases. The aggravating circumstance in the cave management was the risk of long-term investments in such a short-term concession (1 year). Since the spring of 2006, the cave has been managed by the Tourist Community Lokve. Considerations about further tourist valorisation and management in the framework of the local government are in progress. Example 3. Baredine pit – managed by private enterpreneur through concession for cave on private (own) land The pit Baredine is the youngest, but also, by the number of visitors, touristically the most important speleological feature in Croatia. It is also the first touristically arranged pit in the Croatian part of Istria. The Baredine was discovered in the nineteen seventies on a private estate in the village of Nova Vas. The activities of the pit`s protection and tourist valorisation was initiated by the estate`s owner, who was also a caver. He did it by his own finances. Till the mid1990-s a confined number of visitors was allowed to visit the pit through speleoadventure. In 1995, the Baredine was opened for tourist visits (arranged electric lighting and staircase). Between 7,000 and 8,000 tourists visited the pit that year. The number of guests in 2004 and 2005 amounted to about 50,000. From 1 April till 31 October the pit is opened for visitors every day and during the remaining five months only for announced groups. 8 people are permanently employed there, and some additional guides only periodically. As to the visitor structure, individual guests dominate (especially in the summer months at the peak of the tourist season), and the share of foreign visitors is also very significant, especially that of the German, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Italian…Individual visits, mostly out of the summer season, supplement school and expert excursions from Croatia and abroad (Italy, Germany, Belgium, Denmark…). Besides by the speleological feature itself, the visitors are also motivated by the cave ornaments and proteus angius placed in a natural recess filled with water. The basic function of this pit is tourist, which is also visible from the arrangement of the accompanying attractions (catering establishment, “agro-museum” in the open air, souvenirs sale, sale of original food-stuff, fruit and vegetables, picnic place, exhibition space...). Some 20 families take part periodically in the mentioned accompanying tourist offer. The owner plans to widen the tourist offer and to create a complex tourist product, for which there are corresponding spatio-planning regulations. Example 4. Baraćeve caves – run by local authorities through local public institution Baraćeve Caves (Gornja and Donja - Upper and Lower) are situated near the village Nova Kršlja in the municipality of Rakovica. Baraćeve Caves were among the first touristically arranged caves in the continental part of Croatia. They were opened for tourists in 1892, but did not fill that function for a long period. Owing to the efforts of the Rakovica municipality the Gornja Baraćeva cave was arranged in 2003 and opened in 2004. It is 520 m long, and the length of its tourist path figures out at about 200 m. The main attraction of the cave is a variety of dripstone forms, archaeological and palaeontological remains, as well as an interesting ambience in front of the cave’s entrance. Besides the illuminated path in the cave, the surroundings were arranged too (promenade and excursion centre by the karst source Baraćevac). An instructive path about karst is in preparation. In 2004, the Gornja Baraćeva cave was visited by 4,800 visitors. Although it is a matter of increase, this is still a too small number of visitors for such a natural tourist attraction, which lies against the nearby Plitvice Lakes. Owing to its favourable position, the Baraćeva cave relies on foreign guests in high tourist season, and on domestic ones (mostly groups) in the off-season period. The cave is managed by the local government (municipality of Rakovica) through the Public Institution for Managing Protected Natural Values throughout the area of the municipality of Rakovica. On the basis of the collected data about touristically arranged caves in Croatia, as well as on the analysed case studies, it is possible to draw the following conclusions:

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Although there are 13 speleological features arranged for tourist visits in Croatia, we consider that, regarding attractiveness, traffic accessibility and possibility of an average tourist’s visit, there are some more potential caves for tourist valorisation.

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Having compared our situation with the experiences abroad, but also on the basis of the specific data about the number of visits, inclusion into the tourist product of destinations and way of valorisation (almost exclusively only a visit), we consider that the majority of the show caves in Croatia are still insufficiently explored. Four distinctive types of cave management have been identified: a) management by Board of protected area, b) private entrepreneur through concession for cave on public land, c) private entrepreneur through concession for cave on private (own) land, d) local authorities through local public institution. Although the majority of the touristically arranged caves in Croatia are protected by a category of a geomorphologic monument of nature, their tourist valorisation primarily depends on the way of management. Namely, if a public institution runs a cave (e. g., Park of Nature or National Park), the protection component is more prominent, which is understandable regarding the basic function of the institution, as well as the fact that the profit from the cave does not make the basic element of the public institution profit structure. On the other hand, if a private concessionaire manages a show cave, the business orientation towards tourism is more marked. Consequently, in these cases the connection with local economy is more prominent, just as the significance of the phenomenon within the tourist destinations.

SELECTED REFERENCES Božić, V., 1984: Počeci speleološkog turizma u Hrvatskoj. Zbornik predavanja 9. jugoslavenskog speleološkog kongresa, Karlovac 1984. Zagreb. Speleološko društvo Hrvatske. 829-836 pp. Božić, V., 1999: Speleološki turizam u Hrvatskoj-vodič po uređenim i pristupačnim špiljama i jamama. Zagreb. Naklada „Ekološkog glasnika“. 168 pp. Božičević, S. 1961: Zaštita pećina u Hrvatskoj i njihovo uređenje u turističke svrhe. Zbornik predavanja 2. jugoslavenskog speleološkog kongresa, Split 1958. Zagreb. Speleološko društvo Hrvatske. 147-154 pp. Cigna, A. A. & Burri, E., 2000: Development, management and economy of show caves. Int. J. Speleol., vol. 29 B, 1-27 pp. Dečak, V. (1994): Jama Baredine kod Poreča - prva turistički uređena špilja u Istri. Speleolog 42-43, 22-24, Zagreb Forti, P i Cigna, A. A. (1989): Cave tourism in Italy: an overview. Cave Tourism, Proc. Int. Symp. 170th Anniv. Postojnska jama, Postojna 1988. ZRC SAZU i Postojnska jama, Ljubljana Gillieson, D. (1996): Caves - processes, development, management. Blackwell Publishers, str. 234., Oxford Kušen, E. (2002): Turistička atrakcijska osnova. Znanstvena edicija Instituta za turizam, 262 str., Institut za turizam, Zagreb Malinar, H. (1984). Zaštita i uređenje špilje Veternice. Zbornik predavanja 9. jugoslavenskog speleološkog kongresa Karlovac 1984., 863-866, Zagreb

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DEGRADATION OF DOLINES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Breg Mateja Anton Melik Geographical Institute, SRC SASA, Gosposka 13, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, E-mail: [email protected] Abstract As an example of long-term human interventions onto karst morphology, the article deals with the area of the Logatec karst polje where the degradation processes of dolines have been very intense during the last fifty years. Between 1944 and 2000 several anthropogenic factors had an important influence on surface changes in the studied area. Archive aerial photographs from 1944 are the oldest known aerial photographs for the studied area and represent the staring point for the analysis of dolines-changes. The comparison showed that between 1944 and 2000 441 of total 569 (77.5 %) dolines have disappeared, 51 (8.69 %) have been entirely preserved and 77 (13.5 %) have been partly preserved. From this point of view and considering the paradigm of sustainability the landscape and its landforms, as part of Earth’s surface, would need to be classified as non-renewable natural resources - more precisely as a geomorphologic resource. Keywords: doline, degradation, illegal waste dump, sustainable development, Logaško polje, Slovenia.

INTRODUCTION While using natural resources man has for centuries selfishly subdued landscape and nature and transformed them in accordance to his needs. Cultivated dolines have for centuries been the site of various traditional activities (arable farming, gardening, pastures, water supply etc.). In some areas (Kras, Bela Krajina, Matarsko podolje etc.) these activities have survived to a smaller extent while in other places subtle cultural elements (such as dry walls) speak of their past presence. Despite the apparent usefulness of dolines there had always been a desire among the inhabitants of karst regions, particularly in agricultural areas, to fill them up. As an example of long-term human interventions onto karst morphology, the article deals with the area of the Logatec karst polje, where the degradation processes of dolines have been very intense during the last fifty years. For the fill-up, different waste material was used depending on its availability. With the growth of transport (railway), handicraft (blacksmith, charcoal-burning) and industrial activities (timber, cardboard-box and metal industry), hazardous waste products were produced. With the increase of municipal waste its percentage among the filling material rose. In several decades the illegal waste dumps became a significant anthropogenic element in the karst landscape. Therefore not only has their impact on karst aquifers and ecosystems to be evaluated but their influence on changes on surface geomorphology as well. Dolines as a unique karst feature and the result of long-term corrosion processes are not protected by any legal document. In the scope of the existing legislation it is necessary to define the possibilities for a long-term protection of dolines and to propose a new approach in spatial planning for geomorphologically unique doline-areas respectively. Considering the paradigm of sustainability the landscape and its landforms, as part of Earth’s surface, would need to be classified as non-renewable natural resources - more precisely as a geomorphologic resource. Dolines are elements of the natural space which intervene with man’s cultural space forming the unique karst landscape. “A landform becomes a geomorphological resource only if it has social implications, that is, only if other parameters, external parameters, come into play to invest it with value (Panizza and Piacente, 1993). As long as a particular river, or a particular landscape are studied by and known only to scientists and researchers, it remains “private” knowledge and its potencial as a resource does not materialize. However, if the scientist and the researcher publicize it, thus making its cultural and environmental significance known to the general public and thereby give it a social dimension, then the landform becomes a geomorphological resource in the eyes of society at large (Panizza 2003).”

MATERIAL AND METHODS 1

In South-East Slovenia, the Notranjsko podolje with its set of karst poljes stretches in the Dinaric direction North-West – South-East. At the moment the Logaško polje is under the biggest environmental pressure. Several socio-spatial factors (proximity of Ljubljana, good transport connections, lower rents etc.) have caused immigration to Logatec and its surroundings. Furthermore have the proximity of the motorway and a double track railway stimulated the development of the secondary and tertiary sectors and the expansion of the handicraft-industrial zone. We have studied the North-East part of Logaško polje where several dolines had been formed mainly on limestone bedrock (dark-gray limestone and grained dolomite) and river and stream deposits. The comparison of aerial photographs from different periods showed how unsustainable the dealing with dolines had been during the last five decades. Archive aerial photographs from 1944 are the oldest known aerial photographs for the studied area and represent the staring point for the analysis of dolines-changes. The origins of the photographs are allied aerial observations during World War II. The material is being kept in The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive (TARA) - University of Keele in Great Britain. The records are available in digital form but need to be georeferenced and their quality (colour, contrast, transparency) adjusted to get as much useful information as possible. We have georeferenced the aerial photographs and adjusted them with the coordinate system DOF5 (GaussKrüger). Based on selected old and new control point-coordinates (buildings, junctions etc…that are present on both photographs) the computer program calculates the transformation parameters. The function contains formulas of linear mapping, un-linear mapping and the least squares method (Petek, Fridl 2004). The artificially defined test-area measures 604.8 ha (6.048 km²) and coincides with the surface of two partly covering digital b/w aerial photographs from 1944 (spatial resolution 1200 dpi). The visual fotointerpretation of these was carried out at the same time with the interpretation of the digital orthophoto pictures from 2000 (DOF5). Parallel to this dolines were digitalized, the data base was edited with separate attributes for each of the two years and the gained data was analysed. The recognition of dolines and their main characteristics was based upon the fotointerpretation-key that included following parameters: shape, depth (shadows give an impression of depth), colour (different shades of grey - the darker ones usually at the bottom of dolines), texture. Attributes for each doline were defined with the help of visual fotointerpretations and analysis. For the year 1944 the location, shape and dimension of each visible doline were determined and at the same time it was checked whether the doline is still present on the DOF5 from 2000. From both sources the accessibility and land use of the doline were defined.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Between 1944 and 2000 several anthropogenic factors had an important influence on surface changes in the studied area. From the aspect of nature protection and an environmental point of view it is important to identify the material used for filling up the dolines since these are areas of concentrated water throughflow into the karst subterrain. Surface water (rainwater) transports waste degradation products from the deposited material in the dolines and leaves it in cracks and the karst aquifer. Many dolines are filled with different kinds of waste material and covered with variable thick layers of cover-material. Our ancestors did not have dump at their disposal and were therefore using dug and other waste material to fill up the dolines. Those materials had no greater effect on karst hydrology or ecology but they permanently influenced karst geomorphology. The construction of transport infrastructure in the area of Logatec had a strong impulse on relief changes in the past, particularly because of its geographic location. In the middle of the 19th century the so called “Southern railway line” was constructed through Logatec. Already at that time tracks were placed on filled up dolines that had been thereby lost forever and were even unable to be traced on the photograph from 1944. The burnt waste of the railway however is the first known waste material that filled dolines around the Southern railway line. Furthermore it is not known how many dolines were filled up with waste material from the railway embankment of the line Logatec-Idrija, closed after World War I.

Considering these historical facts there had been more dolines present in the studied area than were determined by the analysis of the aerial photograph from 1944.

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On the photograph from 1944, 569 dolines were evidented and at the same time their shape, dimension and surface-cover were determined. Dolines cover approximately 0.288764 km² 28.88 ha that represents 4.78 % of the total surface of the studied area. The average dimension of a doline is 507 m2, the smallest doline measures 9 m2 while the biggest 6176 m². The spatial spread of dolines in the studied area is connected to its geologic structure. On limestone dolines are largest and more concentrated, on fluvial deposits smaller while there are almost none on dolomites. On figure 1 red polygons mark the dolines which between 1944 and 2000 have not been preserved, yellow polygons mark the partly preserved dolines and green polygons mark the preserved ones. The comparison showed that between 1944 and 2000 441 (77.5 %) dolines have disappeared, 51 (8.69 %) have been entirely preserved and 77 (13.5 %) have been partly preserved.

Fig. 1: Dolines-changes between 1944 and 2000. Among the first to change the surface morphology were farming activities, notably agriculture. The agricultural use of the doline’s floor is conditioned by its shape and depth that defines the possible cultivation. Meadow-dolines are usually cultivated in its entirety (bottom and slope) while the fields

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are usually located on the bottom of dolines and their flatter parts respectively. Field-dolines are best used if filled up and levelled to the surrounding height. Since the floor of dolines is narrow the fields there have been smaller and in order to increase the arable land, dolines have been filled up. A field on a greater surface consequently enabled a greater harvest. In the year 1944 the field-dolines reached 7 % (40 counts) that represented 13 % of the total doline-surface. The most common and the greatest were meadow-dolines as they represented 80 % of the dolines (448 counts) and 40 % of the total surface (186.050 m2). Because the surface of a hemisphere is greater than the surface of a circle, meadows were economically more suitable and profited best from the available surface of the doline’s concave structure. Grass can grow on the bottom and slope where soil is thinner and thus gives, theoretically speaking, a greater output in grass than it would have from the flat and round surface had the doline been filled up. Thus the desire to fill up meadow-dolines should be superfluous but nevertheless the number of meadow-dolines in the studied time-interval was halved (from 448 to 230) and their total surface decreased for 75 % (from 186.050 to 52.965 m2). Mechanization in agriculture had a bigger impact on the diminishing number of meadow-dolines. With the transformation from manual labour to mechanised and more intensive agriculture, dolines become even more unpopular since they represented an obstacle to mechanised cultivation.

Fig. 2: Land use in dolines in the year 1944 and land use in the year 2000 regarding their preservation. The increasing quantity of municipal waste was very suitable material for filling up dolines, especially during the 70’s and 80’s. With the handicraft and industrial workshops, new forms of hazardous waste products arrived that were dumped uncontrolled until the introduction of adequate legislation and the set up of regulated dumps. A rather new phenomenon is municipal waste of recent decades. Regardless its size dumps contain different types of waste, including domestic rubbish. There is a lot of dug material and tailings that is being deposited on illegal dumps together with the rest. Useless material is very common in karst regions and in some places represents the

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greatest part. 75 % of dumps are accessible through roads and 10 % are located even further. Dolines are especially suitable for dumping because of their steep slopes that make dumping easy. This is further accompanied by the common belief that dolines need to be filled up as they are useless and annoying holes (Šebenik, 1994). The municipality of Logatec produces yearly 4000 t of waste (SURS, 2005). Until the 90’s the public collecting of municipal waste was gradually introduced in Slovene settlements that until then had to dump their ever increasing amount of waste somewhere nearby. Later it was taken over by public companies that continued to dispose the waste in dolines. With the used methodology and the acquired data it is difficult to define the number of waste-filled dolines since it is impossible to get access to the actual structure of the material. The clearest evidence is the abnormal texture identified on the aerial photographs and typically characteristic for waste dumps. With this method, 74 dolines were marked as a potential waste dump. The greatest weakness are several already overgrown and waste-filled dolines that were not marked as a potential waste dump. Dolines have changed and disappeared also because of settlement-expansion as the area of Logatec has one of the most positive migration saldos in Slovenia. New neighbourhoods are being constructed making the environmental pressures increase in the future. More inhabitants cause more waste water, more waste dumps and consequently less dolines. Between 1944 and 2000, 154 dolines were fully or partly built-up representing 43 % of the total doline-surface (125.146 m2). The number would had increased greatly if we included the dolines destroyed by the OIC Logatec, which is not present on the photograph from 2000. With the population growth and production-activities, built-up surfaces and garbage quantity have increased. Regarding preliminary studies (Smrekar et al., 2005) illegal waste dumps include the highest percentage of construction waste (more than 50 %), while the percentage of municipal waste is decreasing. Considering these facts in combination with a growing migration and an increased interest for new or better lodging facilities the filling up of dolines with construction waste will most likely continue also in the future.

REFERENCES 1. Digital Aerial photograph No. 3019, sept. 13. 1944, 683/650, 41223. The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives, Keele University.

2. Digital Aerial photograph No. 3022, sept. 13. 1944, 683/650, 41223. The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives, Keele University. 3. Digitalni ortofoto posnetki, 1:5000. Geodetska uprava Republike Slovenije, 2000. 4. Fridl, J., Petek, F., 2004. Pretvarjanje listov zemljiško-katastrskega načrta v Gauss-Krűgerjev koordinatni sistem. Geografski vestnik, 76, št.2. 5. Panizza, M., 2003. Karst landforms as geomorphosites. Dela 20. Physical geography facing new challenges, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.

6. Smrekar et al. 2005. Izdelava katastra in predloga prednostne sanacije odlagališč odpadkov vodozbirnega območja črpališča Jarški prod. GIAM ZRC SAZU.Elaborat. Ljubljana. 7. Podatki o zbranih odpadkih po občinah, 2005, Statistični urad Republike Slovenije. 8. Šebenik, I., 1994: Pokrajinske značilnosti manjših neurejenih odlagališč odpadkov v Sloveniji. Geographica Slovenica 26, 1. Inštitut za geografijo Univerze v Ljubljani. Ljubljana. 135 str.

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EVALUATING THE HUMAN DISTURBANCE TO KARST ENVIRONMENTS IN SOUTHERN ITALY Fabiana Calò1 & Mario Parise2 1 2

External collaborator CNR-IRPI, Bari, Italy, E-mail: [email protected] CNR-IRPI, Bari, Italy, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Karst environments are extremely vulnerable to degradation and pollution because of their peculiar geological, morphological and hydrogeological features. Although the carrying capacity of these natural environments is low, a variety of human activities, often without a proper planning, is implemented on karst settings generating impacts at the surface and subsurface. To evaluate the degree of disturbance to typical karst environments in the Mediterranean basin, two areas have been selected in Apulia, a prevailing carbonate region in south-eastern Italy. The human-induced effects are being assessed by applying a recently developed Karst Disturbance Index (KDI), based on a categorical framework encompassing physical, biological, and social aspects, and the evaluation of a number of indicators for each category. Scores are assigned to the indicators, to assess the severity and the extent of the human impacts on the karst environment. Knowledge of the study areas derives from a combined use of direct experience and field surveys, and the critical evaluation of data available from research articles and local organization reports. Since this approach is an holistic and comprehensive method, different scientific branches have been considered, from botanic to biology, hydrogeology, and, eventually, law issues (related, in one of the study areas, to the recent foundation of a national park). The results so far obtained for the study areas highlight the urgent need of a sustainable management of anthropogenic activities: for example, quarrying and stone clearing , both extensively widespread, are among the most dangerous practices for karst surface and subsurface landforms in Apulia. These activities are heavily changing the original karst landscape and causing the partial or total destruction of natural caves. This study represents a preliminary evaluation of the human disturbance to karst in Apulia, but has to be necessarily integrated by further applications in other areas of the region, aimed at a better understanding of the potentiality of the approach and its feasibility in different karst settings. Keywords: karst disturbance, human impact, index, Italy

INTRODUCTION: THE DISTURBANCE INDEX FOR KARST ENVIRONMENT Karst, with its surface and subsurface landforms such as closed depressions, sinkholes and caves, is among the most fragile natural environments of the world, and extremely susceptible to any change. Karst systems are non renewable resources but, nevertheless, they are increasingly being disturbed by a variety of human activities generating impacts both above and below ground (Williams, 1993). Many anthropogenic actions cause great transformations and degradation of karst regions, including quarrying and mineral extraction, deforestation, agricultural practices, illegal waste dumps in natural cavities, tourism in caves. All these activities may result in negative effects on karst, such as pollution and depletion of water resources, changes of the natural morphology and hydrology, decline of animal species, etc. (Parise & Pascali, 2003). Complexity of karst, where several different categories interact in creating the overall ecosystem, implies the need to consider and analyze any component of karst, both individually and in the reciprocal relationships with the others, in order to safeguard and manage it in a sustainable way. At this aim, only an holistic, comprehensive approach, addressing physical, economic and social factors, can effectively assess the threats to karst areas (Van Beynen & Townsend, 2005). In order to reduce the karst system to elements easily studied for the evaluator, this article applies the method recently proposed by Van Beynen and Townsend (2005) to measure factors of karst disturbance (Fig. 1) based on a framework divided into five broad categories, each encompassing more detailed attributes: Geomorphology that encompasses surface landforms, soil and subsurface karst; Atmosphere that deals with air quality; Hydrology that includes surface practices influencing water

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Fig. 1: Flow chart illustrating the methodology followed in this study. Published/ Other available quality Field and quantity, and water quality of springs; BiotaDirect that concerns the vegetation disturbance and unpublished documents surveys biota in cave and the subsurface in groundwater; and experienc Cultural factors that include human historical research (historical data, e artifacts, stewardship of karst region and building infrastructure. government reports, The degree of disturbance of a certain attribute is indicated through a pre-established set of associated indicators, from those most destructive for surface karst as quarrying/mining (Gunn, 1993), and dumping waste in sinkholes and cavities, to the less apparent but equally dangerous use of pesticides and herbicides in agriculture, and so on. Each indicator, that can be appraised by the evaluator from historical data, field observations, published and unpublished research articles and local government reports, is assigned a score from 0 to 3 based on severity and extent of the variable being considered: INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT rating 0 means no karst disturbance, rating 1 indicates localized and not severe impact, rating 2 widespread and severe impact, whilst when a catastrophic impact is observed rating 3 is assigned. To determine the degree of disturbance of a particular region, the evaluator should know what an undisturbed karst system is, and assume it as the ideal reference system. This might be relatively simple for some indicators (water quality, extent of quarrying, etc.), but very difficult for others (loss of biodiversity, human-induced condensation corrosion, etc.). Finding locations without human ASSESSMENT OF THE influence may be extremely difficult, which forces theINDICATORS evaluator to use as baseline those areas with minimal human perturbation. If an indicator cannot be applied to the study area, it has to be deleted from the evaluation, while if it is relevant in the area but no information is available, a “Lack of Data” (LD) has to be indicated. At the end of the evaluation, the number of LDs divided by the total number of used indicators gives a measure of the confidence of the index: LD rating < 0.1 would inspire high confidence in the Selection ofwhile the LD rating > 0.4 suggests that more studyIdentification determined index, is required before application of the of Additional applicable indexindicators can be carried out in that location. LD indicators indicators to the study indicators area Once all feasible have been scored, the evaluator calculates the Karst Disturbance Index. Scores are summed and the total is divided by the highest possible score to attain a value between 0 and 1, where the latter indicates a highly disturbed system and the lowest value a pristine system. Classes of Karst Disturbance Index are reported in Table 1. 0 Table 1: Classification of rating disturbance (after Van rating 1 Beynen & Townsend, 2005). SCORE ASSIGNMENT rating 2 rating Score Degree of 3disturbance 0.8 – 1 Highly disturbed 0.6 – 0.79 Moderately disturbed 0.4 – 0.59 Disturbed Karst Disturbance Index LD rating 0.2 – 0.39 Little disturbance 0 – 0.19 Pristine

INDICATIONS THE KARST MANAGEMENT CASEFOR STUDIES IN APULIA

Apulia region is the emerged south-eastern part of the Adriatic Carbonate Plate which is formed by Jurassic-Cretaceous limestones and dolostones covered by Tertiary and Quaternary clastic carbonates, Critical Research fields the region was mostly calcarenites, and evaluation subordinate claysSocio-economical and sands. From the Lower Pleistocene, of the degree implications for with interested by a general uplifting, until it reached the present configuration (Doglioni et al., 1994). of disturbance land use planning insufficient data Apulia is fragmented by high dip, NW-SE striking, faults into uplifted and lowered blocks (Ricchetti et al., 1988). Due to the widespread presence of carbonates, surface and subsurface landforms were extremely involved in karst processes that produced an extensive network of underground cavities and conduits. The landscape is generally flat, characterized essentially by landforms of karst origin, whose

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best morphological expressions are identifiable on the Murge Plateau of inland Apulia (Neboit, 1974; Sauro, 1991). Over large portions of the region, the natural landscape has been strongly modified by man, also thanks to the smoothed morphologies that facilitated land use changes. The Murge Plateau is a planation surface cut in the Cretaceous limestones during Paleogene and Neogene. From the highest elevations (678 m a.s.l. near Mt. Caccia), the plateau slowly degrades toward the Adriatic Sea to the east, through steps of marine terraces. Two main districts can be identified: High Murge, which corresponds to the inner portion of the plateau, and Low Murge, closer to the Adriatic coastline. In this study, we apply the Karst Disturbance Index method to two areas, located respectively in the two aforementioned districts.

Fig. 2: Geological sketch of Apulia. Explanation: 1) recent clastic cover (Pliocene – Pleistocene); 2) bioclastic carbonate rocks (Paleogene) and calcarenites (Miocene); 3) platform carbonate rocks (Cretaceous). The two insets refer to the study area. Minervino Murge area This part of the Murge Plateau was originally devoted to pasture, and characterized by bare karst landscape with limestone rocks protruding from the ground surface. The few areas where residual soils and terre rosse concentrated were slightly incised valleys, locally called lame, that constituted a sort of oasis where the farmers were able to perform agricultural practices. In the last decades, two main anthropogenic activities spread out in this area, which resulted in heavy changes in the natural landscapes: quarrying, and stone clearing. Quarrying is very widespread due to the common use in Apulia of carbonate rocks as building and ornamental materials. Advance of quarrying is carried out without any concern for the natural caves (Fig. 3), many of which have been damaged or destroyed by quarrying. In addition, once the quarrying activity ceases, it is very common the use of the abandoned

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site for illegal dumping of solid and liquid wastes. The considerations above led to assign high values to the indicators quarrying/mining (rating 3) and industrial and petroleum spills or dumping (rating 2). As regards the latter indicator, we considered as brownfields (heavily polluted sites) any abandoned quarry where the presence of wastes was detected.

Fig. 3: Intense quarrying activities resulted at several sites in the Minervino Murge area in destruction of caves, as shown in this photo. Repeated surveys performed in the last years, integrated with interpretation of multi-year aerial photos allowed to quantitatively evaluate the advance of quarrying activities (Fig. 4), and the areas involved in land use change. This was then integrated by field surveys and speleological explorations that further highlighted the destruction of a high number of caves in the area. The data so collected clearly show that the area around Minervino Murge is one of the most degraded in Apulia as regards disturbance of the karst environment, with loss of the original landscape and destruction of the natural caves. Areal increase of quarrying 90

hectares

80 70 60 50

area 1976

40 30

area 2005

area 1990

20 10 0 1

2

3

4

5

6

Fig. 4: Areal increase of quarrying at Minervino Murge in the time span 1976-2005. The quarrying activity coupled in the last 30 years with intensive stone clearing practices, even favoured by public subsidy from the European Community. These subsidies, addressed to changes in

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the land use for introducing new crops, resulted in the High Murge in transforming the original bare karst in a landscape which is unnatural for this area, with wide development of cornfields. Most of the rocks resulting from clearing of the fields, and quarrying activity as well, are often dumped into swallow holes and caves (Fig. 5), or piled around karst depressions. Besides the negative effect on the karst landscape, these actions are extremely dangerous for cavers, due to instability of the dumped and/or piled rocks. Thus, the indicators infilling and dumping were considered, respectively, with rating 2 and 3.

Fig. 5: Stone clearing practices produced the formation of non natural cornfields in the Minervino Murge area, and in piling of rock debris in the proximity of cave entrances (two persons for scale on the rock pile). Other rocks have been dumped as well into the cave, creating a serious danger for cavers, due to instability of the rocks, both outside and within the cave. At present, thousands of hectares of the original pastures have been transformed, and this has often resulted in later abandonment of the fields, due to intense erosion. In fact, stone clearing is carried out through the use of modern technologies and machinery, able to crush the carbonate rocks destroying the epikarst, and eliminating the soil. When it rains, even on gentle slopes surface runoff develops and intense erosion starts. Erosional processes may be so severe to determine onset of both linear and areal erosion on the slopes, through development of rills and gullies. The indicator erosion has been therefore assigned a rating 2. Another consequence of the stone clearing practice is flooding in subsurface karst, as a further effect of the land use changes at the surface: similarly than the previous indicator, also flooding was considered to have a severe impact, scored as 2. Caves in the Minervino Murge area are characterized by vertical entrances, with some meters-deep shafts. Difficulty in accessing the caves, which is limited only to expert cavers, resulted in high protection and safeguard of the caves and the deposits therein from removal and vandalism, and strongly limited other problems related to frequent visits by man. This had important consequences in the attribution of scores to some indicators. In practice, five indicators belonging to different categories were listed as 0. The category Biota was the most difficult to evaluate at the Minervino Murge area. Thorough bibliographical research produced very little results in terms of published articles. Furthermore, nothing was found to allow a comparison at different times of the species richness and density of

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population, which is required to assign scores to the biota indicators. Thus, four out of the five indicators were considered as Lack of Data. Vegetation disturbance was the only one that applied to the case study in the Biota category: a score 3 was assigned to this indicator, due to the long history of deforestation in the area, that brought to have today only very few remnants of wood cover (most of these is represented by re-forested areas). Another significant problem is the state of the present vegetation, since lack of maintenance of woods has resulted in a situation highly prone to wildfires, and with several non wealthy trees and plants. To cover even this issue of the vegetation, a new indicator (State of vegetation) was introduced, and again a score 3 was assigned. Selection for this study of the area in the surroundings of the town of Minervino Murge was dictated, besides its very interesting karst features, by the fact that it is comprised within the boundaries of a recently established natural park (Alta Murgia Natural Park), which total surface is around 70,000 ha. The park was established with a National Law in 1998, after many years of debate about the boundaries of the park, and many discussions about the permitted activities within its limits. Even after establishment of the Park, many of the problems related to anthropogenic activities in the area remained unsolved. This was mostly due to the lack of control by the Local Authorities, combined with a public indifference toward safeguard of the natural environment from large sectors of the population in the area. For these reasons, when evaluating the indicators belonging to the category Cultural Factors, some negative scores have been assigned (2 for Regulatory protection, 3 for Enforcement of regulations, again 2 for Public education and Building of roads). The Karst Disturbance Index in the Minervino Murge area was determined using 26 indicators, and resulted in a value of 0.5, which means “Disturbed”. However, if we do not take into account the five 0 scores related to difficulty in accessing the vertical caves in the area, the index rises to a value of 0.6, falling in the upper range of the “Moderately disturbed” class. Four indicators were considered as LDs, that resulted in LD rating 0,13, corresponding to good confidence. Castellana-Grotte area Castellana-Grotte is worldwide famous due to the remarkable, more than 3 km long and more than 120 m deep, caves, which were explored for the first time in 1938, and soon after that became one of the most visited tourist caves in Europe. Discovery of the caves played an important role in the tourist development of this small town of Low Murge, that modified its name in 1950, by adding Grotte, and thus becoming the present Castellana-Grotte. The show cave is only one of the many features of this part of Apulia, where both surface and subsurface karst landforms are widespread (Parise, 1999). The main differences with the first territory dealt with in the present paper (Minervino Murge area) are that Castellana-Grotte and the surrounding territory develop at lower elevations (between 330 and 240 m a.s.l.), and the caves are not prevailingly vertical. As for the anthropogenic environment, the show caves, combined with the vicinity to the Adriatic coastline, a further reason of attraction for thousands of tourists during the summer season produced in Low Murge a much greater presence of man’s activities and infrastructures. Without entering into the details of every single indicators, it has to be noted that in the CastellanaGrotte area no score 3 was assigned, but, at the same time, none indicator had score 0, which means that some negative effects from human activities had to be registered within each category. For example, the quarrying activity is not as intense as in High Murge; nevertheless, small quarries are present in the area, locally very close to significant subsurface karst features. In some cases, anthropogenic activities are still producing negative effects, irrespective of the existing laws and prohibitions (Fig. 6).

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Fig. 6: Pozzo Cucù cave (photo to the left) is one of the most remarkable caves in the CastellanaGrotte territory. Even though the cave was declared of interest for the European Community, due to its peculiar cave ecosystem, some anthropogenic works (photo to the right) strongly altered the natural landscape above the cave in the last years. Due to the easiness in accessing the caves, many of the indicators that in the first study area had score 0 in this case presented problems, because of vandalism, removal of sediments and materials, and floor sediment compaction. At the same time, access of man into the caves also had negative consequences for the biota environment. Besides these problems, the presence of the Castellana show caves add further negative effects, as usual in show caves frequented by high number of tourists (Cigna, 1993; Pulido Bosch et al., 1997; Aley, 2004): changes in the cave environment, development of lampenflora as a consequence of the lighting system, construction within caves for trails and pathways, and so on. The Karst Disturbance Index in the Castellana-Grotte area was therefore determined using 26 indicators, and resulted in a value of 0.55, corresponding to the upper range of the “Disturbed” class. Three indicators were considered as LDs, that resulted in LD rating 0.1, corresponding to high confidence.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Determining the karst disturbance can be very difficult because of the inherent complexity of karst systems, and subjective because it requires interpretation of the karst environment by the expert. For example, a geologist might concentrate on geomorphology, neglecting the subsurface biota or the water quality. Since the method lists all the categories for which data should be collected, and uses pre-established indicators, the need for the evaluator to decide what is important to measure is strongly reduced. Furthermore, the utilized scoring system limited to four possibilities reduces much of the uncertainty associated to multi-level scoring systems, and prevents the evaluator from consistently choosing a middle value forcing him to be more decisive. It has to be stressed that this approach is based upon some simplifying hypothesis: first, the index is considered to be applicable for all karst regions, regardless of the difference in karst types; secondly, any change to the karst environment is evaluated as caused by human impact. Karst is, however, characterized by natural variability over space and time (Williams, 1993); application of the index to heterogeneous areas, where two or more types of karst are present, should be performed with great care. In addition, it is sometimes difficult to discriminate between human-induced environmental changes and those caused by on-going natural processes. A final, but not less important, assumption of the method is the availability of data; actually, this varies from region to region, and depends on the thoroughness of studies and research undertaken for that specific area. Through the Lack of Data, the index includes this aspect and allows to provide a measure of the adequacy of the available information, and to highlight those karst regions where more research activity is needed.

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Notwithstanding these simplifications, the Karst Disturbance Index can be adapted to any karst region, and this also contributes to improving the ability to compare the degree of disturbance to karst among different locations. It can serve as a standard tool for the evaluator (a karst scientist having the experience needed to interpret the available data) to provide a quantitative measure of the human impact, and it might help local administrations to contrast the increased human pressure and to address the sustainable management of karst environments. The present study, through implementation of the Karst Disturbance Index to two areas in the Apulian karst of southern Italy, has shown the usefulness of the approach for a preliminary evaluation of the degree of disturbance in karst, as an help toward a better understanding of the impacts to the natural environment deriving from man’s activities. At the same time, the need of more detailed research and analysis in disturbed karst areas was well highlighted in both the areas, where a strong contrast occurs between the existing laws for protection and safeguard of the environment, and their real enforcement. This contrast produced heavy degradation, destruction of caves, and frequent loss of the karst landscape in several sectors of the Apulia region.

REFERENCES Aley, T., 2004: Tourist caves: algae and lampenflora. In: Gunn, J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cave and karst science. Routledge, 733-734. Cigna, A.A., 1993: Environmental management of tourist caves. Environmental Geology, 21, 173180. Doglioni, C., Mongelli, F. & Pieri, P., 1994: The Puglia uplift (SE Italy): an anomaly in the foreland of the Apenninic subduction due to buckling of a thick continental litosphere. Tectonics, 13, 1309-1321. Gunn, J., 1993 : The geomorphological impacts of limestone quarrying. Catena, suppl. 25, 187-197. Neboit, R., 1974: Plateau et collines de Lucanie orientale et des Pouilles. Etude morphologique, Libr. Honore Champion, Paris. Parise, M., 1999: Morfologia carsica epigea nel territorio di Castellana-Grotte. Itinerari Speleologici, 8, 53-68. Parise, M., 2003: Flood history in the karst environment of Castellana-Grotte (Apulia, southern Italy). Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 3, 593-604. Parise, M.& Pascali, V., 2003: Surface and subsurface environmental degradation in the karst of Apulia (southern Italy). Environmental Geology, 44, 247-256. Perrino, P., Laghetti, G. & Terzi, M., 2006: Modern concepts for the sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources in the Mediterranean natural protected areas: the case study of the Alta Murgia Park (Italy). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 53, 695-710. Pulido Bosch, A., Martin Rosales, W., Lopez Chicano, M., Rodriguez Navarro, C.M. & Vallejos, A., 1997: Human impact in a tourist karstic cave (Aracena, Spain). Environmental Geology, 31 (3/4), 142-149. Ricchetti, G., Ciaranfi, N., Luperto Sinni, E., Mongelli, F. & Pieri, P., 1988: Geodinamica ed evoluzione sedimentaria e tettonica dell’Avampaese Apulo. Mem. Soc. Geol. It., 41, 57-82. Sauro, U., 1991: A polygonal karst in Alte Murge (Puglia, southern Italy). Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, 35 (2), 207-223. Van Beynen, P. & Townsend, K., 2005: A disturbance index for karst environments. Environmental Management, 36 (1), 101-116. Williams, P.W., 1993 : Environmental change and human impact on karst terrains: an introduction. Catena, suppl. 25, 1-19.

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THE EUROPEAN PROJECT “3 KCL – KARSTIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPES”: AN IMPORTANT EXPERIENCE OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PERSPECTIVES Benedetta Castiglioni & Monica Celi Dipartimento di Geografia, Università di Padova - Italy Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna (TV) – Italy Abstract Karst landscapes represent important parts of both natural and cultural heritages, as examples of peculiar relationships between man and his environment. In the European project “3KCL – Karstic Cultural Landscapes”, coordinated in 2004-2005 by the Montebelluna (Treviso, Italy) Museum, researchers, teachers and pupils from Italy, France and Slovenia teamed up to study three principal karst areas in their respective countries, to draw comparisons and present their results to the public. In the first phase of the project, this research was carried out in an interdisciplinary way, concentrating on a variety of aspects relating to the relationship between man and his environment, and how this has changed through time. The comparison between the three areas, characterised by the common presence of conglomerate rock, has borne important scientific results. In the second phase, the results of this research were transmitted directly from the researchers to their partner schools and the pupils themselves prepared the display panels for the mobile exhibition and the pages for the website (www.3kcl.net). In this manner the pupils from the different countries worked closely together and became the main players in the project, aimed at raising awareness and making the information widely available. The aim is to raise public awareness, to educate and to encourage people to take greater responsibility for the treasure which their home land represents, through recognition that such landscapes are the key to understanding cultural history, and that this will ultimately lead to a greater understanding between the different generations in society. Moreover, sharing knowledge and increasing awareness can be considered as important “first steps” for a more sustainable future. Keywords: karst landscape, education for sustainable development, international co-operation

MUSEUM AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT In December 2002, resolution 57/254 on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. UNESCO was designated as lead agency for the promotion of the Decade. The General Director of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, on 14 April 2004, in the opening of a colloquium on Environmental Education Towards Sustainable Development, at the Natural History Museum in Paris, highlighted the importance in this regard of education for a sustainable future. He called it “a considerable challenge”, which concerns informal and non-formal education systems as well as formal ones. The museums are all over the world strategic and fundamental places for the educational processes; billions of people, adults and children, young and old, student and families, visit the exposition, participate to the conferences, experiment in the laboratories, study in the museum library. Museums can therefore play an important role in promoting positive cultural dynamics, particularly in the spheres of facilitating symbolic experiences with significant objects and of proposing debates and discussions about our histories and futures. Sustainable development requires people to think about their behaviour and to do things differently. All museum’s activities (research, conservation, education, exposition and communication) can help in achieving these aims, in raising awareness and in promoting changing attitudes. Museums conserve the natural, historical, ethnological, artistic etc. elements of a territory, of a landscape; moreover they co-operate directly in research with university and other research agencies, to study the collections and the territory itself; finally, museums use this achieved knowledge and information in formal and informal educational contests. The exchange of experiences and the dissemination of ideas take place in training sessions, meetings, through reviews and other publication (scientific journal of the museum, specific monographes) and through personal contacts. The aims of all these museum activities are to encourage children and adults to take an interest in nature, to learn, to observe natural and human phenomena, and to became aware of the consequences of their own action. According to the programme of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, museums can propose to the schools activities in the territory, excursions, laboratories, etc., but also can offer materials

and in-service training for teachers, and can encourage teachers to work in co-operation with various experts.

THE CULTURA 2000 PROJECT AND THE ROLE OF MUSEUM The Natural History and Archaeology Museum of Montebelluna (Italy) is a museum classified as middle museum at regional level in Veneto, and it is strongly identified as a “museum of the local territory”, for its collections and for the activities which develops. It constitutes a reference point for conservation and research in a wide surrounding area and for territorial education, providing information and knowledge about the local natural and human environment. In its mission is explicitly mentioned that one of its aims is to promote education activities (mostly directed to schools) towards a sustainable development of the surrounding territorial context . In 2003 the Montebelluna museum proposed a European project in the ambit of the European “Culture 2000” program. That announcement was in fact particularly in agreement with to the aims, the purposes and the activities that the museum was really implementing in its experience of “open to the territory” museum. The elaborated project was aimed to the comparison of karst landscapes in conglomerate and involved the two usual partners of the museum: research centres and local school. According to the European dimension of the project, were considered karst landscapes in conglomerate in Italy (Montello Hill), Slovenia (Udin boršt) and France (Méailles in the Annot area) and involved research partners as the Department of Geography of the University of Padua, the Karst Research Institute of Postojna and the Department of Geography of the University de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis. The project, quite ambitious in its contents and mostly in its executive methodologies, was aiming not only to study in-depth the three landscapes, but also to build a network among the principal territorial actors concerning the cultural production: museum, schools and university. Therefore the museum has become itself a promoter of a different way of doing museum education. The project represented for the Montebelluna Museum a big chance and a challenge too to develop and implement educational strategies towards sustainable development; through the medium of the partnernship and of the cultural mediation, knowledge about the territory arised, the awareness of landscape value increased as well as of the care for its conservation and safeguard. The museum played the role of an intermediary, allowing to establish a strong relationship among its most important partners, which work in the territory to produce culture, and consenting to different worlds to communicate. In this sense, one of the strength points of the project has been the European dimension. The project in the three countries allowed the connection between people that study and develop sustainable development from a research and theoretical point of view and people that have to make aware choices in the environment and in the territory.

THE PROJECT “3KCL – KARSTIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPES”1 1. The project aims In the proposal document the general objectives of the project were listed as follow: - to provide innovative contents, both from the scientific and the educational profile, in the study and interpretation of the evolution of fragile karst eco-system and of their relationship with human settlements, in order to highlight the value of this cultural heritage, at European level; - to promote a wide cultural dialogue at international level on karst phenomena in conglomerate rocks, that originate unique morphological structures and landscapes - to exchange experiences and good practices - to promote an active role of the schools and of the museum, in order to implement a friendly approach to knowledge for children and young people - to arise children and young people awareness of the delicate equilibrium of karst areas These general aims of the project explain very well how the project itself can represent a very important “first step” in going toward a more sustainable future; both a deeper knowledge of conglomerate karst The whole title of the project is “Karstic cultural landscapes. Architecture of a unique relationship people-territory”. We used mostly the acronym: 3KCL, where the number 3 is in relationship with the 3 country involved and the 3 karst areas, K stays for Karst, C stays both for Conglomerate and for Cultural and L stays for Landscapes. 1

landscapes coming from research and the wider awareness of their peculiarity achieved through dissemination activities are fundamental requirements. To achieve the goals, the project proceeded in parallel along two main paths: on one hand the karst areas were studied and compared by three national research teams; on the other hand, in the so called “educational phase”, the achieved knowledge has been directly shared with school children, towards a wider awareness of a large public of karst landscapes as a very peculiar natural and cultural heritage. 2. The project structure Karst study area

Italy

Sloveni a

Research partners

Dipartimento di Geografia dell’Università di Padova

Montello

Udin boršt

Karst Research Institute, Postojna

Départements de Méailles Géographie, Université de France Nice Sophia Antipolis Table 1. The partners of the 3KCL project

RESEARCH PHASE

EDUCATIONAL PHASE

School partners Direzione Didattica I Circolo, Montebelluna Direzione Didattica II Circolo, Montebelluna Scuola Media Statale, Montebelluna Istituto Professionale di Stato per l’Agricoltura e l’Ambiente, Montebelluna Osnovna šola Antona Žnidaršica, Ilirska Districa Šolski center Postojna - Srednja šola, Postojna Osnovna šola Pivka, Pivka Osnovna šola Naklo, Naklo Notranjski muzej, Postojna École Publique –Pre martin -Annot

ACTION 1 (A1)

First coordination workshop

November 2004

ACTION 2 (A2)

Scientific study of 3 karst areas

November 2004 – April 2005

ACTION 3 (A3)

Second workshop: comparative results about the April 2005 3 karst areas

ACTION 4 (A4)

Scientific publication and implementation of the March – July website 2005

ACTION 5 (A5)

Contents transmission to the partner-schools

March – April 2005

ACTION 6 (A6)

Didactic materials produced by the partnerschools

March – June 2005

ACTION 7 (A7)

Implementation of the web site by the partnerschools

April – October 2005

ACTION 8 (A8)

Final exposition, disseminations of results

August – October 2005

Table 2. The project phases

dissemination

School (France)

Research (France)

museum

Research (Italy) School (Italy)

dissemination

Research (Slovenia) School (Slovenia)

dissemination

Fig. 1. The project structure As presented above, partners of the project come from three Countries (Italy, Slovenia, France) and are both the research institutions and schools, besides the museum. Table 1 contains their list. In table 2 the different phases of the project are instead presented: the 8 “Actions” are grouped in two parts, the first one referred to the so called “research phase”, the second one to the “educational phase”; the timetable of the project is presented, too2. As shown in fig. 1, the partners are part of a sort of network, made of a complex of relationships, each partner with a specific role. In particular, starting from the centre of the graphic, the Montebelluna Museum co-ordinates the whole activities; research partners are in contact among them in order to exchange methodologies and research results, and with their school partners for the direct transmission of research contents (Action 5); school partners have the role of “disseminators”, as they build the materials for the exposition and the website pages, and are in contact among them through the website itself. 3. The research phase The most outstanding questions and focuses in the research are listed as follows, according to the general aims of the project : - the focus is the relationship between man and environment, between people and territory. So, previous analysis of the karst landscapes are widen in this direction, more than concerning strictly natural aspects; - one interesting way to analyse the relationship man-environment is to look in particular to the changes of the relationship itself. The time interval that shows very interesting and very deep landscape changes is probably the last century; - among the peculiarity of the karst areas, the problem of “water” is probably one of the most interesting, looking at the way people used to live and live now there. So, one of the focus is “water as a resource”;

2

The project lasted one year, from November 2004 to October 2005.

-

the three areas have in common their lithology, because they all show conglomerate substratum: what are the peculiarities of the relationship man-environment in conglomerate karst areas? What are the main differences with other karst areas? - how people perceive the peculiarity of karst landscapes and landscape changes? These items represents innovative aspects of the research in the three karst areas, so that this research provides indeed new knowledge concerning karst landscapes; this knowledge has relevant significance in order to manage this peculiar karst area from the point of view of sustainability. Furthermore, the main challenge is the comparative analyses among different case studies: looking at three different karst conglomerate landscapes, similarities and differences among them are defined, and the relevance of the different natural and human factors in their development and changes is better understood. The three research teams are interdisciplinary, with researchers with different specialisation; meetings and workshops among them are very important in order not just to build a collection of thematic contributes, but mostly to integrate different approaches. International workshops (action 1 and 3) on the other side, represent the important occasion of comparison and exchange of methods and of results concerning the three karst areas. The research results are collected in 3 books, one for each area; some of these results are presented in other papers of this 14th International Karstological School.

Montello

Montello is a hill that arises at the pre-alpine border, in the high plane of Veneto. It has an ellipsoidal shape, it covers an area of 60 km2 and its highly altitude is of 370 m. It is made of conglomerate rocks, of carbonatic composition. On its surface karst phenomena are well developed, especially a very high number of dolines. On the Montello hill only few settlements are present; it is partly cultivated, partly is covered by forest. In the past it was a large oak forest, an important supply for naval dockyard of the Venice Republic. Nowadays the Montello hill is an important semi-natural oasis in the middle of the urbanised plain, a frequent destination for excursions

Udin boršt

Udin boršt is a small hilly relief , 50 km north of Ljubljana, in the Sava valley. It covers nearly 13 km2 and it is from 400 to 550 m high. It is made of quite recent conglomerate rocks, but due to their carbonatic composition karst forms are frequent on the surface (dolines) as well as underground (caves). Udin boršt is almost completely covered by forest and in the past it was a game preserve for hunting. Settlements are present only at the border. It is now crossed by a lot of paths, for excursion and tourism

Méailles

The area around the village of Méailles, in the Vaïre valley, in the Haute Provence Alps, is very interesting from a geologic point of view. This area is 200 km2 wide, and its altitude varies from 550 and 2700 m. E thin layer of carbonatic conglomerate rocks is the base of the upper layers of marl and sandstone. Surface karst forms are not present, while there are a lot of caves. the landscape is the typical one of the Mediterranean mountains. The Méailles village and the surrounding agricultural activities have been partly abandoned in the last century, with consequent re-growing of forest on the slopes. At present a sort of reclamation is in course, with some tourism in holidays houses.

Table 3. Main features of the three karst areas 4. The educational phase The educational phase, in the frame of the Culture 2000 program, aims to transfer knowledge and cultural contents to a wide public. In the 3KCL project it happens in two different steps: in the first (action 5 – content transmission) researchers meet the school children with lessons or excursions and explain to them the research results (obviously with the adequate language); in the second one (action 6, 7 and 8) the school children themselves prepare the materials (posters, web pages or other materials) to present to a wider public what they learnt. The structure of this part of the project is really innovative, both for the direct contact

between the research worlds and the school world, and for the very important and active role played by the school children. Each action is adapted to the school level and to the age of the pupils, with a careful planning that involved researchers and teachers, and with careful coordination. Final products of the educational phase are the 30 posters of a travelling exposition, that was opened in Montebelluna in June 2005, in Postojina in September and in France in October. Other materials, different in each countries, complete the exposition. The posters’ content represent also the main content of the pages of the website www.3kcl.net . This tool (that contains also part of the research results) seems to be important for a wide dissemination of results, reaching not only people living near the karst areas, but potentially all the world. Moreover, even if the web forum is probably the only thing that didn’t work very well during the project (mostly due to technical problems), through the web site the children could keep in contact among the three countries, feel the international dimension of the project and, to some extent, “exchange their landscapes”. They learnt about the other karst areas, and – mostly – they were stimulated in finding the way (and the language) to present to the children of other countries their “own” karst landscape.

CONCLUSION: THE PROJECT “3KCL” AS A GOOD PRACTICE IN THE DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The 3KCL project can be looked at from different points of view; it can be considered under the light of some important international documents, in order to understand if and how it can represents a “good practice” in education for sustainable development. Firstly, the project seems to match some of the purposes of the European Landscape Convention (approved by the Council of Europe and opened to signature in October 2000); the first specific measures that the Convention proposes in order to “achieve sustainable development based on a balanced and harmonious relationship between social needs, economic activity and the environment” are devoted to “awareness – raising” and to “training and education”. So that each Country has to “undertake to increase awareness among the civil society, private organisations, and public authorities of the value of landscapes, their role and changes to them” and “to promote […] school and university courses which, in the relevant subject areas, address the values attaching to landscapes and the issues raised by their protection, management and planning”. The uniqueness of karst landscapes, that are widespread but known only where large caves exist, represents a very interesting “experimental field” to propose actions devoted to a better knowledge, comparison and popularisation, and to improve the acquisition of more responsibilities towards territorial and environmental matters. Moreover, the through-time reading of remote and recent changes lead to re-discover near but often unknown worlds: landscape can play the function of a “knot” among different cultures and among different generations. The activities and the results of 3KCL project seem to match these goals of the European Landscape Convention, they seem to act in the same direction. The second point of reference is the base document for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (www.unesco.org), that indicates which are the specific characteristics of this educational field. Among them, it is clear that ESD has to be “interdisciplinary and holistic: learning for sustainable development embedded in the whole curriculum, not as a separate subject”. The 3KCL project is built as interdisciplinary, involving different subjects both in the research and in the educational phase; stressing this point, the whole project is built with a strong relevance of the relationship dimension, at different levels: - the research world and the dissemination and education world; - the three karst areas, partially similar and different, compared; - the different landscape aspects that are analysed, starting form the idea that the landscape itself is the display of the relationship between man and environment, it is at the same time natural and cultural heritage; - the relationship among teachers and pupils of different age, different schools, different countries; - the relationship between the school and their surrounding territory. Another peculiarity of ESD is “critical thinking and problem solving: leading to confidence in addressing the dilemmas and challenges of sustainable development”: through the direct relationship with the researchers, children learn not through a “ready for use” box of knowledge, but through a scientific and critical approach to the complexity of environment and landscape; when they prepare the dissemination

materials they have to be critical, too, choosing among the most relevant contents and the best way to communicate them. Moreover, ESD, that is considered “multi-method”, follows “an approach in which teachers and learners work together to acquire knowledge and play a role in shaping the environment of their educational institutions”: in 3KCL researchers, teachers and children really work together and cooperate under the coordination of an “open to change” museum. Finally, the project is “locally relevant: addressing local as well as global issues, and using the language(s) which learners most commonly use”. As “education and learning lie at the heart of approaches to sustainable development”, we hope that 3KCL project could represent a good example and a “best practise”, for such important requirement, even if not directly in the sustainable management of karst areas.

REFERENCES Castiglioni, B. (ed.), 2005: Montello. 3KCL– Karstic cultural landscapes. Architecture of a unique relationship people-territory. Museo di Storia naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. Kranjc, A. (ed.), 2005: Udin boršt. 3KCL – Karstic cultural landscapes. Architecture of a unique relationship people-territory. Museo di Storia naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. Audra, Ph. (ed.), 2005: Méailles e la region d’Annot. 3KCL – Karstic cultural landscapes. Architecture of a unique relationship people-territory. Museo di Storia naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. http://www.3kcl.net http://www.coe.int http://www.unesco.org

COLLISION OF INTERESTS IN LAND USE AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN KARST AREAS Barbara Čenčur Curk IRGO – Institute for Mining, Geotechnology and Environment, Slovenčeva 93, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija, Email: [email protected]

Abstract In many European countries karstic areas are essential for public water supply. Sustainable development of karstic areas means a maximum use of the environment with simultaneous conservation of natural resources. This is difficult to achieve in practice. It requires an exceptional knowledge of natural resources and skill and knowledge of physical planners who have to optimize effects of human activities. The latter could be supported by a decision-support system (DSS), in which legal frameworks and socio-economic aspects with emphasis on land-use activities will also be implemented. In this paper a methodological aspects for DSS are presented, e.g. impact-effect matrix. Keywords: karst, groundwater protection, land use, environmental protection, decision support system

INTRODUCTION Karstic areas are essential for public water supply, since currently karstic aquifers contribute 25% of world-wide water supply. This proportion is supposed to rise to almost 50% in the near future (Kollarits et al., 2003). These areas are at the same time highly sensitive and valuable natural environments. Conversely, development of such areas is increasing. Sustainable development of karstic areas means a maximum use of the environment with simultaneous conservation of natural resources. This is difficult to achieve in practice. It requires an exceptional knowledge of natural resources and skill and knowledge of physical planners who have to optimize effects of human activities. Governmental authorities are forced by law to take decisions within the framework of European, national and regional directives in the fields of spatial planning and groundwater and environmental protection. These tasks can be supported by a decision-support system (DSS), which integrates data from various sources and helps to make decision processes more effective and transparent. Basic work for such a DSS has been done in the transnational and interdisciplinary project KATERII, supported by the Interreg IIIb programme, involving co-operation between institutions from Austria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. With the help of an inventory all existing data about land-use, existing and potential polluters, soil and aquifer characteristics and, as far as possible, time-series of water and substance fluxes shall be recorded for selected pilot areas. These areas were chosen to reflect a range of land-use types and different national settings. Land-uses considered include summer and winter tourism, settlements, transport, forestry, agriculture and pasture management. Legal frameworks and socio-economic aspects with emphasis on land-use activities shall also be implemented in the DSS. Also, the complex relationships between social, and techno-economic variables must be taken into account in order to understand how people behave and to help them decide.

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM The formal methods applied for the decision making process include multi-criteria decision-making and techniques of fuzzy evaluation. They are used to define a system of rules describing the concrete forms of impact of land-use activities (derived from an activity impact model) on the natural environment, as described in vulnerability models. This system of rules – the formalised knowledge base - is the core of the decision support system, which will help to make decisions and their potential

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impacts transparent as well integrative – bridging the gap between different institutions and experts involved in groundwater protection.

Winter tourism

In more detail the effects of a certain land-use category can be demonstrated. Slovene partner is dealing with tourism effect on karst water resources, therefore this topic will be presented. The matrix form of presentation provides a valuable starting point for evaluation and analysis. With the introduction of new land-use activities and infrastructure, tourism may present many potential threats to karst aquifers. Land-use intensifies with growing visitor numbers and major infrastructure construction for residential tourism, transport, communications, ski facilities etc., physically altering the natural environment and introducing many potential pollution sources. At the same time land value and the demand for high Table 1. An example of an impact-effect matrix for winter tourism quality water supplies are (PRO = provokes: it is a general activitiy provoking activities increased. The impact-effect which are linked to the processe; COF = consist of an activity). PRO Traffic facilities: Roads & car parks matrix for tourism was divided PRO Traffic facilities: Railway lines into several categories, such as PRO Traffic facilities - Trails and footpaths PRO Traffic facilities: Accidents winter tourism and summer PRO Construction in general tourism The first is divided to PRO Technical Infrastructure (111) PRO Settlements (114) - housing & hotels skiing tourism, whereas PRO Domestic water supply subcategories of summer COF Spring capture COF Ground water abstraction tourism are mountain tourism, COF Surface water abstraction camping, outdoor sports and COF Water transfer / import COF Water treatment activities (hiking, biking, PRO Domestic wastewater production mountaineering, caving …), COF Septic tanks - construction, maintenance & leakage COF Wastewater drainage systems - construction, maintenance & leakage sightseeing and cultural COF Wastewater treatment plants - construction & maintenance COF Wastewater treatment plants - sludge disposal tourism (tourist caves, ecoPRO Domestic solid waste production tourism). Table 1 presents an COF Recyclable wastes COF Non-recyclable wastes example for impact-effect COF Hazardous wastes matrix for winter tourism COF Transport of solid wastes COF Solid waste storage & disposal skiing.

OUTLOOK

COF PRO PRO COF COF COF COF

Flytipping / illegal dumping Emission of air-pollutants (traffic, heating) Storage, application & disposal of chemicals Storage: household chemicals (paints, solvents, detergents, antifreeze, batteries etc.) Storage: agrochemicals (pesticides, herbicides etc.) Application of agrochemicals (gardens, roads etc.) Storage: fuels for vehicles and machinery

Careful planning and management practices are required for sustainable development that maximizes the socio-economic values whilst protecting the natural environment. Planning and decision-making should clearly recognize the limits of the local environment in sustaining the development load and involve all relevant stakeholders. Public education is encouraged to promote understanding of the links between land-use and water supply and foster informed decisions and behavior.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The work described in this paper was mainly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDP).

REFERENCES Kollarits S, 2003: Decision-support systems for groundwater protection: Innovative tools for resource management, 1st International Conference on groundwater in geological engineering ICGGE 2003, Bled 2003, RMZ – Materials and Geoenvironment, 50/1: 165-168.

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HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE COASTAL KARST IN MONTENEGRO Tijana Danilovic ”Geoprojekt”, 4 Studentska Street, 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract Karst of Montenegro belongs to Dinaric karst, which is considered to be classical model of specific morphology and hydrogeology on the world's scale. Coastal karst of Montenegro is characterised by very complex hydrogeological relations and phenomena, which are conditioned by high degree of karstification and tectonic rupture of carbonate rocks, as well as by a position of flysch barriers. That enables specific relation of fresh and salt water and establishment of a transitional zone between them, whose position changes, depending on the hydraulic gradient of the background aquifer. As a consequence of all stated above, there are many coastal saline springs and vruljas of extremelly high capacity oscillations, which limits a possibility of quality water supply using local watersouces. In order to prevent marine water penetration into watersources, it is necessary to study structure of carbonate rocks and flysch sediments, position and dimensions of karstic channels, directions of movement and conditions of groundwater circulation. A short presentation on some characteristic and interesting hydrogeological relations and phenomena, as well as on some research projects related to groundwater tapping and protection is given in this paper. Keywords: karstification, saline water, vrulja, water supply

INTRODUCTION Carbonate rocks are dominant in the composition of terrain of Montenegro, and they are represented by limestone, dolomitic limestone and dolomites of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age. These rocks build up over 60% of the territory of Montenegro. In these rocks the process of karstification is well developed, which is reflected by many surface and subsurface karstic forms, complex and specific hydrogeological relations and phenomena, especially in karstic fields and coastal karst. Montenegrin coastal area consists of Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary and igneous rocks. Three major geotectonic units are the following: Adriatic folds (Para autochthon), Cukali (Budva – Cukali) zone and High karst zone. The first two are much more present close to the seashore (Fig.1). The major karstic aquifers are developed in Middle and Upper Triassic and Lower and Upper Cretaceous limestone. Paraautochthon is built up of carbonate rocks of Upper Cretaceous and flysch sediments of Middle and Upper Eocene. Budva – Cukali zone consists of carbonate and silica rocks of Mesozoic age and of Triassic and Palaeogene flysch. The High karst zone is built up of Mesozoic carbonate sediments. Flysch of Paleocene and Lower Eocene consists of limestone breccias, sandstone, calcarenite, arenaceous limestone, limestone and marl, and its position mostly dictates the position of the drainage zone in the coastal area of Montenegro, because it represents the absolute barrier for groundwater. It is necessary to research the position and structure of the flysch sediments in order to provide the basis for karst aquifer regulation. In the Boka Kotorka Bay, due to vertical tectonic movements, i.e. to significant sea level oscillations during Neogene and Quaternary, the Adriatic folds unit (Para autochthon) and parts of geotectonic unit Cukali zone are located below the sea level, causing karstified carbonate rocks of the High karst zone to be in direct contact with the sea. The consequence is the saline water intrusion into deeply karstified hinterland, and discharge of the karst aquifer through numerous brackish submarine springs from Morinj to Kotor (Gurdic, Skurda, Ljuta, Sopot etc.). The area of Boka Kotorska Bay is characterised by the highest rainfall in Europe, but despite this, has problems with supplying enough quantities of potable drinking water.

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Fig. 2: Position of the geotectonic units of the coastal area of Montenegro (Radulovic M, 2000)

HYDROGEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS Many oscillations of the sea level, followed by karstification in several phases, which was intensified and often linked with tectonic and neotectonic activity, determined very complex hydrogeological relations in the zone of coastal karst aquifer. This resulted in lowering some parts of the geotectonic units of Para autochthon and Cukali zone, breaking and erosion of flysch sediments and bringing the karstic sediments into direct contact with the sea. The basic characteristics of the coastal karstic aquifer are:  carbonate sediments which it is found in are located below and above the contemporary sea level;  fresh and saline water are in specific relationship, and they tend to form an equilibrium zone, whose position changes, depending on the hydraulic gradient of the hinterland aquifer.  the karst aquifer is being discharged through numerous vruljas and springs, which are characterised by salinity changes that are determined by many factors (regime of the yield fluctuation, degree of karstification, tide effects etc.). There are many vruljas and brackish springs in the area of Boka Kotorska Bay: Gurdic, Skurda, Orahovacka Ljuta, Risanska Spilja, Sopot, Plavda, Ercegovina, Morinjska springs. They are characterized by very high amplitude of yield and chlorine content fluctuation. In this area karstified complex of the High karst zone is in direct contact with the sea water, because the flysch sediments which represent the barrier for groundwater are eroded and after that covered with Quaternary sediments. The discharge zone of the brackish springs and vruljas in the Boka Kotorska Bay, according to data of the most recent speleological research in the scope of Yugoslav-French Project (V. Radulovic, 1996), reaches even 100 m below the sea level. Complex relations in the zone of costal karst area along the Montenegrin coast are reflected as well through specific relations and hydraulic connectedness of some brackish springs, for example Gurdic and Skurda in the Kotor Bay. Huge research projects, performed in the aim of tapping and protection of groundwater in the costal area did not work out (galleries in Mojdez and Morinj, injection curtain in Tabacina etc.), first of all due to complex hydrogeological conditions of the terrain and poor research of the area.

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In order to prevent marine water penetration into watersources, it is necessary to study structure of carbonate rocks and flysch sediments, position and dimensions of karstic channels, flow directions and conditions.

SPECIFIC HYDROGEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA A typical example of submerged karst and fresh and salt water mixing is vrulja Sopot in the Boka Kotorska Bay (Fig.2).

Fig. 2: Schematic presentation of vrulja Sopot (Radulovic M, 2000) Sopot cave is located by the road Risan - Herceg Novi, 2 km away from Risan. The lowest point of Sopot vrulja discharge is 50m from the coast, at depths of 28 and 36 m. Their superficial effects in the form of concentric circles indicate the discharge zone. They represent erosive basis of entire catchment area. During the hydrological maximum, great quantities of water fall down into the sea from the cave beside the road. This happens because the karst canal of Sopot submerged spring is not able to accept all incoming water. The maximum recorded discharge of this periodical spring is over 50 m3/s (measurements are extremely difficult due to local topography). The problems of submerged karst and eroded flysch barriers are present as well at the location of Morinjska springs. They are characterised by great yield, that varies from 1 m3/s to several dozens m3/s. Depth of karstification in this area in certain parts is much below the sea level. Karst aquifer is rimmed with impermeable rocks, represented by flysch sediments. These springs are being salinated through the alluvial sediments, which mask the contact of eroded flysch sediments and limestone. In the rainy peiod of year, there occur temporary springs on the places of higher altitude, with total yield of about 80 m3/s.. An interesting example of complex hydrogeologic relations is Opacica spring. This spring is incorporated into the water supply system of Herceg Novi and has an altitude of 10m. Water is being pumped out using the group of 20m deep wells, with total yield in dry period of around 80 l/s, with water level being lowered to 8-10 m below the sea level, the groundwater not being salinated. This part of the terrain is built up of tectonically raptured limestone, which lies over thin strata limestone of Lower Cretaceous, which fall towards north, under the angle of 25-30º, and they represent a barrier for groundwater, together with flysch sediments below the carbonate rocks. Rezevica river spring is a good example of karst groundwater regulation. The spring is found in village Rezevici, along the road Petrovac – Budva. The catchment area of the spring occupies 20 km2, and is built up of karstified limestone and dolomite of Triassic age.

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Aquifer water is being tapped by a 374 m long gallery, which was excavated at the contact of flysch and limestone sediments, at an altitude of about 67 m a.s.l. Minimal yield of Rezevica rijeka spring is Qmin = 50-60 l/s, and medium 1.60 m3/s. The spring is incorporated into Budva water supply system.

Fig.3: Cross-section of Rezevica river spring and gallery (M.Buric, 1972) The hydrogeological research shows that the discharge zones are approximatelly the same on every location, which makes the system very vulnerable, when talking about aquifer regulation. For this reason it is necessary to study well the structure of the terrain and perform the detailed hydrogeological research.

WATER SUPPLY PROBLEMS In spite of water abundance all along the edges of Boka Kotorska bay, the well known fact is that the population suffers from inadequate supply of fresh water due to the lack of required quantities of quality potable water. This is a paradox, however, if one has in mind the size of the catchment area of the Boka Kotorska Bay, and the quantity of precipitation in it, which according to the long term average is the highest in Europe. On the rainfall measuring station ”Crkvice” on the Orjen Mountain, the measured precipitation reaches over 5000 mm per annum as a long term average, but from year to year reaches even more than 8000 mm per annum. And while there is a lack of quality potable water during dry season of the year along the margin of Boka Kotorska Bay, during the rainy period, the abrupt discharge of groundwater from dispersed karst water bodies produces remarkable damages. This is particularly noted in Kotor.

CONCLUSION Interventions and aquifer regulation in the coastal area of Montenegro are very complex, because the zone of brackish and fresh water discharge change both in space and time. Therefore, it is important to perform complex hydrogeological research of limestone and flysch sediments structure in order to provide the basis for solving water supply problem.

REFERENCES 1. Radulovic M, 2000: Karst hydrogeology of Montenegro, JU republički zavod za geološka istraživanja, Podgorica. 2. Excursion guide to the international conference, Belgrade-Kotor, September 2005.

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A REVIEW OF THE FOREST MANAGEMENT HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF THE HARAGISTYA KARST PLATEAU (HUNGARY) Eszter Tanács University of Szeged, Department of Climatology and Landscape Ecology, Hungary, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract The potential vegetation of Hungarian karsts is mixed-stand deciduous forest so forest management is a key issue in the sustainable management of karsts. In this study we attempt to describe how a typical Hungarian karst forest was used in the last few centuries and to what extent it was affected by anthropogenic activity. Investigating change patterns in the context of land use history provides useful information for future management. For the analysis we used an integrated GIS consisting of historical data (18th-19th century military maps, old forest management plans, aerial imagery etc.) and the results of recent soil investigations. As a study area we chose the karst plateau called Haragistya, situated in the northern part of Aggtelek Mountains at 400-600 m above sea level. Since the area was designated strictly protected zone and a smaller part forest reserve, its forests have been left unmanaged. Changes in the last few decades, like the increase in the proportion of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) or the declination of non-native coniferous plantations suggest that earlier management methods should be reconsidered and adjusted to the natural dynamics of the area. Keywords: karst, Haragistya, forest management history, forest dynamics

INTRODUCTION Due to their geographical position the natural vegetation in Hungarian karstlands is mixed deciduous forest and in our karst mountains there is still considerable forest cover. If forest management is carried out in accordance with the interests of protection and tourism, it can serve as a basis of sustainable landuse in these areas. Silvicultural activity also has an impact on the whole karstecosystem through changing the forest and the production site. It defines the state and extension of a forest for centuries. Forest management is therefore a key issue in the sustainable management of our karsts. The present forest condition in Europe is considerably modified from the natural state (Bradshaw, 2004). As a result, the natural dynamics of European deciduous forests are little known, which makes successful management difficult. In order to find out more about these processes forest reserves were designated where silvicultural activities were stopped entirely. Changes following the abandonment of a forest partly derive from the cessation of human interference, partly from global changes, and only partly reflect they the natural dynamics of the forest. In order to separate these effects, we first need to thoroughly examine the history of forest management. The study area called Haragistya is part of the Silicka planina, a karst plateau divided by the Hungarian-Slovakian border, at approx. 500 m above sea level. The nearest settlements are situated on the Slovakian side which renders it quite a peripheral area. It has a very varied surface with dry valleys and numerous dolines. On the ridges and slopes rendzina soils are characteristic, while we find brown forest soils in the hollows. Its forests mainly consist of sessile oak (Quercus petraea), accompanied by hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), field maple (Acer campestre) and wild service (Sorbus torminalis). On the ridges and southern slopes dry oak forests are characteristic and beech dominates the dolines and deeper valleys. Historical data and geographical names hint that the area was intensively used over the centuries, mainly for wood production and grazing but at some point probably even as arable land. In the 20th century, non-native coniferous forests were planted in the northern and western parts in order to increase wood production. Since the area was designated strictly protected zone and a smaller part forest reserve, its

forests have been left unmanaged. The Haragistya being a typical karst plateau that, similarly to other Hungarian karst areas, has been intensively used over the centuries, investigating its patterns in the context of land use history provides useful information for the sustainable management of karsts.

MATERIAL AND METHODS The aim of our analysis was to find out how the Haragistya area was used in the last few centuries and to what extent that affected its forests. In order to do that, we integrated the available historical data into a GIS. Apart from defining the the spatial extension of the forest at a certain time, historical maps mostly provide indirect information by showing the location of important buildings (mills, charring places etc.) or old geographical names that might be a hint of the characteristic activities of that age. The earliest map we have of the area's forests is the military map of 1763-87 and the attached settlement description contains some additional information. There are two further military maps from the periods 1819-1869 and 1869-1887. Forest management plans keep a detailed and precise record of silvicultural activities. Some of these data are even suitable for statistical analysis. The first forest management plan available of the Haragistya dates back to 1935. The temporary plan made in 1944 and the first one made after the 2nd World war are missing. The first document we found from after the war dates back to 1961 and it is followed by the plans made every ten years in 1973, 1983 and 1993. We tried to investigate changes in the species composition and used the wood production and plantation data for the interpretation of the experienced tendencies. In October 2005 we carried out an investigation on the area's soils and we also recorded information on the tree species composition and general state of the vegetation at the sampling points. This investigation, along with an ongoing forest structure research provides information on the present state of the Haragistya forests. We encountered several problems during the analysis. The missing plans contain important information on the regeneration works after the war and without these we can only make assumptions as to the causes of the changes in this period. Even in the case of the available plans, differences in their content make comparison difficult. For example after the 50's more species were included but the concept as to which species to include changed over time. But the biggest problem is that of scale. The basic unit of forest management is the section, so spatial patterns inside the section cannot be investigated. The size of the sections is bigger than the scale of spatial variability of both the elevation and the vegetation, which results in a loss of information. Since the sections were several times modified, especially before 1973, changes in the spatial pattern before 1973 can only be explained taking into account the history of the neighbouring sections as well.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The description that belongs to the first military map describes the Haragistya forests as 'sparse' and also mentions that they mainly consist of beech and oak. On the basis of the military maps we can assume that the forest cover on the plateau has been maintained ever since the 18th century although the geographical names of the area suggest intensive agricultural use, both grazing and arable land ('Cabbage peak', 'Horsehead-spring','Shepherd valley', etc). The soils on the less steep slopes of the southern ridges and peaks are extremely shallow (5-10 cm), which suggests earlier erosion. The reforestation in these places is extremely slow compared to other parts of the area. There are further hints of earlier forest use. The common sight of several trees sprouting from one root is a result of intensive coppicing, which was a typical way of forest use in the Aggtelek area in the 19th century (Járási 1998). Dead junipers (Juniperus communis) are frequent on the slopes. Since junipers prefer

open areas, this is a sign of a change in the surrounding vegetation conditions. The presence of trembling aspen (Populus tremula) and birch (Betula pendula) in the valleys, both being pioneer species, supports this assumption. All the direct and indirect information shows that the Haragistya forests were heavily used at least until the beginning of the 20th century. The age data of the 1935 plan are a bit contradictory; some additional notes have been scribbled on the margins which show completely different ages. We suppose that these indicate remaining patches of older forests, most of which disappeared in the period after the war. Most of the forests were only a few years old in 1935 (especially the southern parts closest to Jósvafő, the nearest settlement) and mostly degraded since they were renewed by sprouting. This shows that the Haragistya forests suffered heavily from the First World War and the following economical crisis. The comparison of the ages in the 1935 and the 1961 plans reveals that the data don't match. Maybe there is an explanation in the missing plans, but proper information on the actual age of these forests could probably only be gained from dendrochronological evidence. After 1961 the age data are in harmony. The age histogram based on data from 2001 has two modes, the 80-100 year-old forests, renewed at the beginning of the 20th century and the 40-60 year-old forests, planted and renewed after the war. There are two sections where the age exceeds 100 years. The youngest forests (aged 20-40) consist almost entirely of coniferous species. 40

30

20

10 Std. Dev = 21.32 Mean = 64.1 N = 72.00

0 30.0

50.0

70.0

90.0

110.0

Age

Fig. 1: The age distribution of the Haragistya forests (2001) In 1935 (Fig. 2a) the forests mainly consisted of sessile oak (Quercus petraea), and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) along with trembling aspen (Populus tremula) in a few places. European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was only present in a few sections in the south-east. Data of other species were not included in the plan, though some, like wild service (Sorbus torminalis), were mentioned as a footnote. There were also a few patches of Pinus nigra in the northwest, probably planted at the beginning of the century. Wood production in the period between 1935 and 1944 was mainly restricted to the northern and western parts since the forests in the south had already been cut down a few years previously. Wood production at the time meant clear-cutting.

a.) 1935

b.) 1961

c.) 1973

d.) 1983 e.) 1993 Fig. 2: The species composition of the Haragistya forests Despite the missing data a look at the species composition in 1961 (Fig. 2b) tells much about the management policy of the post-war period. In the north planted coniferous forests (mainly Picea abies) took the place of the native oak-hornbeam wood cut down between 1935 and1944. That was a result of a general tendency to replace native forests with fast-growing conifers in order to satisfy the timber needs of post-war reconstruction. The last Picea abies plantation dates back to 1964 but increasing the proportion of coniferous forests was a proclaimed aim of management even in the 70's. The 1961 plan contains information on more species and it is evident that the size of the sections was changed in order to reflect more the variability of the production sites. Due to this, European beech, restricted to small areas of northern and western aspect, appears in more sections. In the middle and northern parts of the area, there are several sections where the forest consists of 100% sessile oak, which is hardly a natural state. Wood production after 1960 mainly came from thinning works rather than clear-cutting. The young conifers were sold for Christmas trees. Due to their fast growth their proportion in the wood production significantly increased over time but it was always sessile oak providing the highest volume, followed by hornbeam. In 1973 (Fig. 2c) the major part of the area became protected so many sections were combined again in order to make data management easier (the average section size changed from 7.72 ha to 11.33 ha). That resulted in a seemingly more mixed species composition and makes comparison difficult, but the increasing presence of beech in the south-east is nevertheless evident. With a few exceptions, the section boundaries were finalised in 1973, which makes it possible to compare the actual data from the years 1973, 1983 and 1993. We looked at the changes of the 3 main species, namely sessile oak, hornbeam and beech. As for the hornbeam and oak (Fig. 3), the changes in their proportion are complementary in most cases because they are the dominant species in most sections. The aim of reducing the proportion of hornbeam is emphasized in the management plan of 1973. In the period between 1973 and 1982 there were only a few sections where change occurred and the proportion of hornbeam was actually reduced in most cases. But in 1985 thinning works were carried out and the proportion of sessile oak was reduced in much of the area, along with an increase in the proportion of hornbeam. This process was probably strengthened by a natural tendency of the hornbeam reappearing in sections where the forest consisted entirely of sessile oak in the 60's. So in this case the result of the actual works was the opposite of the aims named earlier concerning species composition.

Fig.3: Changes in the proportion of hornbeam and sessile oak between 1973 and 1992 The proportion of beech slightly increased between 1973 and 82 in a few sections. Between 1983 and 1992 the tendencies are a bit contradictory at first sight; in some sections there was a slight decrease, in others a slight increase and in a few areas there was a significant increase (up to 40%). These changes cannot all be explained by production works because in some of these sections there has been none at the time. We looked at the relationship between the changes in the proportion of beech and the aspect of the section but there is no evident connection. One possible explanation to the constant spreading of beech is that this species had played a much more significant part in the original vegetation of the area but it was suppressed. As for the coniferous plantations in the north, in the 80's the notes 'cut down for health reasons' appear more and more often in the management plans. Since the forests were abandoned the seedlings of native species have appeared under the non-native trees. These signs show that in the long run it is not worth to force the plantation of non-native coniferous forests on the plateau because apart from their negative effects on soil properties and biodiversity (Kevei-Bárány et al., 1999) their stands aren't stable enough to provide high profit. Even though the Haragistya karst plateau is a peripheral area and is considered a bad quality production site, there has been significant human influence on its forests over the centuries. Even the areas that probably haven't been managed in the last 70 years were only left untouched due to an exaggerated use in an earlier era, possibly between the end of the 19th century and the economic crisis in 1929. This means that the changes we witness today like the increase in the proportion of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) are almost entirely the results of earlier use. These, along with the declination of non-native coniferous plantations suggest that earlier management methods should be reconsidered and adjusted to the natural dynamics.

REFERENCES Bradshaw, R.H.W. 2004: Past anthropogenic influence on European forests and some possible genetic consequences. In: Forest Ecology and Management 197. 203–212 pp. Járási L. 1997: Erdőgazdálkodás Bánkúttól Nagy-Milicig (Forest management from Bánkút to NagyMilic), Miskolc Kevei-Bárány I. & Hoyk E. & Zseni A. 1999: Karsztökológiai egyensúly-megbomlások néhány hazai karsztterületen (The loss of ecological balance in some Hungarian karst areas) In Karsztfejlődés III. 79-91 pp, Szombathely

CHANGES IN THE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND HUMAN IMPACT IN THE KARST ENVIRONMENTS OF THE VENETIAN PREALPS Ugo Sauro Dipartimento di Geografia dell’Università di Padova, Italy, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract In the Venetian Prealps the old model of resources use was in equilibrium with the natural dynamics and for many aspects of sustainable type. Only in some particular areas and in specific economical and political situations of strong impact occurred. After the second World War dramatic changes in the resources management have taken place, induced by the urban and industrial development. The traditional system of self-sustained economy has completely collapsed and has been replaced by a more open economy integrated with that of the large diffuse city of the plain. Such development is clearly incompatible with the local environmental dynamics and it is difficult to be modified also because it triggers self-sustaining processes of the local economic mechanisms. The problem to individuate new more compatible directions for the development is, for a large part, a cultural problem and it may not be solved without a cultural revolution. Local people must be helped to understand the karst geo-ecosystem, the natural realm, the landscape, the local history, the cultural heritage. Starting from such a knowledge, local people have to develop a strong sense of belonging to their own geographical units and to become and to feel protagonists, responsible of their own development and capable to lead it. Keywords: human impact, karst, sustainable development, Venetian Prealps.

INTRODUCTION During the last 50 years dramatic changes in the natural resources use have taken place in the karst environments of the Venetian Prealps (Sauro, 1977, 1987; 1993; 1994, 1999a; 1999b; 2003; Sauro et alii, 1991, 1995). During the past centuries, in most of the prealpine environments man managed the resources trending to an equilibrium with the natural dynamics. In others words, the local human communities were engaged to apply methods of sustainable development. In the reality there was not a real development in the sense of a change of the conditions of life but a kind of steady status. The price to pay not to alter such an equilibrium was the emigration of the surplus of the human population.

THE OLD MODEL A good example of application of a model of this type is represented by the small mountain settlements of Monti Lessini called “contrade”, with their surrounding countryside. A contrada was a settlement of patriarchal type, a kind of collective farm made up by a few houses and some rustic buildings as the “teda” type, a combination of a cowshed and a hayloft, the pigsty, the hen-house and others collective structures such as the bread oven and the “baito” (a dairy farm). Each contrada possessed the surrounding land consisting both of forested plots for wood and charcoal production, and of meadow plots for hay production and cattle or sheep grazing. Minor plots, often near to the houses, were used for agriculture and garden-culture to produce vegetables. The meadow areas were utilized also for fruit trees growing. The big problem of the absence or scarcity of surface water was solved collecting for the human use the rainfall and snow melting water of the roofs of the buildings, mostly made up by large stone slabs, by conveying it to underground tanks consisting in cylindrical recipes built up with stone walls and clay, called “possi”. Surface water was collected for the livestock, inside closed depressions in the meadows reali-

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zed by the excavation and damming of dry valleys, waterproofed with clay, called “pozze d’abbeveraggio”. Each family owned a few cattle, exactly the number that could be sustained by the production of the possessed meadow area. The production of cheese and butter was managed corporately. During the year, there was a turnover in the management of the “baito”. Each member run the “baito” during periods distributed in all the seasons working the milk produced by all, for a whole quantity corresponding to its own total evaluated yearly production. The butter and cheese were partly sold to get the money necessary to buy products like flour, polenta and wine, and obviously others goods like clothes, etc. But usually the circulating money was really few. Integrative activities were the production and commerce of stone, lime, wood, charcoal, ice, flints for guns, etc. In general the economy was of a self-sufficient type and the impact of man on the environment was very limited: the inhabitants were careful not to alter the delicate equilibria of the different environments such as the forest, the meadow and the pasture.

Sketch of the old system of storing the rainwater of the roofs of the buildings inside cisterns (called “possi”) build with stones and waterproofed with clayey soil sediments. (drawing of Ferdinando Zanini in Avesani et al. 1986)

SOME “OLD” CASES OF STRONG HUMAN IMPACT Cases of strong impact are localized and linked with specific economical and political situations. A significant example is represented by the history of land use of the upper part of the Sette Comuni Plateau, a pasture area of common property. When the Sette Comuni Plateau became part of the Republic of Venice in 1404, the special low of “pensionatico” was established to favour the mountain population as a compensation of the duty to control the state boundary. The shepherds of the plateau were allowed to bring the flocks in the plain in the period between October and March (six months of the year), also entering in the private fields. This privilege caused an increase of the flocks consistency and a surcharge of the summer pastures. In the 18th Century the sheep number reached nearly 200.000 heads corresponding to a density during the summer grazing period of more than 500/km2. The impact on the pasture areas was very strong and caused a desertification and a regression of the sheep-rearing.

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The stony desert created by the bombing of the Sette Comuni Plateau during the First World War. The white stone fragments created by the explosions are scattered and appear as a snow cover. Other episodes of strong impact in some areas are represented by the battles of the First World War. The Piccole Dolomiti, Sette Comuni and Monte Grappa massifs became major battlegrounds of the Italian and Austrian armies. Thousands of kilometres of trenches, tunnels, roads and railways were hastily built. There were large artillery battles. At some times on Sette Communi Plateau 1500 guns were firing more than 200 tonnes of projectiles each day. Ten of thousands of craters were created by the explosions. In some photographs taken after bombing entire hills made up by a chalk type limestone looked like snowfields because of the rocky fragments.

THE RECENT CASES It is especially after the Second World War that rapid changes in the resources management have taken place according with the new economic styles promoted by the urban and industrial development. The changes occurring in the last 50 years are relatively complex. Schematizing the phenomenon it is possible to note: - a decrease of population in the mountain areas caused by a rural exodus, affecting especially the minor settlements; most of these and in particular those farthest from the towns and the villages have been abandoned or are utilized only seasonally as second houses or as structures for the agriculture; - a strong decrease of the percent of population involved in farming activities; - an increase of the percent of population involved in other activities (services, industry, tourism, etc.); - a progressive abandonment of the land use of many plots and a corresponding expansion of the forested areas;

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Large cowsheds of a modern cattle farm of the Monti Lessini near Bosco Chiesanuova. The old contrada is hidden behind the large hangar like buildings (centre of the photo). - a simplification of the agricultural landscape, with disappearance of some types of land use (a kind of de-sharpening and homogenisation of the traditional landscape); - in some areas, the development of systems of large specialized farms, as poultry farms, pig farms, cattle farms; the poultry farms are located especially in the hilly and low mountain belt, the cattle farms in the middle mountain belt; - the urbanisation of some of the most valuable mountain areas, caused by the explosion of the mass tourism and in particular by the development of the “vacation homes”; beside the “second houses”, many others building and structures have developed as resort hotels, markets, sports grounds, ski complexes, roads, parking areas, etc; - the building of complexes of ski plants as ski-lifts and chair-lifts, and the creation of large ski-tracks obtained by the excavation and the movements of large masses of rocks; - the opening of large industrial quarries of limestone utilized as ornamental stone (Bondesan & Meneghel, 1991). The traditional system of self-sustained economy has completely collapsed and has been replaced by a more open economy integrated with that of the large diffuse city of the plain. This is evident considering that most of the fodder to breed the cattle and the pigs, and of the poultry-feed are imported in the mountain area from outside. So a much larger biomass is involved in the environmental system. A large quantity of liquid wastes is dispersed and contributes to the modification of the soils and to the pollution of the surface and underground waters. During the summer and winter seasons in the urbanized areas of the mountains there is an impressive increase of the human population and a corresponding increase of the liquid and solid waste production. The sewages are partly lost in the environment and drained into creeks and sinkholes. In the last 30 years the nitrate content of the base level waters has more than doubled. Most of the water circulating in the aqueducts is pumped from the base level springs or the alluvial aquifers of the valleys and of the plain. It is obvious that such development is incompatible with the local environmental dynamic. Also the economic system is less stable than the old one. For instance, the oscillations of the prices of some products like the milk, a product that may be imported from the less developed countries of East Europe, may cause the breakdown of the breeding and dairy farms; recently there has also been a period of collapse of the price of the chicken meat caused by the psychosis of the bird-flu.

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New vacation housing in Asiago (Sette Comuni Plateau). In the sign-board (enlarged in the foreground left) the new complex is presented as “La Vecchia Contrada”, that is the old type of settlement called contrada (in the reality it is very different).

THE NECESSITY OF A CULTURAL REVOLUTION The big challenge of the present time is to individuate a strategy capable to modify the local economic mechanisms, governing them towards better and, if possible, sustainable development models. This is not a simple task also because some phenomena, like the urbanisation, the quarrying, etc have started self sustaining processes, like positive feedback mechanisms, which tend to amplify in time and to determine favourable economic and political backgrounds. To engage battles against the urban development, the quarrying activities, the building of new roads and factories could have the opposite effect of the one intended. And, anyway, it is like to become others Don Quijote de la Mancha fighting against the windmills. On the contrary, it is certainly possible to apply to promote new trends and development styles like to favour the restoration of the old settlements and the re-qualification of the recent ones instead of the building of completely new structures; or to encourage forms of low impact tourism as the hiking, the cycling, the camping, the agri-tourism promoting in the meantime the natural and cultural heritage of the areas, and the quality of the local products, as the cheese, the agro-biological products, the craftsmanship, etc. If both the local inhabitants and the tourists will be able to get a good knowledge of the mountain area and will learn to establish with it a profound relation, it will become easier both to stimulate projects respectful of the local heritage and to prevent intervention negative for the environment.

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INNOVATIVE AND CONTRADICTING ENERGIES

TERRITORIAL CONTENTS KNOWING environmental wisdom

social and cultural model

MILIEU

MATERIALS structural persisting and not changing elements

productive and artistic knowledge

environmental neo-geoecosystems

proper technologies

educational initiatives

TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE, LANDSCAPE

TERRITORIAL HERITAGE

STATUTE OF THE PLACES

STRATEGIC SCENERY ENHANCEMENT OF THE CULTURE AND OF THE SENSE OF BELONGING OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE evaluation models, environm. and social balances

plans, projects, specific policies

Institutions of participation and of orchestration local agreements concerning integrate projects

LOCAL SELF-SUSTAINING DEVELOPMENT

social actors

s t r u c t u r a l P a r t

S t r a t e g i c P a r t

Sketch of some of the possible components to be considered inside a strategy plan of sustainable local development. The sketch is derived with modifications from Magnaghi (2006).

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It must be said that something has changed in the culture of the people in the last years and that it is possible to recognize some signs of hope. So, many local and regional administrations have realized the importance of the big karst aquifers as strategic water resources. The karst aquifer of the Sette Comuni Plateau only would be able to furnish something like 300 millions of cubic meters of relatively good water (except for the organic pollution) in a year, about 70 m3/for each inhabitant of the Veneto Region. While in the past nearly all the liquid wastes were dispersed in the environment, systems of sewer have been built or are under construction to convey the waters to treatment plants or outside of the karst areas. It is important to emphasize that the problem to individuate and to choose new more compatible directions for the development is for a large part a cultural problem and it may not be solved without a cultural revolution. This revolution needs investment of time by persons well trained in the environmental, historical and geographical research. It is necessary to start learning experiences in the field involving both young and old people (like pensioners). Local people must be helped to understand the karst geo-ecosystem, the natural realm, the landscape, the local history, the cultural heritage (Castiglioni & Sauro, 2002; Bertoncin & Pase, 2006; Magnaghi, 2006)). Local people have to develop a strong sense of belonging to their own geographical units. Especially, local people have to become and to feel protagonists, responsible of their own development. Unfortunately the process of education needs time, while the changes resulting from the human activities are now impressively fast. Some experiences made in the last years are certainly positive (I remember here in particular the experience of the 3 KCl, run inside the Program of the European Union - Culture 2000; see Castiglioni, 2005, and Castiglioni and Celi in this volume), but they are not enough. Especially in the areas more important for the environmental and cultural heritage (natural parks, karst areas, etc.) it is necessary to start with initiatives of permanent education to be carried on especially in the field, through the discover of the local history, seen also as succession of episodes of human impact and interrelations between the natural and the human processes. To do this it is fundamental to improve cooperation between different structures, as political authorities, research and educational organisations, local associations, etc.

REFERENCES Avesani, B.; Chelidonio, G.; Sauro U. & Zanini, F., 1986: “Terre rosse” in Lessinia: appunti sui significati geologici, preistorici e sugli usi tradizionali. La Lessinia – ieri oggi domani, 83-102, Verona. Bertoncin, M. & Pase, A, (eds) 2006: Il territorio non è un asino - voci di attori deboli. Scienze Geografiche- Franco Angeli, Milano, 23-51. Bondesan, A. & Meneghel, M., 1990: Impact by limestone exploitation in western Lessini Mountains (North-Eastern Italy). Proc. Int. Conf. on Anthropogenic and envirnmental changes in karst, Czechoslovakia-Hungheria. Studia Carsologica 2, GGU, CSAV, 7-18. Castiglioni B. (Ed.), 2005: Paesaggi carsici – Architettura di una relazione unica tra uomo e ambiente: Montello. Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. Castiglioni, B. & Sauro, U., 2002: Paesaggi e geosistemi carsici: proposte metodologiche per una didattica dell’ambiente. In: Varotto M. & Zunica M. (a cura di) – Scritti in ricordo di Giovanna Brunetta. Dipartimento di Geografia “G. Morandini”, Università di Padova, 51-67. Magnaghi, A., 2006: Gli atlanti del parimonio e la “statuto dei luoghi” per uno sviluppo locale autosostenibile. In Mietto, P. & Sauro, U., 2000: Le Grotte del Veneto: paesaggi carsici e grotte del Veneto. Regione del Veneto - La Grafica Editrice (Vago di Lavagno, Verona), seconda edizione, 480 pp. Sauro, U., 1977: Aspects de la morphogenèse anthropique dans le milieu karstique Alti Lessini. Norois 95 (bis), 149-163. Sauro U. 1987: - The impact of man in the karstic environments of the Venetian Prealps. Karst and Man, University of Ljubljana. Study Group on Man's impact in Karst. Proc. Int. Symposium on human influence on Karst, Postojna , Yugoslavia , 1987, 241-254. Sauro, U., 1993: Human impact on the karst of the Venetian Fore-Alps (Southern Alps, Northern Italy). Environmental Geology 21/3, 115-121.

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Sauro, U. (Scientific coordinator), 1994: Map of the human impact in the karst environmen of the central-western Lessini Mountains. In L. Sorbini, Ed. 1994: Geologia, idrogeologia e qualità dei principali acquiferi veronesi." Mem. Museo St. Nat. Verona, s.2/4. Sauro, U., 1999a: Analisi e modellizzazione dei geo-ecosistemi carsici: verso un approccio globale per la comprensione della dinamica e della vulnerabilità degli acquiferi carsici. Quaderni di Geologia Applicata, suppl. 2, 99, I/ 235-242. Sauro, U., 1999b: Towards a preliminary model of a Karst Geo-Ecosystem: the example of the Venetian Fore-Alps. Karst 99, Etudes de géographie physisque, suppl. n°. 28, cagep, Université de Provence, 165-170. Sauro, U., 2003: Asiago Plateau, Italy. In J. Gunn (ed.) “Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science”, 116-119. Fritzroy Dearborn, New York. Sauro, U.; Bondesan, A. & Meneghel, M. (eds.), 1991: Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Changes in Karst Areas., Quaderni del Dipartimento di Geografia 13, Università di Padova. Sauro, U. & Lanzingher, M., 1995: The study of the morphokarstic unit of Sette Comuni Plateau (Venetian ForeAlps): State-of-the-art. Studi Tridentini di Scienze Naturali - Acta Geologica, v. 70.

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KARST WATER MANAGEMENT IN SLOVENIA IN THE FRAME OF VULNERABILITY MAPPING Nataša Ravbar1 & Gregor Kovačič2 Karst Research Institute, ZRC SAZU, Titov trg 2, SI-6230 Postojna, e-mail: [email protected] University of Primorska, Faculty of Humanities Koper, Glagoljaška 8, SI-6000 Koper, e-mail: [email protected] 1 2

Abstract Slovene karst sources are of great national importance for drinking water supply. Since karst aquifer systems are very susceptible to contamination, these sources require appropriate and careful managing. Unfortunately, in the acts of Slovene legislation, the special characteristics of water flow within karst regions are not very seriously taken into consideration in the frame of determining the criteria for karst water sources protection. In opposite, in some of the countries, the concept of groundwater vulnerability mapping has been successfully used for protection zoning and land use planning in karst. Regarding the differences between particular karst aquifer systems, data availability and economic resources, different methods of karst water vulnerability assessment and mapping have been developed, which have been implemented and many times tested in different test sites worldwide. However, experiences on application using different methodologies for vulnerability mapping of karst aquifers are very modest in Slovenia. In the present article stress to potential methodological problems that might arise while applying the most commonly used methods for karst water vulnerability assessment to Slovene karst regions, the advantages and disadvantages of each are subjected and described. Key words: karst water management, karst sources protection, drinking water, vulnerability assessment and mapping, Slovenia.

INTRODUCTION

Fig. 1: The picture shows the carbonate rocks extension and the most important karst water sources in Slovenia.

Groundwater from karst aquifers is becoming more and more valuable for drinking water supply. In many regions worldwide it forms the only available drinking water resource. About one quarter of the global population is supplied by karst waters (Goldscheider 2002), while in some Alpine countries karst water contributes up to 50% of needs and in the case of Slovenia this amount reaches 43% (Brečko Grubar & Plut 2001). Extensive areas on the western, south-western, southern and southeastern parts of the country are almost entirely dependent on karst water sources (Fig. 1). Karst aquifers are, due to their specific structure, particularly susceptible to contamination. Therefore these sources require appropriate and careful managing. Unfortunately, in the acts of Slovene legislation, the special characteristics of water flow within karst regions are not very seriously taken into consideration in the frame of determining the criteria for karst water sources protection.

KARST WATER PROTECTION WITHIN THE SLOVENE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK The karst aquifers in Slovenia are mainly in remote areas and are due to their relief or unfavourable climate conditions less attractive for intensive settlement, industrial, farming and other activities. In general, the quality of karst groundwater is still relatively high. However, some signs of contamination have already been recorded in some of the springs (Kovačič & Ravbar 2005). Despite relatively favourable conditions for karst water sources protection in Slovenia compared to some other karst areas worldwide, many of the karst water sources still remain insufficiently protected. Basic legislative provisions concerning water sources protection policy in Slovenia and consequently the protection of karst aquifers are part of the new Waters Act 2002 and Rules on criteria for the designation of a water protection zone 2004. The government is responsible to establish water protection areas and regimes and to ensure the implementation of the provisions in each protection zone (Waters Act 2002). Since the new Waters Act has been in force only for a relatively short period, majority of the karst sources are still protected in accordance with old legislation. According to the old Waters Act of 1981 the delineation of water protection zones fell within the responsibility of local communities. Since different approaches and methodologies have been in use, this consequently resulted in non-comparable water protection areas and regimes for different water sources, which is rather problematic for sufficient land-use planning in karst areas (Prestor 2002). In the methodologies existing up to now, the determination of protection zones used to be based only on available information on the geological structure, though for proper protection sufficient studies on source recharge, tracer tests in their catchments and other hydrological researches are needed. Thus such protection zones are often insufficient and may be ineffective. Due to the conflicts of interest in land use planning between neighbouring municipalities, protection zone extending over a territory of another municipality has usually not been accepted and the protection regime not established.In the case of the Rižana karst springs, which are tapped for the water supply of the Slovene coastal region, most of the second water protection zone extends over the neighbouring municipalities and even over the neighbouring country (Croatia) and hence not protected (Kovačič 2003a). As with the Rižana karst springs, due to the same reasons more than half of the Globočec karst spring catchment area is not protected as well (Ravbar 2005). However, even in the cases where water protection zones have been established, the implementation of regulations is frequently not effective since there is no control over potential and actual contaminants of karst groundwater. The example of the Bistrica karst spring illustrates some problems of water management in the area of an uninhabited Snežnik karst plateau (NW Dinarids), where sufficient protection zones have not yet been set up and water protection regulations have not been implemented properly (Kovačič 2003a).

ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TO THE KARST WATER PROTECTION In some of the countries, the concept of groundwater vulnerability mapping has been successfully used for protection zoning and land use planning. The concept of groundwater vulnerability indicates the liability of a hydrologic system to contamination. The fundamental idea is to show that the protection provided by the natural environment varies at different locations and thus subdivides the

whole area into several units that have different degrees of vulnerability (Vrba & Zaporozec 1994). As a result the most vulnerable areas can be identified, and consequently at least those can be protected. The concept is not restricted to karst, but is most relevant when applied to karst landscapes. Regarding the differences between particular karst aquifer systems, data availability and economic resources, different methods on karst water vulnerability assessment and mapping have been developed, which have been implemented and many times tested in different test sites worldwide. The existing methods take into account a variety of factors that control the infiltration of water and contaminants from the land surface towards the groundwater, such as overlying layers, concentration of flow, karst network development and precipitation regime. However, in Slovenia experiences of such application are very modest. Only two karst spring vulnerability studies have been done so far; Janža and Prestor (2002) using the SINTACS and Petrič and Šebela (2004) using the EPIK method.

DISSCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Namely, direct application of some vulnerability mapping methods could meet several difficulties due to the specific characteristics of the Slovene karst (very thin or mostly absent protective cover – soil, subsoil , very complex and large catchment areas with karst and non-karst catchments), lack of quality and representative research, poor database, problems with data availability, etc.) (Kovačič 2003b). Because of common absence of protective cover, the assessment of its protective function is one of the major problems, which was shown in both applications (Janža & Prestor 2002; Petrič & Šebela 2004). Furthermore, there is still a question how to deal with great groundwater level fluctuations, surface and groundwater flow alteration, great change of drainage divides and flow directions that are relevant with respect to groundwater vulnerability (Figs. 2 & 3) (Ravbar & Goldscheider, in press).

Fig. 2 and 3: The intermittent lake Petelinjsko jezero. At low groundwater level a shallow

karst depression is dry (left), while at high groundwater level it is flooded and forms a lake (right). The degree of vulnerability of the area may vary drastically in dependence on respective hydrologic conditions (photo: N. Ravbar). Detail studies are essential for groundwater vulnerability assessment. Nevertheless, in Slovenia in selection of appropriate method lack of sufficient data raises additional problems. There is poor knowledge about catchment areas, their boundaries, groundwater flow and springs’ characteristics. Therefore great attention needs to be addressed to gaining qualitative database as well. In future, application of some of the most commonly used methods should be stimulated in order to subject eventual methodological problems that may arise during their application. Comparison of different methods in a single test site is therefore advisable. Eventually, according to adequacy of particular criteria, such as parameters selection, parameter weighting and final assessment reckoning the most satisfactory among the existing methods should be selected and improved if necessary (Kovačič 2003b; Ravbar 2006). Finally, to propose a common method for karst water source vulnerability mapping its validation using hydrological and statistical methods is essential.

REFERENCES Brečko Gruber, V. & D. Plut, 2001: Kakovost virov pitne vode v Sloveniji.- Ujma, 14-15, 238-244, Ljubljana. Goldscheider, N. 2002: Hydrogeology and vulnerability of karst systems – examples from the Northern Alps and Swabian Alb.- PhD Thesis. University of Karlsruhe, Faculty for Bio- and Geoscience, 236 p. Karlsruhe. Janža, M. & J. Prestor, 2002: Ocena naravne ranljivosti vodonosnika v zaledju izvira Rižane po metodi SINTACS.- Geologija, 45/2, 401-406, Ljubljana. Kovačič, G. 2003a: The protection of karst aquifers: the example of the Bistrica karst spring (SW Slovenia).- Acta Carsologica, 32/2, 219-234, Ljubljana. Kovačič, G. 2003b: Parametrične metode kartiranja občutljivosti kraških vodonosnikov – pregled, primerjava in kritika.- Seminarska naloga. Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za humanistične študije, 77 p. Ilirska Bistrica. Kovačič, G. & N. Ravbar, 2005: A review of the potential and actual sources of pollution to groundwater in selected karst areas in Slovenia.- Natural Hazards and Earth Systems Science, 5/2, 225-233. Petrič, M. & S. Šebela, 2004: Vulnerability mapping in the recharge area of the Korentan spring, Slovenia.- Acta Carsologica, 33/2, 151-168, Ljubljana. Prestor, J. 2002: Problematika določanja varstvenih pasov in razporeditve ukrepov za zaščito vodnih virov.- Zbornik seminarjev Varstvo in kvaliteta pitne vode, Inštitut za sanitarno inženirstvo, 69-77. Ravbar, N. 2005: Spill of dangerous substances in the catchment area of the Globočec karst spring, SE Slovenia.- In: Stevanović, Z., Milanović, P. (Eds.) Water resources and environmental problems in karst, 193-200, Belgrade. Ravbar, N. 2006: The protection of karst water sources in Slovenia.- In: Duran, J.J., Andreo, B., Carrasco, F. (Eds.). Congreso Internacional sobre el agua subterranea en los paises Mediterraneos. Karst, climate change and groundwater, 231-237, Malaga. Ravbar, N. & N. Goldscheider, (in press): Integrating temporal hydrologic variations into karst groundwater vulnerability mapping – examples from Slovenia.- 8th Conference on Limestone Hydrogeology, Neuchâtel. Vrba, J. & A. Zaporozec, (Eds.) 1994: Guidebook on mapping groundwater vulnerability.International association of hydrogeologists. Verlag Hienz Heise, Vol. 16, 131 p., Hannover. Waters act (Zakon o vodah). 2002. Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia (Uradni list RS), 67, 7648-7680.

HYDROGEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BOKA KOTORSKA BAY (MONTENEGRO) Radulovic M. Milan ”Geoprojekt”, bb Studentska Street, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Directions of groundwater movements and conditions of groundwater discharge in the Boka Kotorska bay are examined in this paper. There are many vruljas and saline springs in this area, characterised by typical karstic regime of groundwater outflow, i.e high amplitude of capacity fluctuation. On the basis of complex geological explorations performed so far, a presentation is given on hydrogeological characteristics of the terrain with special emphasis on the possibilities of groundwater tapping for water supply needs. Keywords: karstic aquifer, directions of groundwater movements, vruljas.

INTRODUCTION In the past few decades there has been fast development of tourism on the Montenegrin coast. The Boka Kotorska Bay is one of the most visited destinations. However, there is a danger that unsolved problems related to water supply become the limit factor of this area development and the whole Montenegrin coast as well. The complex hydrogeological relations in Boka Kotorska catchment are determined by strong karstification which had several phases, and which was intensified and often linked to tectonic and neotectonic activity. Climatic characteristics of the terrain of the Kotor bay catchment area are very complex, which is a consequence of sea vicinity, altitude and position of Orjen and Lovcen high mountains. The precipitation are very unsteady and vary between 1 500 and 5 000 mm. The regime of discharge is typical karstic with great fluctuation amplitudes, which makes the situation even more complex, because during the summer period, when the number of tourists is highest, the yield of fresh water on vruljas and springs decreases. That enables the marine water to penetrate into karst aquifer and mix with fresh water, and practically to make it unusable for drinking. Solving the water supply problem would be very important and the economic importance of water as a resource should not be neglected any more.

GEOLOGICAL AND HYDROGEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS For the interpretation of the tectonic structure of the wider area of the studied terrain, there has been accepted a division into three geotectonic units: Paraautochthon, Budva – Bar zone (Budva – Cukali zone) and High karst zone. The geological composition of the Boka Kotorska Bay is made of sedimentary rocks of Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Quaternary age. The rocks of the Mesozoic age are represented by limestone and dolomites, which are the most present in the High karst zone. All surface and subsurface karstic forms are developed in this area, which can hardly be found anywhere else in the world on such small space, with such complex circulation of groundwater. The sediments of the Paleogene age are represented by flysch sediments, which can mostly be found on the contact of the High karst zone and the Budva - Cukali zone.

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Karstic type of aquifer is developed in the High karst zone inside carbonate rocks of the Mesozoic age. The conditions of recharge of this aquifer are very favourable, considering the huge area of the carbonate rocks and great precipitation. The special influence on flow directions and global division of groundwater have litofacial composition, structural composition, hydrogeological functions of the rocks, attitudes and hydrogeological function of faults, degree and depth of karstification, as well as the position of sinkholes and deep shafts. General directions of groundwater flow are different, and dominant ones are southeast – northwest (from Ivanova korita towards Gurdic, and from sinkholes in Njegusko polje towards Ljuta), west – east (from Njegusko polje towards Skurda and Gurdic), north – south (from Tresnjevo towards Ljuta) and northwest – southeast (from Grahovo polje towards Sopot). The fictive velocity of groundwater flow ranges inside the interval from 3-6 cm/s. (Dubljević V, 2001). Groundwater discharges on the geotectonic contact of the High karst zone and Budva – Cukali zone, and locally observed, on the contact of carbonate sediments and flysch, which has been eroded subsequently. There are many unfavourable aspects related to groundwater drainage, and they are reflected, first of all, in the position of erosion base under the sea level, eroded flysch sediments in discharge zones, low yield of coastal springs and vruljas in the dry period of year, which causes the marine water intrusion into aquifer etc. Discharge mostly happens in the form of seepage horisonts, which are formed in the areas of Kotor, Orahovac, Risan, Morinj, Herceg Novi etc. (Fig. 1)

Fig 1. Hydrogeological mapof the Boka kotorska Bay (Radulović M, Radulović V) In the area of Kotor there are the following springs: Gurdić, Škurda and Tabačina. Gurdić spring has tripple function: it works as brackish spring, as vrulja and as a sinkhole.

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It is in direct contact with the sea. The channels of Gurdic are found to depths of 50m under the sea level. The concentration of chlorine ions in Gurdic water varies from 80 mg/l, when the yield has maximum value, 800 – 900 mg/l for medium value of yield, and above 10 000 mg/l in hydrological minimum (Radulović M, 2000). Skurda and Tabačina springs are separated from the sea with Quaternary sediments. Tabacina spring is tapped for the needs of Kotor water supply system. Its yield is Q = 100 l/s in hydrological minimum, but its water is salinated.

Fig 2. Gurdic estavelle in period of marine water sinkige The greatest spring on the area of Orahovac is Ljuta. The minimum yield of Orahovacka Ljuta spring is estimated to 100 l/s, and maximum measured is 183 m3/s. Ljuta is being formed from the specific jama channel of depth even more than 140 m below the sea level, which represents the regional erosion base. In the dry period of year this spring becomes salinated. On »Ercegovina« watersource in Orahovac, research has been performed which resulted in 3 wells drilling, from which Kotor water system takes 50l/s in hydrological minimum. Risan, Morinj and Herceg Novi springs have great yields as well in hydrological maximum, while in hydrological minimum they become unusable. The relation between minimum and maximum yield of springs in Boka Kotorska Bay catchment ranges between 1 : 40 to 1 : 8 000, which is characteristic for karstic type of drainage. (Dubljević V, 2001).

THE INFLUENCE OF SEA ON COASTAL KARST AQUIFER AND POSSIBILITIES OF KARST AQUIFER REGULATION Quality decrease of groundwater is very often in dry period of year when it comes to marine water intrusion into coastal karst aquifer. Like it has already been mentioned, the discharge zones are linked to the contact of two geotectonic units (High karst zone and Budva – Cukali zone), on which there subsequently came to erosion of flysch sediments which up to then represented a barrier for marine water intrusion into aquifer. Nowadays, the erosion base is under the sea level, and therefore, all these watersources are directly exposed to the sea. An equilibrium boundary zone is being formed between fresh and salt water, which changes, depending on the hydraulic gradient of the hinterland aquifer. Fresh water as a fluid of lower density lies above the marine water which is found in deeper parts of low karst aquifers. The position of the boundary zone between fresh and salt water changes during the year. During the rainy period in karstic channels great pressures are being formed, that decrease rapidly in dry period of the year, when the values of the hydraulic pressure are very low (i = 0,001). In this period there is a negative impact of marine water and dispersal of mixing zone of fresh and salt water.

The interventions that were performed on the Kotor area in the aim of preventing marine water intrusion (injection curtain etc.) did not work out, first of all, because of complex geological and

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hydrogeological conditions on this part of the terrain. Besides this, the interventions on this urban area are connected with risks of flooding by high water. On the basis of contemporary knowledge on hydrogeological conditions of the terrain, for the most favourable locations in this sense, there have been estimated: -

Ljuta spring

-

Ercegovina watersource

The regulation of Ljuta karst aquifer would be done by putting an injection curtain or underground concrete shield, with an elevation of 1.0 m a.s.l., which would be founded in impermeable flysch sediments in base. This would slow down karst groundwater flow and prevent direct impact of the sea on karst aquifer. For “Ercegovina” aquifer regulation making of underground dam has been suggested. The dam would be 50-70 m long, and placed on the downstream side of the watersource, parallel to the existing highway, and 4-12m high, depending on the position of flysch clay in base. The mentioned locations on which the flysch barrier is eroded on small part in form of a small channel, are much more favourable for aquifer regulation than the locations where the flysch barriers are totaly eroded like it is a case on Kotor area (Fig. 3).

Fig 3. 3D models of Orahovacka Ljuta and Kotor springs areas

REFERENCES

Dubljević V, (2001): Hidrogeološke karakteristike sliva Bokokotorskog zaliva, Magistarski rad, Institut za hidroegeologiju RGF, Beograd.

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Radulović M, (2000): Hidrogeologija karsta crne gore, JU republički zavod za geološka istraživanja, Podgorica. Radulović M M, (2006): Hidrogeološke karakteristike sliva Kotorskog zaliva i mogućnosti vodosnabdijevanja, Diplomski rad, Institut za hidrogeologiju RGF, Beograd.

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VISUALISATIONS OF HUMAN INFLUENCES TO THE EARTH’S SURFACE Tomaž Podobnikar Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy for Sciences and Arts, Novi trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract The objective of this paper is to show and discuss the impacts of human influences to the Earth’s surface. Our study area is Slovenia and the main data sources are: digital elevation models (DEMs), aerial and satellite images, and older topographic maps. For the GIS-based analysis of surface changes, availability of all needed data sources in the common coordinate system and quality data sources are the most important attributes. Geomorphically high quality DEM 12.5 of Slovenia shows many influences to the terrain surface, which were never before perceived. During DEM modelling and after its visualisation, we were especially shuddered of the recent human interventions to the environment. Particularly on the karst areas, changes of the surface with consequences of the highways construction and developing of stone quarries are much perceived. We produced a database of natural and artificial features of the current terrain surface and interpreted them with different visualising methods. Keywords: DEM, GIS, analysis, surface changes, visualisation.

INTRODUCTION Surface of the Erath is a dynamic formation. It is non-stop temporally changing on natural or anthropogenic way. Continental lithosphere plates are relatively slowly sliding beside each other, drifting apart or colliding. Earthquakes or volcano eruptions accelerate these processes with additional phenomena like landslides or rockfalls are. Other, slower processes like mechanical or chemical erosion, deposition, etc. also influence to the surface shape. Especially in the last few decades, many human activities cause Earth’s surface changes. Many of them are actually different buildings – houses or bridges that could be relatively; easily removed. More dramatic changes are especially highway constructions, stone quarries, or rubbish dumps. The geomorphology of the terrain surface has been therefore incorrigible changed, at least for many next generations. Digital elevation models (DEMs) are amongst the most applicable layers in geographical information system (GIS) applications (Burrough & McDonnell, 1998). In general, DEM is considered as a “raster dataset” or grid. Each square cell of the grid contains the elevation value – height for the centroid of cell. The finite set of cell heights could be interpreted in two ways. With the first approach, each cell can represent a discrete area, hence the entire cell is assumed to be of the same value, and changes occur only at the border of the cells. With the second approach, the surface area between the cell centres is assumed to have some intermediate values. The second approach is closer to the digital terrain model, DTM definition. DTM is considered a continuous, usually smoothed surface which consists beside the values of height – DEMs – also other elements that describe the topographic surface, such as slope, aspect, curvature, gradient, skeleton (sinks, valleys, saddles, ridges, peaks), and others (Podobnikar, 2005). DEM is just a model of the Earth’s surface. Its specification as a model includes: natural and artificial standing water surfaces, glacier surfaces, artificial terraces and dams, stone, sand and gravel quarries, surface mining processes, rubbish dumps and other deposits, mound and dikes or removal of earth for roads, railways, parking places, airports, levelling of original landscapes for easier moving or making

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fields, ameliorations of the river courses, and many other artificial changes of our surface. Buildings, for example houses or bridges are not considered to be part of DEM. In general, digital elevation models have been introduced in mid-fifties in the United States. The concepts of DEM production are connected with development of computer science, which enabled effective analytical data processing. In Slovenia, the first research of the DEM production dates from the late sixties. In 1973 they have been started with DEM 100 production for the whole of Slovenia. In 1975 DEM 500 for entire Slovenia had been produced (sources were topographical maps in scale 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000). The DEM 100 was finished in 1984 (sources were topographic maps in scale 1:5000 and 1:25,000). In 2000 InSAR DEM 25 was produced from radar satellite images and in 2001 DEM 25, photogrammetrically from aerial photographs. In 2005 DEM 12.5 from different data sources was produced (Podobnikar, 2003). All of the mentioned DEMs are produced from particular data sources and they are different in their numerical and geomorphic quality as well temporal accuracy. Some of the digitised data are from around 60 years old maps. The first models were unfortunately too coarse or too low quality for observing the human influences to the surface. In spite of the fact that older data are lower quality, temporally different DEMs will help in the future to observe surface changes. At the moment, older maps in different scales and aerial photographs can help to describe some past surface changes. The first DEMs that have been useful for observing the human work was DEM 25 with its first parts produced in 1995. The first DEM that is geomorphically continuously “cultivated” for all of Slovenia was DEM 12.5. On it we can clearly notice different natural and anthropogenic changes. This data layer is available from the last year and is a base for our mostly visual research of the human impacts to the terrain surface.

MATERIAL AND METHODS Human influences to the Earth’s surface are observed on different data sources. The first possible changes could be observed with visual comparison of old map sources and newer data. Course of the Ljubljanica river had been much influenced by human demands at least from the Roman period (Podobnikar & Šinkovec, 2004). On the fig. 1 are presented previous river courses regarding presentday sources. The study requires digitising and georeferencing of the old maps which can be then analysed as separated GIS layers. The left example describes plan of Florjančič from 1744 where Gruber canal haven’t existed. On the next one, Austrian 1st Military Survey map, produced between 1763 and 1787, the Gruber canal had been already mapped, but the lower course of Ljubljanica river was still much different comparing with the present one, which is presented as vector line over the map. Nevertheless that this data are only two-dimensional, we can easily imagine that the river courses can much influence to the surface shape.

Fig. 1: Changes of the river courses: left Florjančič plan without of Gruber canal (DOP5, 2002 © Surveying and Mapping Authority of RS) and on the right Austrian 1st Military Survey map with the canal.

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Surface changes can be better examinated with DEM 12.5. For the same area as before we visualized the DEM applying bipolar differentiation method with 3 m interval (Wood, 1996) and in combination of hill shading (Podobnikar, 2005). On the fig. 2, besides of railways, roads and some quarries can be clearly seen present Ljubljanica and Gruber canal courses. We can easily find correlations between the courses on the old maps (fig. 1) and DEMs pattern. Regarding some other patterns we can suspect positions of even much older river courses.

Fig. 2: Patterns of present and older river courses (DEM 12.5, 2005 © Surveying and Mapping Authority of RS). Some changes of the surface were observed on different versions of the DEM 25 and on a DEM 12.5. These examples are areas around gravel quarry Stanežiče near to Ljubljana and at stone quarry Stahovica near to Kamnik. Unfortunately, the data sources are too low quality for serious numerical analysis. Patterns of prehistoric hillfort walls were also perceived on the DEM 12.5. Higher precision lidar DEMs will be in the near future applicable for many more fine patterns recognition. DEM 12.5 on the fig. 3 is visualised with hill shading, enhanced ridges and with hypsometry using different colours. It can be noticed that the most of area is karstic with many sinkholes. Beside of them, human impacts can be interpreted, too - especially very recent highways and stone quarry. Less visible are older roads and railways.

Fig. 3: Ancient and recent patterns (DEM 12.5, 2005 © Surveying and Mapping Authority of RS). On the fig. 4 rubbish dumps and stone quarries are perceivable on a DEM 12.5. These structures can be also seen on topographical maps, but without actual heights (it is not easy to calculate and show temporal dynamics). Parallel to DEM 12.5 modelling, a layer of different structure lines was produced: ridges, valleys, sinkholes and peaks, layer of stone and gravel quarries, layer of all standing

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waters together with artificial ones, and layer of different types of roads and railways. These particular data based mostly on anthropogenic interventions to the surface and can be used for monitoring of major Earth’s surface changes.

Fig. 4: Left: Ljubljana’s rubbish dump on a DEM 12.5 and high resolution satellite images (Google Earth). Right: stone quarry on a DEM 12.5, on topographical map in scale 1:25,000 and on satellite image (Google Earth). On the DEM, also pre Roman course of river Ljubljanica is noticeable.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Some changes of the Earth’s surface regarding georeferenced data in Slovenia were visualised, analysed and described. Most of the large surface changes are invisible from the common roads or paths. Without full area and simultaneous presentation we can not enough clearly imagine the changes. We stressed this study especially to the recent anthropogenic changes that are very large and anxious. Many of them are irreversible. We demonstrated inflation of those changes with high quality data, efficient tools and inventive visualisation approaches. We think that our society should more careful treats further interventions to the environment. Highways and other larger interventions to our environment should be more carefully planned with respect to our grandchildren. Construction of less necessary transit communications (highways) should be abandoned, especially on very vulnerable karst areas. Many other, friendlier solutions for transit are possible. For example, with intelligent system we would connect more vehicles to automatically controlled convoys on the existent roads (automatic driving on short distances in between vehicles) (IMTS, 2006). The other example would be fast railways construction where trains will carry the vehicles (cars, lorries) along their transit routes. This system is well known, but here isn’t enough effective concerning not much will. Anyway, the development plans should include more long term perspectives.

REFERENCES Burrough, P.A. & McDonnell, R.A., 1998: Principles of Geographical Systems Information Systems. Spatial Information Systems and Geostatistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 333 pp. IMTS, 2006: Intelligent Multimode Transit System http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/its/program/system/imts.html Podobnikar, T., 2003: Kronologija izdelave digitalnega modela reliefa Slovenije = Chronology of digital terrain model production of Slovenia. Geod. vestn., Vol. 47, 1/2, pp. 47-54. Podobnikar, T., 2005: Production of integrated digital terrain model from multiple datasets of different quality. International journal of geographical information science, Vol. 19, 1, pp. 6989.

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Podobnikar, T. & Šinkovec, I., 2004: Ljubljana - mutual analyses of the georeferenced old maps. In: Gligorijević, Ž. (ed.). Javno dobro : indentifikacija, upotreba, upravljanje, dizajn : zbornik radova. Beograd: Centar za planiranje urbanog razvoja, pp. 67-73. Wood, J., 1996: The Geomorphological Characterisation of Digital Elevation Models. PhD thesis, Department of Geography. University of Leicester.

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GYPSUM KARST AS GROUNDWATER RESOURCE IN NORTHERN CYPRUS Mehmet Necdet Geology and Mines Department, Ankara Avenue, Nicosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, (Post code: Mersin 10 Turkey), E-mail: mehnec @kktc.net

Abstract Cyprus is a semi – arid country and located at the eastern most Mediterranean Region. The main water resource – for irrigation and household use – is the groundwater basins of the island. There is a big demand on water for irrigation but the capacity of groundwater basins are very limited . The pumping rate from gypsum aquifers are limited due to the ionic quality of the water. They occur in seven different areas and the size of these aquifers differs side by side. The salinity of the water in gypsum is related with the distance of the pumping point where the gypsum deposit occurs. Moderate saline groundwaters are used to irrigate only selected crops. Groundwater extraction from gypsum aquifers creates sinkhole problems around the pumping areas. Key words: Water resource, gypsum aquifers, salinity, groundwater, sinkhole problems.

INTRODUCTION Cyprus is located at the most eastern area of Mediterranean Sea. It has an area 9251 sq. km and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) area is 3242 sq. km. The precipitation rate was around 400 mm between the period of 1904 to 1970 and 380 mm for the last three decades. But this rate is around 380 mm for the period of 1970 – 1990. Cyprus is an island and water deficit is very big problem due to increasing population and agricultural needs. Mesaoria Plain gets the lowest precipitation of the island around 200 mm for the wet years and 80 mm for drought periods. In northern Cyprus, along a 150-km east-west extending belt, there are totally 22 sizable gypsum deposits and numerous gypsum occurrences of varying sizes. The age of these deposits is Upper Messinian ( Necdet, 2002). Geological studies on evaporitic deposits in Cyprus were started in 1900’s by the study on the economic potential of the Larnaka salt lake deposits in southern Cyprus (Bellamy, 1900). Then, several gypsum deposits particularly in northern Cyprus were investigated regarding their facies descriptions and lithostratigraphic relations with other units deposited before or after the evaporation (Bellamy and Jukes-Brown, 1905; Henson et al., 1949; Moore, 1960; Carr and Bear, 1960; Gass and Cockbain, 1961; Pantazis, 1967; Knup and Kluvyer, 1969; Weiler, 1969; Zomenis, 1972; Baroz, 1979; Eaton, 1987; Orszag-Sperber et al., 1989; Follows, 1990; Payne, 1995; Robertson et al.,

1995; Hakyemez et al., 2000). Subsurface gypsum deposits are having groundwater at the different part of the island except northern flank of Kyrenia Range. There is a big deficit for the irrigational water in Mesaoria Plain due to inadequate groundwater conditions and precipitation .The exploration boreholes for groundwater in subsurface gypsum deposits were done between 1960 – 1990 and gave good results at 14 km northeast of Nicosia. Some boreholes were drilled in Karpaz Peninsula at the northeastern most Mesaoria Plain for the animal watering and food. Farmers use the saline water for selected crops and moderate saline waters are suitable for the domestic purposes as well.

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GENERAL GEOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY OF GYPSUM DEPOSITS Geologically, the Cyprus Island is composed of five different structural tectonic zones, from north to south : (1) Girne Mountains or Beşparmak Mountains, (2) Mesaoria Group, (3) Troodos Massive, (4) Mamonia Complex and (5) Limasol Forest Complex and Arakapas Lineament (Ketin, 1987). Messinian evaporites on the Cyprus Island are indicative of water level change of the Mediterranean Sea, local tectonic activity and some geologic processes in the subduction zone (Robertson et al., 1995). Collision of Africa and Arabian plates resulted in isolation of all upper Miocene Mediterranean basins and formation of suitable conditions for evaporite deposition. Local tectonic activities governed global changes in climate and sea level evaporate formation and the boundaries of pre-Messinian rocks (Vail et al., 1984, Robertson et al., 1991). Thus, the gypsum deposits in Cyprus were formed in the upper Miocene (5.96 ± 0.02 Ma) and, like in other basins in the Mediterranean region. They were deposited under different climate conditions and in close association with tectonism. The total apparent gypsum reserve of the northern Cyprus is about 244 million tones and the total area of these deposits is 6,067 sq. m (Necdet,2002 ). In spite of this huge reserve, only a few pits are currently operated. The production from these pits is used in domestic cement industry and some part is exported. It seems to be necessary this reserve should be used for obtaining products with high additive value such as plaster stone that is important for the building industry. Environmental Impact Assessment Reports are also achieved from quarry owners since 1998.

MAIN PROPERTIES OF GYPSUM FACIES Selenitic or coarse crystalline, fine grained laminated gypsum lithofacies, sacharoidal gypsum lithofacies, satenspare lithofacies, gypsum debris flows or chaotic selenite facies and pedogenic gypsum lithofacies are distinctively seen at northern Cyprus gypsum basins ( Necdet,2002). Selenitic gypsum is typical Messinian gypsum facies and have been observed over all Mediterranean basins. They are translucent and micaceous. These translucent ones without any colouring or may be as grey or in light or dark colours. They occur either massif or bedded shape. Fine grained laminated gypsum lithofacies is defined as stromatolitic gypsum or algae stromatolites or gypsified stromatolites. The photic zone is significantly important for sulphate precipitation in the brine (Warren, 1999). This facies is observed at the lowest part of the gypsum deposits and indicates the beginning stage of the sulphate precipitation. It is known as “Marmara” in Cyprus and “Balatino” in Italy. The colour of this facies may be beige, dark grey or brown. It may be seen as black colour due to the meteoric water circulation after diagenetic process. The thickness of these beds may reach between 2 to 60 cm. The thickness of each laminae may change between 1 to 3 mm. Sacharoidal gypsum lithofacies is restricted by the margins of the basin. The crystal size is not greater than a single size sugar crystal. Satenspare lithofacies displays fibered texture and having prints of the extensive dissolution by meteoric waters (Warren, 1999). This lithofacies is generally developed in the cracks or joints in gypsum rock. Gypsum debris flows or chaotic selenite facies indicates the post diagenetic stage after deposition of gypsum versus by on going tectonic movements in the basin (Robertson et al.,1995). Selenitic and fine grained gyspum fragments assembled with marl, chalk and limestone lithologies. Pedogenic gypsum lithofacies has been restricted at two areas (Aslanköy and Pınarlı gypsum deposits). It was a pedogenic occurrence and originated by wash out process in the different source of waters through the uplift of existing gypsum deposit.

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PRE – EVAPORITIC ROCKS The Yazılıtepe (Hakyemez et al., 2000) or Lapatza formation (Baroz, 1979) comprises the basement of gypsum deposits within the Değirmenlik Group of the Oligocene-Miocene age. The Yazılıtepe formation is composed of gray-brown marl, chalk, chalky-marl, manganese-bearing chalk and laminated mudstone, clayey limestone, sandstone and marls that are all deposited in a shallow environment. Chalk layers are observed at the base of gypsum series thin to medium bedded, light gray and dirty white colored. Thin to medium bedded clayey limestones are generally laminated and show smooth, platy surfaces. Sandstones are also thin to medium bedded, parallel and crosslaminated.

SITES OF THE GYPSUM AQUIFERS Gypsum deposits in northern Cyprus extend from Lefke at west to Kaleburnu at east and they are formed within the Mermertepe formation. In an area extending 40 km from the Zekidoğdutepe hill at the south flank of the Beşparmak Mountains to Akıncılar at south, there are gypsum occurrences of varying sizes. However, there is no gypsum deposit at northern section of the Beşparmak (Kyrenia) Mountains. Most part of deposits at south is within the Mesaoria basin. The Çınarlı-Altınova deposits, the largest gypsum deposit in northern Cyprus, are observed in an area known as the Altınova (Agios Iocovos) Syncline (Baroz, 1979). The Yazılıtepe formation, forming a thick sequence (1000 m) under the gypsum deposits in this syncline is composed of beige siltstone, brown marl, chalk-marl, limestone and chalk. According to the lithostratigraphic studies Yazılıtepe formation was deposited in late Tortonian-Early Messinian (Necdet, 2002). The buried part of the gypsum deposit is having groundwater suitable for local purposes Gypsum deposits around the Kalecik region are found within the Kalecik syncline. In this area, the Yazılıtepe formation indicates as the same in Altınova area is composed of chalky marl, light brown marl, mudstone and chalk interlayers and beige marls with secondary gypsum crystals. Very little amount of water ( 10 thousand tons) is pumped from gypsum aquifer for selected crops and vegetables in this area. Most of these deposits are exposed on the surface while the one between Demirhan and Düzova is buried. In addition, there are several gypsum deposits in the Karpas peninsula. The buried gypsum deposits also elongated between Lefkoşa to Serdarlı village and its surroundings. The groundwater is pumped for irrigation of the selected farm crops. The yields of the wells are changing between 30 – 60 cu.m. per hour. Sulphate bearing groundwater should be treated by proper methods to supply potable water for some Mesaoria villages suffered from water scarcity. Gypsum aquifer is serving to irrigate of selected crops due to its saline character. Between Minareliköy and Serdarlı gypsum aquifer is major groundwater resource and used for animal watering, some crops for animal food and olive gardens.

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WATER QUALITY The water quality in gypsum is related the distance between source point ( borehole or spring) and gypsum occurrence area. The groundwater is brackish if the distance of the occurrence is very far from the source point. The conductivity results are changing generally between 2880 - 13790 microsiemens / cm3 at over all north Cyprus (from Geology and Mines Dept. archive). The other issue is the composition of gypsiferous sediments directly effect the water quality. The ionic content of the groundwater is less saline in gypsum debris deposits than the fine grained laminated and coarse crystalline gypsum beds.

KARSTIFICATION AND OTHER DEFORMATIONS One of the main features of sulfate-bearing evaporites such as gypsum is that they are easily dissolved by interaction with meteoric or surface waters and then transform to other minerals by alteration. Gypsum or anhydrite dissolved during circulation of meteoric or surface waters may give rise to opening of spaces within the deposit. This type of porous structures observed at the surface may collapse at depths due to weight of overlying layers and as a result structures with larger voids are formed. This phenomenon is directly related pumping of groundwater from the gypsum aquifer. Swelling or volume increase is another characteristic feature of gypsum. Gypsum is folded and shrunk and form dome-like structures due to water within it and pressure applied from both sides. These dome-like structures may be 1-2 cm to 1-1.5 m in size (Necdet, 2002). This phenomena is seen Minareliköy and Cihangir villages. It may occur with the dense rainfall between October and January. This phenomena is also seen at the south east portion of northern Cyprus (Beyarmudu – Pergamos – town ) . This phenomena is related with active faults triggered the rapid development of sinkholes.

CONCLUSION Gypsum Aquifers are potential groundwater resources for northern Cyprus especially for rural sites. Our aim is to scheme projects to achieve highly saline groundwater for treating and using potable water. This project needs more data such as pumping tests, replenishment characteristics and isotopic studies for a good modelling of these groundwater basins. REFERENCES

Baroz,F., 1979 : Etude Geologique dans le Pentadaktylos et la Mesaoria {Chypre Septentrionale}. Unpublished These de Doctorat (Vols.1-2).University of Nancy.434 ,365 p. Bellamy, C.V.1900: A Description of the Salt Lake of Larnaca.Quart. Journ.Geol.Soc.(56), 745 – 758 and Phil. Magaz.L.352 – 356. Bellamy, C.V., and Jukes-Brown, A.J. 1905: The Geology of Cyprus. William Brendon and Son Ltd., Printers,Plymouth,72 p. Carr, J.M. and Bear, L.M., 1960: The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Peristerona – Lagoudhera Area.Mem.Geol.Surv.Dept.Cyprus. 2:79. Eaton, S., 1987: The Sedimentology of Mid to Late Miocene Carbonates and Evaporites in Southern Cyprus. PhD thesis (unpublished) , University of Edinburgh, 240 p. Follows, E.J., 1990: Sedimentology and Tectonic setting of Miocene Reef and Related Sediments in Cyprus,PhD thesis,Edinburgh University,384 pp. Gass, I.G. and Cockbain, A.E., 1961: Notes on the Occurrence of Gypsum in Cyprus.Overseas Geology and Mineral Resources, 8:279-287.

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Hakyemez, Y., Turhan, N., Sönmez, İ., Sümengen, M., 2000: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti’nin Jeolojisi.MTA Genel Müdürlüğü,Jeoloji Etütleri Dairesi,Ankara,44 sayfa. Henson, F.R.S., Browne, R., Mc Ginty, J., 1949: A Synopsis of the Stratigraphy and Geological History of Cyprus.Quart.Journ.Geol.Soc.London,105 p. Ketin, İ., 1987: Anahatlarıyla Kıbrıs’ın Jeolojisi ve Güney Anadolu İle Bağlantısı- Outlines Of The Geology Of Cyprus And Its Comparison With The Southern Anatolia. Yerbilimleri,14: 207229. Knup, P.E. and Kluyver, H.M., 1969: Geological Map of the Central Kyrenia Range, 1/25.000,to accompany the Cyprus Geol.Surv.Dept.,Nicosia.Mem.9(Unpubl.). Moore, T.A. 1960: The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Astromeritis – Kormakiti Area. Mem.Geol.Surv.Cyprus.No:6. Necdet, M.,2002: Kuzey Kıbrıs Jips Yatakları. Jeoloji Mühendisliği Anabilim Dalı Doktora Tezi. Çukurova Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü. 329 sayfa, Adana (Yayınlanmamış). Orszag-Sperber, F., Rouchy, J.-M. and Ellion, P., 1989: The Sedimentary Expression of Regional Tectonic Events During the Miocene-Pliocene Transition in the Southern Cyprus Basins.Geol.Mag.,126:291-299. Pantazis, T.M., 1967: The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Pharmakas-Kalavasos Area:Mem.Geol.Surv.Dept.Cyprus,8:1 – 190. Payne, A.S., 1995: Neogene Tectonic and Sedimentary Evolution of the Polis Graben System,West Cyprus,Ph.D thesis,University of Edinburgh. Robertson, A.H.F., Eaton, S., Follows, E.J., Mc Callum J.E., 1991: The Role of Local Tectonics Versus Global Sea – Level Change in the Neogene Evolution of the Cyprus Active Margin.Spec.Publs.int.Ass.Sediment., 12:331-369. Robertson, A.H.F., Eaton, S., Follows, E.J. and Payne, A.S., 1995: Depositional Processes and Basin Analysis of Messinian Evaporites in Cyprus,Terra Nova,7:233-253. Vail, P.R., Hardenbol, J. and Todd, R.G., 1984: Jurassic Unconformities,Chronostratigraphy and SeaLevel Changes from Seismic Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy(J.S.SCHLEE editor).In: Interregional Unconformities and Hydrocarbon Accumulation Mem.,Am.Assoc.Petrol.Geol.,36:129 – 144. Warren, J., 1999: Evaporites,Their Evolution and Economics.Blackwell Science.438p. Weiler, Y. 1969: The Miocene Kythrea Flysch Basin in Cyprus. Giornale di Geologia (2) XXXV,fasc.IV Zomenis, S.L., 1972: Stratigraphy and Hydrogeology of the Neogene Rocks in the Northern Foothills of the Troodos Massif.Bull.Geol.Surv.Dept.,Cyprus, 5:22-90.

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CONTRIBUTION OF SIMPLY HYDROGEOLOGICAL INDICATING METHODS IN CONTAMINATED IMPACTED ENVIRONMENTS Slavomír Mikita Department of hydrogeology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, Slovakia, Email: [email protected]

Abstract Under the project of Ministry of the environment of Slovak Republic during the period of 4 years a “real” impact of various contaminant sources (mostly from a sanitary landfills) on water was monitored and assessed. Various geological environments of The Western Carpathians were chosen as studying areas. The knowledge from the project confirms that the influence of the contamination source is variable in space and time. An amount of objective and efficient informations are necessary to fulfil the requirements for the water treatment. The possibility how to minimize the amount of expensive and intricate methods used by investigation was to connect them with hydrogeological indicating methods (HIM). The correlated relations distinguished between contaminant and physical characteristic of water allow using the obtained local information in larger area and repeating them in higher frequency. The economical benefit is relative to increasing demands on space and time. The base was built on the water conductivity and water temperature measurements set in field. Obtained information was processed basically and was added with other field methods results to be amplified. It is possible to monitor the dynamic changes of contamination influences in space and time with relatively dense data net. Keywords: contamination, environment, water conductivity, water temperature, information

INTRODUCTION The requirements for water treatment in sensitive karsts system with its incline area have a very high priority. Contamination must be detected, considered and predicted and also it’s necessary to know how we can control and minimize the contamination. One of the most important and demanding questions is prediction of a contamination move and behaviour in the environment. Under the project of Ministry of the environment of Slovak Republic during the period of 4 years a “real” impact of various contaminant sources (mostly from a sanitary landfills) on water was monitored and assessed. Various geological environments of The Western Carpathians were chosen as studying areas (Vybíral et al., 2005).

Influences of the contamination source on the zone of interaction and a potential impacted area are variable in space and time.

Potential impacted area

Source of contamination Zone of interaction

Fig. 1: Model of interaction

1

Main interaction forms in the system water – environment are surface leakage, spreading by underground runoff and floods. Described forms of interactions present a risk for the zone of interaction as well as the potential impacted area. Landfill Unsaturated zone CH4

Saturated zone

NH4 HSFe++ Mn++

O2 ClHCO2

O2

Fig. 2: The reduced zones by landfills Zones of reduction express the source of contamination in form of landfill. While the zone of the highest values of reduction is in a landfill vicinity, toward to an uninfluenced area the environment is becoming more oxidized (Fig. 2). Another typical feature of landfills is the amplified concentration of Na+ a Cl-. From the figure 2 is possible to see that for the contamination observation is information about the physical and chemical properties of the groundwater around the potential source of contamination requested. From analysis results is then possible to obtain a correlation between the contaminant and ground water physical properties. The study of relations and correlation binds between components focus on components with the highest concentration, which affect physical properties as well as chemical. Wide spectrum of hydrogeological methods was used to monitor the contamination spreading, so the character, extent and dynamic of ground and surface water contamination in the source and their vicinity were possible to observe and evaluate. There are several dissimilarities in the investigation of the contamination impacted environments compare to the classical hydrogeological investigation, which were necessary to take into account: 1• variability of contamination in time and space, physical-chemical properties of the contaminant and its concentration can change. Changes depend on stability of hydrogeological conditions, reactions with surrounding environment and the process dynamic which occur there, 2• obtained information are actual just for certain time period, it is not possible to make conclusions from old results,

3• investigation of the contamination impacted environments is connected with a risk caused by wrong technology of investigation methods. METHODS One of the contamination spreading mapping activities was the field measurement of physical parameters. Two parameters were measured – water conductivity and water temperature, both belong to Hydrogeological indicating methods (HIM).

2

The water conductivity (marking also like electrolytic conductivity - κ, indicate in mS/m), is important parameter in water geochemistry. It’s a function of an ions concentration in solution, their charge number, mobility and temperature. In the waters which content is constituted mostly by inorganic compounds (drink waters, most of surface and some of waste water) can be water conductivity use like the approximate rate of the mineral electrolytes concentration. In the waste water which contains the salts of organic acid and alkali is the water conductivity approximate rating of minerals both organic electrolytes concentration. The water conductivity was measured: • as an additional parameter by the targeted water sampling, by which were taken only the samples from selected sampling places and in other places the orientation data about the range of contamination where obtained just indirectly, • as a main parameter, when the water conductivity was the only measured parameter, • continuously along the whole length of the borehole. Observed were the changes in water conductivity in a water column. Typical average values of water conductivity from measuring on specific localities, in the places of maximum contamination, were in range 200 – 2000 mS.m-1. The different values were conditional mostly by another character of contamination and its mature. For orientation, 100 mS.m-1 is the recommended value for the good water surface quality in Slovakia. The average of water conductivity for drink water in Slovakia is approximately 70 mS.m-1. Variation of changes in values on specific localities was influenced mainly by seasonality connected with higher or lesser water quantity in environments. From longer time period (several years) the values had decreasing, or increasing trend, which was connected with mature processes in settled waste. By a thermometry – measuring water temperature in field is a values contrast for the purposes of the contaminant influences on water consideration depending on mature processes in source of contamination with the organic matter present. The water temperature could reach to the 40 – 60 °C. It’s so possible to use it for mapping the ways of contamination descending from source. Water temperature is measured mostly in the boreholes and also for the observation of hydrogeological settings in the vicinity of contamination source. On the base of different water temperature regime is possible to distinguish the waters from different depths and from various water levels too. Water temperature was measured: • directly in the field by each water sampling, • objective, by the consideration of springs origin and of ground water inflows to the streams. Obtained information from water conductivity and water temperature measurements was processed basically and also was added with other field methods results to be amplified. The basic processing came from screening all waters accessible in solvent area and it does recur in different time in the same positions. It’s so possible to: • assess the relative differences of water features in a studied area, • mapping the source of contamination, if is the contamination simple, long term, pointed, flatted, etc., • map the mass transport paths of contamination, • consider the rate effects of climatic and hydrological factors on the change of measured dates, • estimate the trends of the measured data changes development, • detect the changes of vertical zonality continuance in the borehole. So obtained informations have only relative character and their contribution is mainly by first investigation of the contaminant impacted environment. The higher notice about the interaction and changes of contamination expose of related to the local conditions can by reach by the amplified processing.

3

700 Cl- (mg.l -1)

600 500 400 300 200 100 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Water conductivity (m S.m -1)

The amplified processing is based on distinguishing the relations between EC and typical chemical parameter – macrocontaminant which is characteristic for studied area and which we are considering to represent the physical attributes in the selected environment. For that purposes the inert chloride affirm very well (Fig 3). Described procedure allows developing the 3D models of selected contaminated components distribution. It’s so possible to monitor the dynamic changes of contamination influences in space and time with relatively dense data net. The achieved information’s are after the settings of impacted environment good assumption for various purposes: • to monitor the intensity and rate of contamination, • to assess of the climatically and hydrological influences • to conceive the contamination limitations in space and time, • to monitor relative extent of natural degradation processes with increasing distance from contaminated source, • to predict the trends of contamination spreading.

Fig. 3: Graphical expression of the dependency between water conductivity and chloride ions in the front of landfill

CONCLUSIONS Contribution of HIM for the investigation of interactions in the system contamination – environment was significant, under the high runoff environment conditions. The chemical analyses of water purvey the accurate information but thay are not able to notice the changes which depending from the influence of external (precipitation, air temperature) and internal (character and maturing of contamination, geology) factors. An advantage of HIM is its simplicity and possibility of measuring directly in the field and it allows sufficient and continual recording of values changes in the space and time. Interconnection of the physical parameters measured in the field and determined in the analytical laboratory allows obtaining more effective and detailed informations about contamination and its manifestation in the environment. HIM allows obtaining the optimal amount of statistical believable information about the contaminant interaction effects with the environment in dependency from external and internal factors. This knowledge improve the consideration possibilities for answering how the contamination is dangerous, if is necessary to deal with the contamination and how is possible to handle with its in time. With the knowledge about the associations between contaminations manifestation and HIM in specific environment is possible to get a prompt idea about time and space variations in the contamination development. The economical benefit from using HIM is rising with the increase requirements on longtime contamination monitoring.It was showed that HIM are a useful device for the question answering related to objective considering the real contaminant influence on the specific environment.

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REFERENCES Vybíral, V., Gajdoš, V., Matys, M., Némethyová, M., 2005: Monitorovanie vplyvu enviromentálnych záťaží na geologické činitele životného prostredia vo vybraných regiónoch Západných Karpát – záverečná správa úlohy. Sensor spol. s r.o. Bratislava. 109 pp.

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GROUNDWATER VULNERABILITY OF THE KARST - FISSURE HYDROGEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF SOUTH – FACING SLOPES OF THE NÍZKE TATRY MTS, SLOVAKIA Erika Kováčová1 & Peter Malík2 State Geological Institute of Dionyz Stur, Mlynská dolina 1 Bratislava, Slovakia, E-mail: [email protected] State Geological Institute of Dionyz Stur, Mlynská dolina 1, Bratislava, Slovakia, E-mail: [email protected]

1 2

Abstract For this study, an “intrinsic vulnerability” for any contamination in general is considered using Kullman´s method (2000) that is based on the assessment of the degree of groundwater vulnerability depending on the rock disruption and karstification. The method was applied on the mesozoic rock environment of hydrogeological structure in the southern slopes of the Nízke Tatry mountains. Hydrograph analyses of groundwater depletion in the spring were used for assessment of groundwater vulnerability. In total, 68 individual recession curves from 9 gauged springs were analysed. Obtained degrees of groundwater vulnerability are evaluated by 10 degree range of the Kullman´s vulnerability scheme (2000) adjusted by Malík (2005). The reached vulnerability values are consequently applied and dedicated to the lithological types of discharge area of gauged springs. This study also desribing an existence of laminar or turbulent sub-regimes that occur in the karts-fissure rock environment, the type of rock disruption and estimating a karstification degree. Keywords: vulnerability to pollution, groundwater vulnerability, hydrograph analyses, type of regime, type of rock disruption, karstification degree, Mesozoic rock environment, Nízke Tatry Mts.

INTRODUCTION Vulnerability is regarded as an intrinsic property of a groundwater system that depends on the sensitivity of that own system to human and/or natural impacts. The concept of groundwater vulnerability is based on the assumption that the physical environment may provide some degree of protection to groundwater again anthropogenic and natural impacts, and that degree of vulnerability is a function of the hydrogeologic setting and prevailing patterns of pollution (Vrba & Zaporozec, 1994; Ibe et al., 2001). Two types of vulnerability of groundwater are recognized: intrinsic and specific vulnerability (Zwahlen et al., 2004). Generally accteptable deffinitions of these types of vulnerability and groundwater vulnerability were established in 2003 by multilateral project of European hydrogeologists – COST Action 620 „Vulnerability and risk mapping for the protection of carbonate aquifers“ in the final product which can be called an „European approach“. An „intrinsic vulnerability“ evaluating a geological, hydrological and hydrogeological characteristics of site and does not depend on patterns of pollution. A „specific vulnerability“ is definied like a vulnerability of groundwater against specific contaminant. The aim of this study is evaluaiting of intrinsic vulnerability of groundwater in karst-fissure hydrogeological structure of the Nízke Tatry mountains, Slovakia (Fig.1) using hydrograph analysis of groundwater depletion in the gauged springs. Hydrogeological structure in the southern slopes of the Nízke Tatry Mountains (Fig.1) between Podbrezová, Krpáčovo, Jasenie and Lopej with Mesozoic rock environment is most important natural groundwater reservoir. Kullman (1983, 1990) recognized three very complicated hydraulic systems of groundwater flow in this structure. Two dynamic movements – 1. Hronský fault; 2. Fault zone of the Vajskovská valley and Suchá valley and slower movement through hydrogeological structure 3. hydraulic system of own hydrogeological structure (Fig.2).

1

Hydrogeological structure between Podbrezova, Krpacovo, Jasenie, Lopej

Fig.1: Localization of research area The first one – groundwater circulation controled by the Hronský fault is drained by two springs, in Krpáčovo and Tále area. This open fault hydraulic system could not be evaluated because of insufficient data. The second one – an open fault zone passing Vajskovská valley and Suchá valley is drained by six springs –King Matyas´s spring (No. 1257) in Lopej, Uhlište (No. 1311), Vrabec (No. 1312), Horný 1, 2, 3 (No. 1313), Horný 4 (No. 1314) a Dolný (No. 1315) in Dolná Lehota. The third hydraulic system is drained by six springs of own hydrogeological structure - Hámor (No. 1255) a Za továrňou (No. 1310) in Dolná Lehota and Starý mlyn (No. 1317) in Horná Lehota (Fig.3).

KRPÁČOVO ∙

Fig.2: Hydrogeological structure between Podbrezová, Krpáčovo, Jasenie and Lopej and three diffeent hydraulic systems of groundwater flow LEGEND: 1.

Hronský fault spring of first hydraulic system

systému

JASENIE

2. LOPEJ

fault zone of Vajskovská valley and Suchá valley spring of second hydraulic system

PODBREZOVÁ

systému

3.

spring of third hydraulic system

2

KRPÁČOVO

LEGEND:

∙

1312 1314

gauged springs of second hydraulic system

1311

gauged springs of third hydraulic system

1313

1315

1317 not gauged springs (no data available)

JASENIE

1255 1257

1310

LOPEJ

PODBREZOVÁ

Fig. 3: Gauged springs of hydrogeological structure between Podbrezová, Krpáčovo, Jasenie and Lopej

MATERIALS AND METHODS For this study, an “intrinsic vulnerability” for any contamination in general is considered using Kullman´s method (2000), adjusted by Malík (2005) that is based on the assessment of the degree of groundwater vulnerability depending on the rock disruption and karstification. This classification has 10 degrees of vulnerabilities assigned by differences in character of individual depletion hygrograph. Differences in character of individual depletion hygrograph enable assessment of the anticipated possibility of absorption, attenuation and self-purification processes during the groundwater penetration through the rock environment. Degree of vulnerability equal to 1 represent vulnerability and only one laminar groundwater flow is present here. The risk of extensive groundwater contamination is very low. The highest vulnerability equal to 10Th degree represent and only turbulent sub-regimes are present, not a single laminar one. The risk of extensive groundwater contamination is very high. This vulnerability is typical for karstic springs and karstic rock environment. Using Kullman´s method we can take, besides vulnerability, several characteristics of rock environment: the type of rock disruption, an existence of laminar or turbulent sub-regimes, and estimating a kartsification degree of the karts-fissure rock environment. The method was applied on the Mesozoic rock environment – Triasic carbonates of Hronicum unit. In total, 68 recession curves from 9 gauged springs were analyzed. Final groundwater vulnerability assessment of individual springs was based on the recession curve´s mean values. The reached vulnerability values was consequently applied (median) to the litological types of discharge area of gauged springs (Fig.3, 4).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION Grounwater vulnerability of individual springs (Tab. 3,4) The lowest vulnerability index value, 2, was given to the Starý mlyn spring (No.1317) in Dolná Lehota. The risk of groundwater contamination is very low, is only general risk of surface entry of contamination into rock environment, with possibility of its great retention, fixation and dispersion. We can expect very low probability of significant contamination of groundwater source (Kullman, 2000).

3

Higher vulnerability values 2,5 –and 2,7 reaches springs Hámor (No.1255) and Za továrňou (No.1310) in Dolná Lehota. Very low risk of groundwater contamination is here, but possibility of surface entry of contamination with its probable retention, fixation and dispersion is high. Probability of groundwater source is very small, with exception of possible entry of contamination from closer vicinity (Kullman, 2000, Malík, 2005). Spring Horný 1, 2, 3 (No.1313) reaches vulnerability value 4, spring Vrabec (No.1312) 4,3 and spring Horný 4(No.1314) in Dolná Lehota reaches vulnerability value 5,0. That still mean low risk of groundwater contamination by surface entry into the rock blocks, but the possibility of significiant contamination point source with direct connection of the karst system to the surface exist. There is also still possibility of its retention, fixation and dispersion of contamination, but point sources represent a real danger to groundwater (Kullman, 2000). More vulnerable seem to be spring Uhlište (No.1311) and Dolný (No.1315) in Dolná Lehota with vulnerability value 5,5 typical for karstic areas. There is a limited possibility of its retention, fixation but mainly dilution. Arrival of contamination to groundwater sources will be rather quick, but in lower concentrations, with longer duration period. The higher vulnerability is determined for King Matyas´s spring (No.1257) in Lopej with vulnerability value 9. Possibility of significiant contamination point source with fast transport, low retention and dispersion is high. There is very high risk groundwater contamination from far away contaminant source and also fast increase of contaminant in groundwater source, with high concentration but with no longer duration period (Kullman, 2000). Tab.1: Groundwater vulnerability of the second hydraulic system- fault zone of Vajskovská valley and Suchá valley Numbe r of SHMI

1257 1311 1312 1313

Name of spring King Matyas´s spring Uhlište Vrabec Horný 1, 2, 3

Groundwater vulnerability of gauged springs

Vulnerability of litological types

Site

Rock environment Gutenstein limestones Gutenstein limestones Choč dolomites Choč dolomites

9,0 5,5 4,3 4,0

Vajskovské conglomerates

5,0

4,1

5,5

5,5

1314

Horný 4

Dolná Lehota Dolná Lehota Dolná Lehota Dolná Lehota Dolná Lehota

1315

Dolný

Dolná Lehota Hauptdolomites

Final vulnerability of second hydraulic system

5,0 3,3

5,25

Tab.4: Groundwater vulnerability of the thirg hydraulic system – system own hydrogeological structure ´s Numbe r of SHMI

1255 1310 1317

Name of spring Hámor Za továrňou Starý mlyn

Site

Rock environment

Dolná Lehota Vajskovské conglomerates Dolná Lehota Choč dolomites Horná Lehota Choč dolomites

Groundwater vulnerability of gauged springs

2,7 2,5 2,0

Vulnerability of litological types

Final vulnerability of second hydraulic system

4,1 3,3

2,5

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Groundwater vulnerability of individuals lithological types Evaluated different litological types – carbonate Vajskovské conglomerates, Hauptdolomites, Choč dolomites, Gutenstein limestones are forming discharge areas of gauged springs. Haupdolomites reached the highest vulnerability 5,5 from 10 degrees range of Kullman´s classification (2000) adjusted by Malík (2005). Regime of groundwater flow is created by superposition of two sub-regimes with turbulent flow and one sub-regime with laminar flow. We can assume higher risk of contamination by surface entry and also point source of contamination. This rock environment show a same degree of karstification, what is not a typical for a Mediterainsea areas. Gutenstein limestones reache the vulnerability degree 5. The regime of groundwater discharge is based on differences in discharge curves and different discharge coefficient. Using Kullman´s method (2000) regime of groundwater discharge is composed from sub- regime with turbulent flow and sub-regime with laminar flow. Substantial role in groundwater discharge has a sub-regime with laminar flow. Rock environment is characterised an existence of crushed watergearing zones or by dense network of open small fissures in combination with simple, partly phreatic conduit system of considerable extent. The risk of groundwater contamination by surface entry into the rock is low. Possibility of contamination increase by significant point source of contamination with direct connection of the karst system to the surface. Vajskovské conglomerates can by characterised by existence of two laminar subregimes, sometime turbulent sub-regime can by present. Rock environment is characterized by irregularly developed fissure network, with majority of open macro-fissures. The risk of more extensive groundwater contamination is low. Vulnerability value of this rock environment reaches 4,1 degree of Kullman´s classification (2000) adjusted by Malík (2005). Choč dolomites show mostly laminar discharge sub-regimes and sometimes turbulent sub-regime can by recognised. Substantial role in groundwater discharge has a sub-regime with laminar flow. The risk of more extensive groundwater contamination is low, with exception of close vicinity of the source. Degree of vulnerability according to Kullman´s classification (2000) adjusted by Malík (2005) reaches value 3,3. Groundwater vulnerability of hydrogeological structure in the southern slopes of the Nízke Tatry Mts. between Podbrezová, Krpáčovo, Jasenie and Lopej The first hydraulic system – Hronský fault could not by evaluated because of insufficient data. The second hydraulic system - an open fault zone passing the Vajskovská valley and Suchá valley, is characterized by one sub-regime with turbulent flow and one sub-regime with laminar flow. Rock environment is characterised an existence of crushed water-gearing zones – in this case fault zone of Vajskovská and Suchá valley. Degree of vulnerability reaches value 5,25. We can assume higher risk of groundwater contamination by surface entry into the rock block and also by significant point source of contamination with direct connection of the karst system to the surface. The third hydraulic system – own hydrogeological structure´s system reaches lower 2,5 value of vulnerability. Generally only a laminar groundwater flow is present in this hydraulic system, what is a typical for rock environment with dense, regular fissure network, with majority 5

of micro-fissures and small fissures. The probability of groundwater contamination is very small, with the exception of possible entry of contamination from closer vicinity. REFERENCES Ibe, K.M & Nwankwor, G.I. & Onyekuru, S. O., 2001: Assessment of ground water vulnerability and its application to the development of protection strategy for the water supply aquifer in Owerri southeastern Nigeria. Netherlands. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 67. p 323-360. Kováčová, E., 2005: Zraniteľnosť krasovo – puklinových hydrogeologických štruktúr južných svahov Nízkych Tatier. Diplomová práca. Archív PRIF UK. Bratislava. 117 pp. Kullman, E., 1983: Režim podzemných vôd s turbulentným prúdením v puklinovo - krasovom horninovom prostredí. Geologické práce, Správy 79. Bratislava. ŠGÚDŠ. p 237-262. Kullman, E., 1990: Krasovo – puklinové vody. Bratislava: ŠGÚDŠ.184 pp. Kullman, E., 2000: Nové metodické prístupy k riešeniu ochrany a ochranných pásiem zdrojov podzemných vôd v horninových prostrediach s krasovo – puklinovou priepustnosťou. Podzemná voda, VI ročník, č.2/2000. p 31-41. Malík, P., 2005: Hodnotenie stupňa skrasovatenia a senzitivity podzemných vôd voči kontaminácii na základe výtokových čiar prameňov v oblasti v oblasti Tlstej, JZ. časť Veľkej Fatry. Bratislava: Podzemná voda, XI. Ročník, č.1/2005. p 36-48.

Vrba, J & Zaporozec, A., 1994: Guidebook on Mapping Groundwater Vulnerability. International contributions to Hydrogeology. International Association of Hydrogeologist. Revue. vol 16. Verlag Heinz Heise. Hanover. 131 pp. Zwahlen et al., 2004: Vulnerability and risk mapping for the protection of carbonate (karst) aquifers. Final report. Cost Action 620. Luxembourg: Office for official publication of the European communities. 297 pp. ISBN 92-894-6416-X.

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DRY VALLEY MALI DOL, KRAS, W SLOVENIA Jure Košutnik University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Geography department, Slovenia, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Here we present the geomorphology of the Mali dol dry valley, one of the two dry valleys that cross about 45 km long and up to 15 km wide karst the Kras plateau. Mali dol is 10 kilometers long, 50 to 75 meters deep dry valley. It meanders on the leveled surface across the Kras plateau in direction NE-SW, perpendicularly to all structures. In the bottom of the dry valley deep, elongated dolines have been formed. These dolines are larger and deeper than the dolines formed on the nearby surface of the plateau. From the morphology and the position of the dry valley and the sediments we can infer the polygenetic origin of the valley. It was formed during or short after the planation of Kras in the height of the piezometric level. After the flish barrier was tectonically lowered, the piezometric level dropped, but the river that was coming from N was beheaded at an earlier stage of lowering and the valley remained dry. Only few allochtone silicate pebbles which are now mixed with the red soil remained. Because of the sediment and thicker soil cover deep and large solution dolines inside the basic valley-like shape were formed. Some dolines may be also of collapse origin. Local tectonically crushed zones, limestones with cherts and thick soil cover allow some overland flow into the valley. In such places some smaller but deep and steep erosion gullies were formed. Keywords: Karst, geomorphology, dry valley, Kras, Mali dol

INTRODUCTION Karst has its beginning and its end, its history in which it goes through a variety of evolution phases. The definition of karst we know from the literature but if we take a historical time-line of a certain karst region and we slice it somewhere in its past evolution and analyze the state of the karst and make a definition out of our findings, we will many times find that our definition is just opposite of the one from the text books. If we are aware of this and if we know that karst is in a way conservative, that it to some extend presents the surface obliques whit denudation, we can start to understand the dry valleys in karst. Dry valleys in karst are features left by a phase of processes which allowed waters to run over the limestone above ground. The research of dry valleys must be made in the context with the surrounding karst surface, which allows us to estimate the conditions in which the valleys were formed, their later development and changes which led to the dry surface feature we see today. The above mentioned conservativity smoothes sharp edges of features but doesn't destroy them completely for a long period of time. Kras, is a karst plateau, part of the Dinaric mountains in the surrounding of the city of Trieste. It is geologically an anticlinatorium made of cretaceous limestones and dolomites. The main orogenetic phase of the formation of the Dinarides happened in the Oligocene and lower Miocene. Upper Miocene was tectonically stable period in which Kras was corrosively planated in the dammed karst conditions, with surrounding flish responsible for the high piezometric level. From the start of the Pliocene, some 6 million years ago the flish barrier was destroyed by the tectonical lowering of the Po river basin, which affected also Kras. This is the reason for the

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differences in the heghts abowe see level on Kras from 430 m in the SE part to the 100 m in the NW part. Dry valley Mali dol is a distinctive valley shaped form, 10 kilometres long and some 50 to 75 metres deep. It meanders on the leveled surface across the Kras plateau in direction NE-SW, perpendicularly to all structures.

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL MAPING OF MALI DOL For the purpose of understanding the processes in the dry valley today and its origin detail geomorphological mapping was made, which resulted in a geomorphological map (see figure 1). All forms in the valley are not of the same age and all were not made only by corrosion. The oldest form is the valley-like shape it self. It was made during the corrosion planation of the plateau on which from the surrounding higher flish surface rivers were flowing. The valley became dry because the river was beheaded by lowering of the Vipava river basin. Because of the piezometric level drop the karstification began. Slope and graviclastic processes accumulated soil and flish sediments, from denudated caves, from the plateau into the valley. Because of the less permeable deposits in the bottom of the dry valley deep, elongated dolines have been formed. These dolines are larger and deeper than the dolines formed on the nearby surface of the plateau. There are also fewer dolines on the square kilometer of dry valley surface than on the “normal” karst surface.

Fig. 1: Geomorphologic map of Mali dol, with an out cutting (red are dolines and blue gullies) Characteristic and unusual for karst are deep and narrow erosion gullies. They were formed because local tectonically crushed zones, limestones with cherts, thick soil cover and sediments of denudated caves allow some overland flow into the valley. The gullies are today still occasionally active.

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Fig. 2: Erosion gully Sediments in the valley are abundant and interesting. We found allochtonous and autochthonous sediments. Red soil in the bottom of the valley is some meters thick, mainly presedimented, with rare pebbles of flish origin inside. We estimate that the pebbles of sandstone chart and flintstone are not a remnant of the deposits from the same river that made the valley, but were presedimented from denudated caves which opened on the higher Kras plateau. A key role in the presedimentation process was probably played by erosion gullies. Because at the beginning of exploration the denudated cave origin of the valley-like form was not excluded, special attention was given to all flowstone findings. Thick flowstone blocks were found on two locations. Both localities were cross-sections between caves filled with sediments and the lowering surface of the dry valley.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION During the planation rivers were flowing on Kras. Fluctuation of piezometric level allowed them to make shallow and narrow canyons. At that time northern flish surface was higher than the plateau and it represented a barrier for the karst waters which kept the piezometric level close to the surface. The situation is presented on Fig. 3.

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Fig. 3: Sketch of the surface during the corrosive planation of karst in upper Miocene Roughly 6 million years ago Adriatic tectonic micro plate started rotating counterclockwise. The axis of rotation was somewhere in the Po river basin (Gregorič, 2005). Near the axis the tectonic descent was the biggest, to the east, towards Kras region it declined. The northern flish region was lowered and waters stopped running on Kras. Also border Trstelj hills were tectonically heightened (Gams, 1998). The uprising is older because rivers were still running towards south and made deep valleys in the rising hills. Later they were redirected. Former river valleys were now dry. Karstification began to smoothing the valleys sharp edges and slopes became less steep.

Fig. 4: Sketch of the surface after the latest tectonic movements

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The dry valley was recognized by many scientists. Two main possibilities of its origin were described. First is, that river from flish made the karst plane with lateral erosion and the dry valley is the last river bed before the river sinked into the limestones (Radinja,-dizertacija; Melik, Primorska). The other is that the valley like form was formed exclusively by tectonic fractures (Habič). We believe that Mali dol is an old river valley. From its formation a long period of time passed and many different processes were dominant. We can say that Mali dol is a polygenetic form and the processes were working one by another and also simultaneously. First a river made its valley with erosion. As the river was left dry corrosion began the predominant process. Lateral corrosion of water inside the deep sediment in the bottom of the valley deepened the landform, thus preventing it to disappear by progression of denudation. Because of the less permeable sediment and tectonically fractured zones erosion gullies were formed in the slopes.

REFERENCES Gams, I., 1998: Geomorphogenetics of the Classical Karst - Kras. Acta carsologica, letnik 17, št. 2, str. 181-198. Gregorič, A., 2005: Analiza razvoja paleonapetosti v dinarskem narivnem sistemu zahodne Slovenije (okolica Nove Gorice). Ljubljana, Univerza v Ljubljani, NTF, Oddelek za geologijo, 84 str. Habič, P., 1984: Reliefne enote in strukturnice matičnega krasa, Acta carsologica, letnik 12, str. 5-26. Melik A., 1960: Slovenija, geografski opis, 4. zvezek Slovensko primorje. Ljubljana, Slovenska matica, 547 str. Radinja, D., 1965: Nova morfogenetska dognanja na Krasu. Ljubljana, Univerza v Ljubljani, Oddelek za geografijo, 133 str.

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SPATIAL PLANNING AND PROTECTION MEASURES FOR KARST AREAS Elery Hamilton-Smith Charles Sturt University, N.S.W., Chair, IUCN / WCPA Task Force on Caves and Karst, P.O. Box 36, Carlton South, Vict. 3053, Australia, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract This paper presents a brief review of the values and vulnerability of karst systems, and specifically examines issues of water balance, physical destruction, sedimentation and pollution. It then outlines key issues in the protection of karst and the need for continuing vigilance. Keywords: karst, management, groundwater balance, vulnerability, protection

. . . a karst system incorporating component landforms as well as life, energy, water, gases, soils and bedrock . . . (Eberhard 1994: 8.)

INTRODUCTION Any discussion of karst protection must commence with the basic understanding that karst is a complex, dynamic and interactive system. An overall view of karst must engage with that complexity, and so call upon a wide range of insights from a diversity of disciplines. It calls for application of what is usually termed integrated systems analysis. This was probably first well recognised in the karst literature by Yuan Daoxian (1988) in his keynote address to the Congress of the International Association of Hydrology. My own experience over many years has been based in this approach – which is now generally accepted, although some scholars still maintain a narrow disciplinary perspective. In this paper, I will focus particularly upon protective management but this first demands an introductory perspective on the values and vulnerability of karst.

COMMENTING UPON KARST VALUES Many karst systems are places of striking, even sublime beauty (Burke 1756). In turn this is coupled, for many people, with a genuine sense of spirituality. Most such landscapes thus have extremely important cultural values that may even have persisted continually since the Neolithic. In turn, cultural values are linked with a great diversity of scientific values in the common claim that Caves are the Books in the Library of the History of the Earth, even though we are still striving to fully understand the languages of those books. The very way in which evidence of the past is interwoven within karst echoes both the complexity and integration of the karst system itself, and in so doing, potentially adds a further layer of integration to our understandings. So, karst provides a unique store of knowledge with many features not found in other earth systems. Finally, there is a wondrous range of economic assets in karst, of which the most significant must be the groundwater reservoirs, which probably provide for the water needs of at least 25% of the World population. Regrettably, the importance of maintaining the quality and quantity of groundwater is all

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too often overlooked in the greed for more highly priced and spectacular commodities such as the limestone itself or even the swiftlet nests of Southeast Asia. (Watson et al. 1997)

AND UPON VULNERABILITY The same complexity and integration of karst, in itself, underlies the vulnerability of the system. A change in any of the major components of the system will inevitably impact upon others. Given that water is the most basic yet most variable of the major components, it is the one most likely to be subject to either changes in volume or to pollution of various kinds. Thus, it is also the most important element in almost any protective management program. However, the very attractiveness of karst brings with it the impact of human developments with dams, roads, bridges and other constructions. Then the quality of many karst soils or other products of economic value brings both extractive or developmental industries and urbanization, so as a result, both destruction of the rock Itself and often the introduction of pollutants, either as waste products or in the name of chemical management practices, e.g., fertilizers and pesticides. So, we know we must look towards sustainability, but in practice this may be very difficult and very slow to develop. The Shui people of China have published a text on sustainability over a thousand years ago, and have managed their forest and karst lands at Maolan for at least that long. But more generally, the dominance of simplistic economic thinking (and greed) often defeats the demand for sustainability. Contemporary modernism in resource management was initiated by March (1864) in his rightly famous Man and Nature. But far too much of his wisdom still awaits full expression (e.g., Goldie et al 2005).

MAINTAINING THE WATER BALANCE The centrality of water as a major determinant of the character and integrity of karst has already been emphasised. Natural variations in water as a result of flooding, increased rainfall, or drought may all arise, and are largely self-balancing over time. But because the cycles of nature may well be gradual in change, we often neglect the potential of permanent change. The process of desertification has adequately demonstrated its capacity for permanency, and although there is no question that it can be reversed and so restoration may be possible, it is all too rarely attempted. The widespread karst deserts of China are well known, but current research is furthering our understanding of the processes at work, including the formerly neglected role of microbiota. But the major threat comes from human action. Excessive drawdown of groundwater for agriculture, mining or other industrial activities is all too common. Urbanisation and other forms of construction may well cause major changes in groundwater re-charge. Forests may both impede recharge and increase drawdown through transpiration. Planning to reduce damage to water balance is vital, and should always be based in accurate delineation of total catchments. It has been recognised for many years that subterranean divides may not coincide with surface catchments. But many protected areas suffer from boundaries that were established in ignorance or neglect of this understanding. Even when the problem is recognised, the political considerations in boundary change may well demand many years of negotiation, and may well prevent re-definition. Regrettably, even conservation activists may well lack proper understanding of the character and behavior of groundwater. One striking example from this region occurred when Croatia first proposed a change of boundary of the Plitvice Lakes World Heritage area in order to encompass (and hence control) the upper section of the catchment area. Many of the referees who were consulted totally failed to recognise the importance of this and argued that the World Heritage Committee should reject

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the proposal because “it did not add to the biodiversity of the site” Fortunately, the Committee recognised and accepted the total validity of the proposal that after all was simply putting the case for total catchment management – now a widely accepted principle in karst management. Another recent development is taking place in Indonesia where the special province of Yogyakarta is undertaking the revegetation and restoration of the Gunung Sewu - one of the world’s great tropical karst areas which has been devastated by both total denudation through logging and by uncontrolled limestone quarrying. Research by Professor Suhardi to develop optimal sequencing and timing of revegetation and his leadership in implementation are achieving remarkable results, unprecedented in tropical karsts. Further, his work is now providing a model for other countries with similar problems, albeit often on a less scale, now using his strategies to achieve their own successes So, in summary, we must strive for total catchment management and on-going monitoring of recharge or of drawdown. The importance of deliberative environmental restoration is at last being recognised, even though Marsh argued back in 1864 that forests destroyed by human action need human action to ensure their recovery.

PREVENTING DESTRUCTION The establishment of protected areas is the most obvious and best-known strategy for protecting natural or cultural resources. These are often established under relevant legislation with such names as national parks, nature reserves, etc. The IUCN has established a standard classification of these (IUCN 1994, Bishop et al 2004) according to the nature and extent of protection that is afforded. Others may exist by long-standing tradition for as long as many thousands of years; still others are established and managed under private commercial ownership. The underlying assumptions and managerial styles in protected areas have been undergoing a continuing evolutionary development and adaptation. The famous “Yellowstone Model”, was long promoted by the United States as the ideal model for protected area management, but has come under massive challenge by alternative models from Eastern Europe, other cultural traditions and in particular from many new countries. Adrian Phillips (2003) at the Durban Parks Congress provided a magnificent summary of the patterns of change and Hamilton-Smith (2005) provided a further overview which incorporated and commented upon Phillips’ summary of changes. Another important contribution from the Durban Congress was a magnificent discussion paper on governance principles for protected areas prepared by the Canadian Institute of Governance (Graham et al 2003). More vexed questions arise in respect to areas that are not accorded protected area status. Often, politicians, and other public officials, exercising Bierce’s (1911: 243) definition of politics as “the conduct of public affairs for private advantage” will hand over major areas for destructive exploitation. In some countries there is little legislative infrastructure to provide a degree of control over the use of either public or private. Even where there is, conservationists may find themselves forced to appeal against decisions already made – and this can be a difficult and often costly process. A further mechanism that seeks to provide for safer decision-making is the Precautionary Principle (Cooney 2004, Cooney et al 2004), enunciated clearly in the decisions of the 1992 Rio Declaration: Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainly shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

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I am glad to say that after two days in the witness box in the course of challenging an application for mining on a particularly important karst area, the judge not only upheld the appeal, but also wrote the precautionary principle into his judgment. There is also the potential for adoption of minimal impact codes of practice. Speleologists have used such codes in various forms, e.g., the Honour Code of the Swiss Speleological Society and the Minimum Impact Code of the Australian Speleological Federation. At the other extreme of scale there is an excellent example in the Cement Sustainability Initiative (WBCSD 2002).

POLLUTION AND SEDIMENTATION Both pollution and sedimentation share the characteristic that they can spread over an immense area, sometimes reaching locations that may be hundreds of miles from the point of origin. They may result from ignorance, laziness, cost cutting, genuine accident, unforeseen consequences, and inappropriate use of agricultural or other chemicals. Pollution may well be invisible as when excessive organic wastes are discharged and enter the groundwater, creating a high level of nitrates that may be fatal to infants or young children. Sedimentation can result from any form of soil erosion or mobilization. In New Zealand, the Waitomo Glowworm cave was threatened when a farmer cleared a hillside some 25 miles upstream of the cave. The resulting muddy run-off entered the river and progressively settled, killing the Chironomid and other larvae which were growing all along the river and which normally provide the food source of the glowworms. In Vietnam, a clumsy road construction mobilized immense amounts of mud into several underground rivers and from there to the major surface streams draining the karst. Most examples of both pollution and sedimentation can be prevented or remedied but it is much less costly to prevent either or both occurring. It may be useful to note here that the South-east Asian grass Vetiver zizanioides provides a remarkable tool in controlling water runoff and in stabilising disturbed soils (Whitten et al 1997: 144-146).

CONTINUING VIGILANCE It is absolutely vital that land managers do not become complacent, and rather maintain continuing vigilance, as there will always be stupidity, greed and irresponsibility. But there are two other special hazards: 

The introduction of new and hence little known chemicals or other technology. My personal experience in discovering (by accident) that Metamidophos was being used as a mass pesticide in an Australian karst area is one frightening example.

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Then there are time bombs that will one day explode. The worst example of which I am aware is the massive water storage built when gold mining commenced in South Africa over 100 years ago. When it was built on dolomite, everybody knew that dolomite was insoluble in water. More recently a few geologists started to sound a warning – they were ignored. Then about three or four years ago, the water escaped into the underlying limestones, and then arose through the abandoned mine shafts, bringing an unbelievably dangerous chemical soup to the surface. At present, the government vacillates between ‘it hasn’t happened, but if it did, it isn’t dangerous and we have it all under control’. The result is that it has proved virtually impossible to get any genuine response in place – not surprising when one thinks of the magnitude of the disaster and the ducking for cover of the government response!

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What others might be awaiting attention elsewhere in the world?

REFERENCES Bierce, Ambrose, 1911. The Devil’s Dictionary, Neale Publishing, USA. [My copy from London: The Folio Society, 2003.] Bishop, Kevin, Nigel Dudley and Sue Stolton,2004. Speaking a Common Language.Cardiff University, IUCN and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Burke, Edmund,1756. A Philosophical Inquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and the beautiful. [My edition is from New York: The Harvard Classics, 1969 (62nd printing)] Cooney, Rosemary, 2004. The Precautionary Principle in Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resource Management. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Cooney, Rosemary et al. 2004. Managing Uncertainty: Risk and the Precautionary Principle in Biodiversity Conservation andSsustainable Use. Dare Es Salaam, Tanzania Workshop Report from the Global Diversity Forum. Eberhard, Rolan, 1994. Inventory and Management of the Junee River Karst System, Tasmania. Hobart, Tas. : Forestry Tasmania. Goldie, Jenny, Bob Douglas & Bryan Furnass, 2005. In Search of Sustainability. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIERO Publishing. Graham, John, Bruce Amos & Tom Pluptre, 2003. Governance Principles for Protected Areas in the 21st Century. Ottawa: Institute on Governance. Hamilton-Smith, E. 2005. Reviewing Changes in Nature Conservation. Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association Journal, 60: 32-36. IUCN, 1994. Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories.IUCN, Gland Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K.

Marsh, George Perkins, 1864. Man and Nature, or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. [My copy from Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1998.] Phillips, Adrian. 2003. Turning Ideas on Their Head:The New Paradigm for Protected Areas. Background Paper, World Parks Congress, Durban. Watson, J., E. Hamilton-Smith, D. Gillieson & K. Kiernan. 1997. Guidelines for Cave and Karst Protection. IUCN, Gland Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K. Whitten, Tony, Roehayat Emon Soeriaatmadja and Suraya A. Afiff, 1997. The Ecology of Java and Bali. Oxford University Press. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 2002. The Cement Sustainability Initiative. Yuan Daoxian, 1988. On the Karst Environmental System. Proceedings of the IAH 21st Congress, XXI (1): 30-46.

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A PAN-EUROPEAN APPROACH TO MAPPING GROUNDWATER VULNERABILITY AND CONTAMINATION RISK FOR THE PROTECTION OF KARST AQUIFERS Nico Goldscheider Centre of Hydrogeology (CHYN), University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2009 Neuchâtel, Switzerland, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract This short paper presents and discusses the pan-European approach to “vulnerability and risk mapping, for the protection of carbonate (karst) aquifers” as proposed by the European COST Action 620 (short: COST 620). The approach is based on an origin-pathway-target model. It includes methods of intrinsic and specific vulnerability mapping, hazard assessment, risk mapping, and validation. All maps can be prepared for resource and source protection. The intrinsic vulnerability assessment only considers hydrogeological properties, such as overlying layers and flow concentration, while specific vulnerability additionally considers the interactions between specific contaminants and the hydrogeological system. The risk map is obtained by overlaying the vulnerability map and a hazard assessment. Different techniques, including natural and artificial tracers, can be used to validate the vulnerability assessment. The methodology has been tested in different European karst areas. Keywords: Karst aquifer, groundwater protection, vulnerability mapping, contamination risk

INTRODUCTION Carbonate rocks, most of which are karstified, cover one third of the land surface of Europe. Karst aquifers hold important groundwater resources that are crucial for the drinking water supply in many European countries, e.g. 12 to 36 % in Belgium, Croatia, France, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, and 50 % in Slovenia and Austria (COST 65, 1995). Some big cities, like Vienna, depend nearly entirely on this resource. At the same time, karst aquifers are particularly vulnerable to contamination due to their specific characteristics. Microbial and chemical contaminants can easily enter the subsurface, either diffusely through shallow soils or point-like via swallow holes. Inside the aquifer, they can be rapidly transported over large distances in the conduit network, while attenuation processes operate less effectively than in other aquifers (Bakalowicz, 2005; Ford & Williams 1989). Therefore, karst aquifers require special protection (Drew & Hötzl, 1999). In order to achieve some consistency in the field of groundwater protection on a European scale, the European Commission set up the COST Action 620 on “vulnerability and risk mapping for the protection of carbonate (karst) aquifers”. The project was given additional impetus by the Water Framework Directive, which provides a framework for water resource policy and management. This short paper presents and discusses the achievements of COST 620, which started in 1997 and completed its work with the publication of a final report, chief-edited by the chairman, F. Zwahlen (2004). 50 participants from 15 countries worked together in this action, which was divided into three working groups, dealing with intrinsic vulnerability mapping, specific vulnerability mapping, and hazard and risk mapping. This paper mainly focuses on intrinsic vulnerability mapping.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND TERMINOLOGY The concept of groundwater vulnerability assessment is based on the assumption that the physical environment provides some degree of natural protection against contamination (Vrba & Zaporozec, 1994). The protectiveness is heterogeneously distributed, and vulnerability mapping means to map

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this heterogeneity. COST 620 distinguishes between intrinsic and specific vulnerability: The intrinsic vulnerability takes into account the hydrogeological characteristics of an area, but is independent of the nature of the contaminants, while the specific vulnerability additionally takes into account the properties of a particular contaminant or group of contaminants. The approach proposed by COST 620 is based on an origin-pathway-target model (Fig. 1). The origin is the place of potential contaminant release, often the land surface; the pathway is the flow path of a contaminant from the origin, through the different compartments of the hydrogeological system, to the target, i.e. the water that has to be protected. It is practicable to distinguish between resource and source protection. Resource protection aims at protecting the groundwater in the entire aquifer; source protection intends to protect the water form a specific spring or well (Goldscheider, in Zwahlen 2004). From a quantitative point of view, three questions are important for vulnerability assessment: If a contaminant is released somewhere in the environment, when will it reach the target, at which concentration level, and how long will the water be contaminated? Although it is often very difficult to answer all these questions while mapping vulnerability in the field, this approach makes it possible to compare and validate different vulnerability assessments (Brouyère, in Zwahlen 2004). A hazard is defined as a potential source of groundwater contamination resulting from human activities taking place mainly at the land surface. There are point, line and diffuse hazards, resulting from infrastructure, industry or agriculture. Hazards can be classified according to the type and toxicity of a potential contaminant, the quantity of contaminants, and the likelihood of a contamination, e.g. permanent or accidental contaminant release (De Ketelaere et al., in Zwahlen 2004). The risk map can be obtained by combining a vulnerability map (intrinsic or specific, resource or source) with a hazard assessment. It is also possible to include the value or importance of the aquifer into the risk assessment. The highest risk is present when a dangerous hazard is located in a highly vulnerable zone of an important aquifer, near a drinking water well or spring. The risk map therefore shows the risk that the groundwater will actually be contaminated; in other words, it shows the necessity to act, i.e. to remove the hazards or change the land use practices (Hötzl et al., in Zwahlen 2004).

THE PAN-EUROPEAN APPROACH TO INTRINSIC VULNERABILITY MAPPING The general concepts and terms described above apply for all types of aquifers. Previously existing methods of vulnerability mapping either ignore the nature of karst (e.g. DRASTIC) or they are specifically dedicated to karst (e.g. EPIK) or they are applicable for all types of aquifers and provide specific methodological tools for karst (e.g. the PI method). The pan-European approach is of the latter type. It is a general and flexible framework rather than a prescriptive method, and can thus be easily adapted to the regional hydrogeological conditions and the availability of data, time, and financial means. Up to four factors are considered within the conceptual model presented in Fig. 1: overlying layers (O), concentration of flow (C), precipitation regime (P) and karst network development (K) (Daly et al., 2002; Goldscheider & Popescu, 2004. The factors O, C and K represent internal characteristics of the system, while P is an external stress applied to the system. For resource vulnerability mapping, the factors O and C should be taken into consideration, while K is additionally required for source vulnerability mapping. The factor P might not be necessary on a local scale but becomes relevant on large and climatically heterogeneous areas.

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Fig. 1: The pan-European approach to vulnerability and risk mapping is based on an origin-pathway-target model, which can be applied for groundwater resource and source protection. The main factors for intrinsic vulnerability assessment are the precipitation regime (P), the overlying layers (O), the concentration of flow (C) and the karst network development (K) (Goldscheider & Popescu, in Zwahlen 2004). The overlying layers (O) may consist of up to four types of layers: topsoil, subsoil, non-karst rock, and unsaturated karst rock. The protectiveness of the first three types of layers largely depends on their thickness and hydraulic properties. The epikarst is part of the unsaturated karst zone and influences its protectiveness. In some cases, e.g. karrenfields without soil and drained by vertical shafts, the protective function may be very low even when the depth to groundwater table is very high (remark: in this case, the DRASTIC method will totally fail). In all sand and gravel aquifers, and also in many karst aquifers, the overlying layers are the most important factor controlling the degree of natural protection against contamination. However, areas consisting of thick low permeability formations of often generate surface runoff, which may enter the aquifer at another place, e.g. via a swallow hole. In this case, the overlying layers are bypassed and the O factor is consequently insufficient to describe the vulnerability of the karst groundwater. Therefore, the karst-specific C factor was introduced. It represents the degree of flow concentration towards zones where rapid infiltration can occur. The assessment of the C factor should consider parameters that control the generation of surface runoff or interflow, like slope gradient, soil properties and vegetation, and the presence of karst forms that allow rapid infiltration, such as swallow holes. The combined use of the O and C factors considers the duality of infiltration and recharge processes in karst hydrogeological systems, and thus the “duality of vulnerability”.

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The precipitation regime (P) also influences groundwater vulnerability. High annual precipitation quantities, mainly in the form of intense storm rainfall, result in a rapid transport of contaminants though all compartments of the system and also favour surface flow towards swallow holes. On the other hand, increasing quantities of water may also dilute the concentration of contaminants. The K factor represents the degree of karstification in the aquifer, ranging from only fractured carbonate rocks to karst aquifers with well-developed conduit systems. Several methods have been proposed within the framework of this pan-European approach. These methods are described in part B of the COST 620 final report (Zwahlen 2004). The PI method has actually been proposed before the pan-European approach and served as a basis for the conceptual model illustrated in Fig. 1. The factors P (protective cover) and I (infiltration conditions) are largely identical to the factors O and C described above. The Spanish COP method (Vías et al. 2006) is probably the most complete interpretation of the pan-European approach, although it includes no K factor and can thus primarily be used for resource vulnerability mapping. Different techniques can be used to validate a vulnerability assessment, including the interpretation of spring hydrographs and chemographs, the use of isotopes and other natural tracers, artificial tracing techniques, and the use of analytical and numerical models (various authors, in Zwahlen 2004). The pan-European approach of vulnerability and risk mapping, or part of it, has been applied to many karst regions in different European countries. The most complete application was done in the Sierra de Líbar in Southern Spain, where Andreo et al. (2006) prepared intrinsic and specific vulnerability maps for different types of contaminants, a hazard assessment and a risk map. Nguyet & Goldscheider (2006) proposed a comprehensive but strongly simplified version of the pan-European approach and applied it to a remote karst area in Vietnam, where only very little data are available.

REFERENCES Andreo, B., Goldscheider, N., Vadillo, I., Vías, J.M., Neukum, C., Sinreich, M., Jiménez, P., Brechenmacher, J., Carrasco, F., Hötzl, H., Perles, M.J. & Zwahlen, F., 2006: Karst groundwater protection: First application of a Pan-European Approach to vulnerability, hazard and risk mapping in the Sierra de Líbar, Southern Spain. Science of the total environment, 357 (1-3): 5473 Bakalowicz, M., 2005: Karst groundwater: a challenge for new resources. Hydrogeology Journal, 13 (1): 148-160. Daly, D., Dassargues, A., Drew, D., Dunne, S., Goldscheider, N., Neale, S., Popescu, I.C., Zwahlen, F., 2002: Main concepts of the European Approach for (karst) groundwater vulnerability assessment and mapping. Hydrogeology Journal, 10: 340-345. Drew, D., Hötzl, H. (eds.), 1999: Karst Hydrogeology and Human Activities. Impacts, Consequences and Implications. International Contributions to Hydrogeology, Balkema, Rotterdam, 286 pp. Ford, D.C. & Williams, P.W., 1989: Karst Geomorphology and Hydrology. London. Unwin Hyman. 601 pp. Nguyet, V.T.M., Goldscheider, N., 2006: A simplified methodology for mapping groundwater vulnerability and contamination risk, and its first application in a tropical karst area, Vietnam. Hydrogeology Journal, in press. Vías, J. M., Andreo, B., Perles, J. M., Carrasco, F., Vadillo, I., 2006: Proposed method for groundwater vulnerability mapping in carbonate (karstic) aquifers: the COP method. Application in two pilot sites in Southern Spain. Hydrogeology Journal, in press. Vrba, J., Zaporozec, A. (eds.), 1994: Guidebook on Mapping Groundwater Vulnerability. International Contributions to Hydrogeology (IAH), 16: 131 pp. Zwahlen, F. (editor), 2004: Vulnerability and risk mapping for the protection of carbonate (karst) aquifers, final report COST action 620. EUR 20912: 297 pp.

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SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF BRACKISH KARST SPRING PANTAN (CROATIA) Ivana Fistanić Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Matice hrvatske 15, 21000 Split, Croatia, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Brackish karst spring Pantan is situated in the vicinity of town Trogir. It is a permanent and abundant coastal spring of the ascending type. The opening of the spring is located in the contact zone between the limestone and flysch layers while the catchments area is formed of highly permeable limestone rocks. Flysch zone presents incomplete barrier towards the sea resulting with sea water intrusion into the spring aquifer. Therefore, the main characteristic of the spring is periodical salinity during the year with the highest salinity during summer months. The other particularity of this spring is swampy area presenting unique area on the eastern Adriatic coast mostly characterized by dry karst areas. During the past period water from Pantan spring was used for irrigation as well as for the purposes of fish-farm situated in the vicinity of the spring. In the same time extensive water investigations have been taken for the purpose of finding solution of spring desalinization and taking fresh water for the purposes of water supply. Though these investigations gave some assumptions about spring functioning concrete solution of spring desalinization has never been achieved. Meanwhile, due to bed watershed management water quality of Pantan spring is permanently devastated. Today salinity of the water is not the main problem comparing to the other parameters of water quality. Close to the spring main road is located as well as waste deposits.Unfortunately Pantan karst spring presents an example of not preserving balance between natural resources on karst and human interventions in watershed area. Human pressure and bad spatial planning made serious consequences on Pantan water quality. Pantan spring is unique area and social and economic development should not have the advantage over environment protection. All future measures should be directed on further protection of this valuable karst environment. This paper will present state of the spring as well as further measures of sustainable management directed to the preservation of this distinct karst ecosystem. Keywords: brackish karst spring, integrated management, DPSIR concept, Pantan (Croatia)

INTRODUCTION Pantan area is situated in the southwest of Kastela bay, 3 kilometers from town Trogir (Fig. 1). It is the area of approximately 40 ha and presents inseparable unit consisting of Pantan spring, river course with surrounding swamp area and sea coast. Pantan area presents green oasis in mostly karstic area. Spring is a permanent and abundant coastal spring of ascending type. The opening of the spring is located in the contact zone between the limestone and flysch layers while the catchments area is formed of highly permeable limestone rocks. Spring discharge oscillates during the year. In summer period minimal discharge is 0,3 m3/s, while in the winter period maximum discharge is 12 m3/s. Flysch zone presents incomplete barrier towards the sea resulting with sea water intrusion into the spring aquifer. Therefore, the main characteristic of the spring is periodical salinity during the year with the highest salinity in summer months. Spring makes small lake Pantan with surface area from 35 to 60 m2, 13 meters depth and surface water level about 3 meters above sea level. River Rika flows out of the lake to the sea and into the numeral brackish lateral cannels which irrigate whole swamp area. Vegetation in this area is favorable for permanent or occasional residence of numeral bird species. Therefore fauna of Pantan spring is characterizes by numeral bird species and same of them are threatened of dieing out. Due to the variable ecological factors temperature and salinity life conditions in such biotope are very specific, making favorable biotope for spawn and growth of particular fish and crab species. From the ecological standpoint and according to the Environmental Protection Law, Pantan area is unique swamp area in wide region and presents valuable environment. This area except natural values

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has significant cultural-historical value. In Pantan area there is a mill which according to its oldness and architecture presents valuable historical heritage. Furthermore, archeological investigations in Trogir area resulted with assumptions of archaeological remains from ancient time. If these excavations date from ancient time Pantan mill would be unique example of mills built on ancient foundations. This small area presents ecological oasis and urgent protection from further harmful human interventions is necessary. Water from Pantan spring has never been used for water supply since salinisation problem has always been the problem. Chloride concentration significantly variate during the year, and extreme values have been recorded in January 20 mg/l, and August 10117 mg/l. In summer period water can be used only for the purposes of fish-farm which is not sensitive to the chloride oscillations. Extensive water investigations have been taken for the purpose of finding solution for spring desalinization and taking fresh water for the purposes of water supply. Though these investigations gave some assumptions about spring functioning concrete solution of spring desalinization has never been achieved. Meanwhile, due to bed watershed management water quality of Pantan spring is permanently devastated. In present time salinity of the water is not the main problem comparing to the other parameters of water quality as concentration of coliform bacteria. Today water quality of Pantan spring is endangered which is mostly the result of the unplanned activities in watershed area and Pantan area. Through the past period many actions have been made that have contributed to the devastation of this area. Close to the spring main road is located. Area on the eastern border line is used as the waste disposal of town Trogir which significantly make degradation of this area. On the west side new settlements are growing without any plans. In watershed area unplanned agriculture is developing. Pantan mill which have been well known in the past is due to careless mostly devastated. Fish farm is built without plan and in many ways contribute to the devastation of this area. Concrete bankment has been built making contrast to the surrounding area. Water loaded fish food and dung is discharging from fish farm. Through the history many owners of the mill have changed and many changes on the mill building have been made. In this period there was no devastation of this area but the devastation has been made in recent time. And above all due to the bad watershed management and degradation of water quality on Pantan spring occurred. All activities in watershed area on Pantan spring and Pantan reservation itself led to the significant devastation of this valuable natural and cultural-historical reservation. This miniature nature reservation is almost unknown until today which is a great loss for this area. Pantan has unique beauty and presents tourist potential due to its particular natural and historical values. Therefore, social and economic development should not have the advantage over environment protection. Unfortunately Pantan karst spring presents an example of not preserving balance between natural resources on karst and human interventions in watershed area. Human pressure and bad spatial planning made serious consequences on Pantan water quality. It is not possible to use water for the water supply but it still possible to use it for other purposes as for irrigation and fish-farm. Moreover whole area could be valuable tourist attraction. All further measures should be directed on protection of karstic watershed and Pantan area. Above all integral protection that will stop further unsuitable use of this area is necessary. In this concept vulnerability of the karst should be involved into the watershed management. This paper presents state of the Pantan spring, overview of recent water quality management, as well as further necessary measures directed to the preservation and sustainability of this distinct karst ecosystem.

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Fig.1:Pantan area

MATERIAL AND METHODS Integral approach in management of natural resources is prerequisite for accomplishing their sustainable development. Integral concept is particularly desirable in karst area which is very sensitive and open to the pollution in the watershed. Integral approach in management can be presented through DPSIR framework (Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts, Responses). Implementation of this framework is the basis for the efficient and transparent water resources management. It is causal framework for describing the interactions between society and the environment adopted by the European Environment Agency. In its original form, the DPSIR Model is a general framework for organizing information about the state of the environment. It is widely applied for organizing system of indicators in the context of environment and sustainable development. The framework presents cause-effect relationship between interacting components of social, economic and environmental system. Following picture (Fig. 2) presents general technical description of the framework which can be implemented on any environment.

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Fig. 2: The DPSIR model In decision process models need to be implemented and combined. Integration of these models in the process of decision making is needed. DPSIR concept helps in achieving transparent representation and understanding of the role of different models in the process of decision making. In the place of each arrow model can be put showing the interaction between particular models. Insight of the Pantan spring and state of the environment will be presented by the application of the DPSIR framework. In the following table (Table 1) picture state of the environment of the Pantan area is presented through the DPSIR framework.

Driving forces Urbanization Waste disposals Roads Interventions in the reservation area Natural conditions: seakarst interaction

Pressures

States

Impacts

Underground water pollution Devastation of natural conditions in reservation area Sea water intrusion

Polluted spring water Changes of biotope Decrease of swamp area Brackish spring water

Inability of using water for water supply and other purposes Dieing out of some species

Responses Watershed protection Better plans for reservation usage System of issuing permissions

Treatment of discharge waters Diffuse pollution control Measure for sea water intrusion preservation

Treatment of spring water Water desalinization Measures of restoring natural conditions

Planning water using according to the present water quality

Table 1: The DPSIR Model for analyzing sustainable management in Pantan area In case of Pantan spring significant number of driving forces is present in watershed area and Pantan area showing that recent watershed management was very poor and inefficient. Settlements in watershed area are mostly built without any plans. Building was not part of the laws which are usually made for the springs planned for water supply. For these springs sanitary protection zones are

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proposed. Road which is build as main road in county is placed very close to the spring which is inadmissible from the point of water quality protection. Large waste area is also in vicinity. All before mentioned has the influence/pressure on quality of underground waters flowing to the spring and natural characteristics in reservation. Beside spring water quality which influence changes in Pantan reservation numeral activities in Pantan reservation have been made driving forces. Consequence is polluted spring water which can’t be used for water supply and changed conditions in biotope of the Pantan reservation resulting with dieing out of certain species. In integral management system measures for achieving sustainable management need to be implemented. These measures are represented in DPSIR concept as responses which make influence on each element of the concept. This is related on measures of better planning of watershed exploitation and law that restrict certain actions in the watershed. These measures present active protection measure which stops pollution in early start. Partly active measure is the prevention of watershed pollution through water purification directly on the source of pollution making and before water discharging into the underground. Passive measures which could be implemented at the point when the state is already endangered are the measures of spring water treatment for the certain purposes and measures for rehabilitation of swamp area. From above presentation of Pantan area through DPSIR concept very clear picture of the present state and clear picture of possible measures can be get as well as their influence on certain elements. Clear presentation of all elements and their interactions is prerequisite for efficient management with Pantan area.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pantan swamp area gives significant biological and ecological value to the mostly karstic dry area and in the same time if gives variability to the uniform area. It presents unique natural reservation, but unfortunately it also presents the area where preservation of brittle balance between natural resources in karst and human interventions has not been achieved. Pantan is the example of degradation of natural environment, as the result of the unsatisfactory recent interventions in close and wide area. This treatment is not adequate for such a valuable area. Natural and environmental values of this small swamp, in combination with valuable cultural-historical heritage could become valuable location together with town Trogir, which is announced as UNESCO town. Pantan has particular importance for preserving biological diversities, and according the Nature protection law it is in year 2000. named as special reservation. Presentation of DPSIR concept for Pantan shows that there are no elements of system approach in the management of environmental resources in Pantan area. Sustainable development does not exist and it is visible that human pressure on natural resources has been made without hesitation about consequences. DPSIR concept clearly shows that existing state can be enhanced through the active measures for prevention of further devastation of the area and passive measures for the rehabilitation of the area. It is important to notice that in the past period natural and cultural-historical potentials have never been sufficiently estimated. It is the question if this zone will be named as protected area or it will be simply ignored and subjected to all other needs such as unplanned growth of settlements in watershed area, as development of fish farm, building coastal swimming zone and other. This area could be use for education-tourist purposes. New owner is planning to build small hydro-eletric power plant and solar system, renovate mill and through all this give new values to natural and cultural heritage. Prerequiste for above mentioned plans is adequate regional planning of resource exploitation in the whole watershed area of Pantan spring. Analysis of DPSIR concept clearly shows that different Responses influence the element of the concept. Through the definition of the regional plans documentation for wide Pantan area it is necessary to implement regulations which will define

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preservation of natural conditions and provide their protection Basis for the further development of this area should be protection of natural characteristics which has its foothold in legislation but it is usually understated and no implemented. This include adequately regional planning of watershed area and resources exploitation. Furthermore, integral project of the rehabilitation of whole area is needed. It is important not to make any actions that could result with changes in water regime since that would result with changes in vegetations and therefore changes in biotope. It is desirable to avoid any actions which could result with changes of water regime in whole Pantan area. Since this location is very small it is necessary to estimate capacity for tourist reception visitors since the location could be devastated with over number of visitors. In order to preserve present state and make certain improvements it is necessary to encourage establishment of natural conditions. In swamp area many activities as devastation of canes, catch of shells and fish should be stopped. In the watershed area unplanned construction, intensive agriculture and waste dumps should be stopped. Finally, in process of decision making it is extremely important to take into the consideration vulnerability of the karst.

REFERENCES Bagarić, I., 1973: Izvještaj o istražnim radovima na vrelu Pantan kod Trogira.- Zavod za hidrotehniku Građevinskog fakulteta u Sarajevu. Bagarić, I., 1973: Prilog rješavanju problema iskorištenja zaslanjenih voda priobalnog i kraškog vrela Pantan kod Trogira.- Saopštenja Zavoda za hidrotehniku Građevinskog fakulteta u Sarajevu. 13, 1-18. Bonacci, O., 1995: Brackish karst spring Pantan.- Acta Carsologica. XXIV, 97-107. Bonacci, O., Fritz, F., Denić-Jukić, V., 1995: Hydrogeology of Slanac Spring.- Hydrogeology Journal. 3(3), 31-40. Braznik, M., 1998: Storage Reservoirs and Deep Wells in Karst Regions. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Brookfield Breznik, M., 1973: Nastanak zaslanjenih kraških izvora in njihova sanacija. Geologija, The origin of brackish karstic springs and their development.- Geologija-Razprave in poročila, Ljubljana. 16. knjiga, 83-186. COST Action 621. Ground water management of coastal karstic aquifers.- Final report. EUR 21366. COST Action 621. The main coastal karstic aquifers of southern Europe. A contribution by member of the COST-621 Action 'Groundwater management of coastal karstic aquifers'.- EUR 20911 Fritz, F., Pavičić, A., Renić, A., 1993: Hydrogeology of the Hinterland of Šibenik and Trogir.Geologia Croatica. 46(2), 291-306. Komatina, M., 1990: Problemi zahvatanja podzemnih voda u karstu.- Voda i sanitarna tehnika. XX (1) Mijatović, B., 1984: Hydrology of the Dinaric Karst. International Association of Hydrogeologist. Volume 4. 115-142.

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MONTELLO KARST WATERGROUND. CHANGING ITS PERSPECTIVE FROM THE PERCEPTION OF DROUGHT TO A STRATEGIC WATER RESOURCE Francesco Ferrarese & Marta Modesto1 Universita degli Studi di Padova, Dipartimento di Geografia Via del Santo 26, Padova, Italy, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract The Montello hill lies in the centre of the highly urbanised Venetian Plain. It is comprised of conglomerates and sandstones with calcite cement alternating with mudstones. This lithology is high karstificable, so this is the main morphological aspect of this hill. This low hill covers an area of 60 square km, with a maximum elevation of 369 m a.s.l., while the mean height above the surrounding plain is nearly 100 m, so the volume of the relief is about 6 cubic km. The thickness of this lithology, formed during the Messinian period, (6.5 – 5.3 million years ago), is about 1800 m. This specific rock formation and geomorphological structure cause the almost total absence of surface water-courses, which are reduced mainly to seasonal events. Despite this, a typical aspect of this hill is the presence of numerous water springs, the only water resource for people living on the hill from the beginning of the 20th century till the connection of the municipal waterworks (1960). The history of the research of water springs and their management, which is linked to one of the main human needs, can be quite easily reconstructed from an analysis of the documents and cartography dating from that period. From the moment that the area was connected to the municipal waterworks the karst springs lost their importance and they were quickly abandoned and neglected. The present interest connected with this water resource regards its possible use to ‘quench the thirst’ of the high urbanized plain surrounding the Montello hill. Some critical aspects of this analysis are therefore the quality of the water and the necessary limitations of land use of the hill. Knowledge of the present state of the Montello hydrogeology can prove useful for any future management of water resources. Keywords: Montello, hydrogeology, water management.

INTRODUCTION Geology and hydrogeology The Montello is a hill covering a total area of 60 km2 located in the southern part of the pre-alpine and sub-alpine mountain groups of the Veneto region in Italy. This relief appears as a low plateau, comparable to a turtleback: it is about 13 km long, in a WSW-ENE direction, 5 km wide and has an average elevation of about 100 m (maximum of 280 m) above the plain. Its maximum height is 369 m a.s.l. the lowest hill relief in the surrounding area. The structure of the Montello is due to the upward-arching by compressional shortening of a tectonic wedge delimited on the SSE side by two overthrusts (Aviano line, Sacile Line) and on the NNW side by a backthrust (backthrust of the Montello). The geological formation is a nearly 2000m thick messinian-age conglomerate (Montello Conglomerate), formed mostly of limestone pebbles bound by a carbonitic cement. This formation corresponds to an accumulation in a delta fan formed during the main uplifting phase of the southern alpine chain during the Neogene. Thus this morphostructure began to bulge relatively recently, no longer than 5 million years ago, and its gradual upsurge above the plain has exposed it to the processes of erosion, first of all by the rivers and secondly by karst denudation. The fluvial erosion, which is still active now on the northern side of the ridge, has utilised the transported pebbles as tools to perform bottom and lateral erosion in the hard rock of the river bed. 1

F. Ferrarese wrote the Introduction; M. Modesto wrote Water Management through History; they wrote together the Abstract and the Conclusion.

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Fig. 1: Geographical location of Montello hill in Veneto region, Italy. The uplifting prevailed over erosion and a hill was formed, the surface of which is a step of erosional surfaces of increasing ages, from the lowest to the top one. The karst processes have formed features the age of which are clearly distinguishable by their location on the hill, according to the level surfaces. The hydrogeology of the Montello is more evident in the east, where karst denudation is greater. Here we can distinguish more than one basin and two main forms of water circulation: the vadose zone seems to receive water by epikarst and, locally, by percolation of the river Piave flowing along the northern and eastern rim of the hill and in the same rock unit. The water from the river can flow through the Montello massif, so the base level of the karst acquifer, in the northern part, corresponds to its average height, 105 m a.s.l. In the southern part of The Montello there is the main karst spring, called Forame, a perennial spring where a short (500 m) pocket valley begins. Its height is 85 m a.s.l. Between the river Piave and the eastern and southern rim of the hill, the epikarst distributes the water in seven main basins, related to seven main springs. These basins can exchange their waters, one to the other, during rainfall events, so the inner karst basins can work in different directions according to the water level. The hydrology is complicated further by the presence of levels of marns and clays that locally control the water table creating perched acquifers. While the water circulation of the eastern Montello has started to be defined, the western side of the hill needs further investigation: in this part there are no well-developed caves and no perennial springs. Furthermore, studies with tracers and ipokarst exploration have been possible only in the accessible karst, i.e. in the eastern Montello. In any case, the two parts of the massif have in common a high number of scattered springs, distributed on the surface. Many of these are small and have a low capacity; some of them are also at a relatively high altitude, probably because of the presence of perched aquifer and subsoil water circulation. The chemical composition of the karst water shows the influence of agricultural use (fertilizers, cattle grazing) on the epikarst and locally it was noticed an important case of hydrocarbon pollution that still now pollutes the main spring (Forame). Chemical measurements made in the 80s have revealed such apollution: six control points, corresponding to springs or placed into caves, were studied continuously for two years. The water analyses show an increase, over that time, of ionic density probably due to pollution: water from the main cave system, Castel Sotterra, is the least polluted, maybe due to its position – these are the most western underground waters reachable by analysts – and for the relatively less anthropic use of the epikarst of the basin (Boccalon et al., 1987).

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Fig. 2: Schoeller diagrams of Montello karstic water in 6 spot measurements (redrawn from Boccalon et al., 1987). But the main spring of the hill, the Forame, has the worst water quality: in 1993 two chemical analyses showed high pollution by coliforms, and, in the cave, high concentration values of Pb (15 mcgr/l), related to the explosion of a fuel tank (in 1973!) with dispersion underground (Fileccia, 1995). The soils of the Montello are highly developed, several metre thick illuvial horizons rich in clay and iron oxides: their colour is typically red. They are leached and acid, pH 4.5 – 5.0, so agricultural management tries continuously to raise the pH to 6.0 – 6.5, with a strong use of chemical fertilizer (Garlato, Mozzi, 2005): the use of it seems to be about three time that necessary for the same crops growing on the plain.

Fig. 3: Hydrogeological sketch of the main features of Montello (redrawn from Fileccia & al., 2002).

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WATER MANAGEMENT THROUGH HISTORY Natural water sources on the hill For a long time water resource has been a critical resource for life on the Montello hill. As the geological introduction explained in detail, the specific rock formation and the geomorphological structure that characterize this low hill, cause the almost total absence of surface water-courses, reduced mainly to seasonal events. These tend to be principally streams which flow, in the presence of a clay covering, on the bottom of some little valleys, many of which have been eroded by these self-same water-courses. So predominant water circulation is found mainly in subterranean waters. Rain water penetrates internally, in part through fissures and hollows, in part across microfractures and porosity. Continuing along the subterranean axes of drainage of the hill, along a complex and intricate karstic reticulum, they are directed towards several outlets, generally at the foot of the hill. The presence of water springs is the other typical aspect that characterizes the geographical area of the Montello hill and also connected with karsism. The biggest of them are at the base of the hill, especially on the NE and SE slopes. These natural springs are divided into two types, based on the important description made by Stella (Stella, 1902). There are rock-sources, perpetual and with a bigger flow, typical of the perimetral zone; and earth-sources, weaker, seasonal, and often dry. Water resource, therefore, appears on the hill in the form of numerous water springs – there is a total of a hundred at least – situated on the hill itself and around its base. The differing forms in which water is present and its management as carried out by the local community form the basis of the research presented within this study.

Fig. 4: Position of springs on the hill (redrawn from Stella, 1902). Evidence of human settlement has been found on the Montello hill in alternate periods throughout history. The hill was known during the Middle Ages and Renaissance most of all for the presence of prized species of tree such as oak. It was for the most part covered by a dense forest, and a few settlements – essentially religious in nature – were mainly situated on the hillside, near the surrounding plain. But it was with Bertolini’s Reform in 1892 that the higher reaches of the hill really started to be developed, with the dividing up of the Montello surface into smallholdings and estates. This process of division tried to solve the serious social problems of poverty and illegality that had been troubling local communities for some decades and that had constrained thousands of poor families to plunder the forest. This Land Reform marked a fundamental change of use for the land on Montello, by turning land that until then had been large forests into land assigned to agriculture.

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Bertolini’s Land Reform Act became most notable in its effect with the founding – gradual in the first three decades of the 19th century – of large settlements, with their ensuing road developments and services.

Fig. 5: picture of Fontana Lova, 260 m a.s.l., one of the highest springs of the hill. It is an earth spring that looks like a pond. Not being particularly close to the river Piave, nor to the public fountains in the towns on the plain, the Montello’s inhabitants were forced to use water points that the hill offered naturally, or rather the large number of natural springs widely distributed on his whole surface (extension). On each of them a number of families would depend and the administration of these point of supply of water was regulated by rules laid down by customs developed over time. Using their basic technical knowledge, acquired through daily experience and practice they managed to draw and preserve very pure water from springs into the numerous wells and storage tanks that they placed near the springs. Water points represented, in this sense, an essential property because they provided enough water supply for local inhabitants; the process of drawing water, however, was the real critical point really because it was required huge daily efforts. Regarding the techniques for the management of the water resource, it is possible to observe the use of tanks and wells with the function of collecting water in a sheltered and dark place; water was collected in small basins and buckets. Most of the wells were built using dry-walling for the lower part, in order to let the water enter from water table. The upper part of the well, on the other hand, was built with stones and concrete. Materials commonly used were conglomerates, frequently covered with clay. Above the well, a system of metal supports allowed the lowering of the bucket using iron chains. Additionally, it was possible to descend into the wells with the help of a ladder where necessary, and networks small paths led through the forest connecting the main roads to ponds situated at the bottom of dolines. Water sources, at last, were places that belonged to the community. Through time, the use of a particular water point came to belong by right to a restricted number of families, typically about 10 per water point. Activities surrounding the management of the springs became so well organized that wells remained in very good conditions, thanks largely to the techniques and good habits and customs that communities learnt over the years. Besides, to adopt bad management was to risk the degradation of resource fundamental for life on the hill. By 1960 connection to the municipal aqueduct provided all houses on the hill with water. Every reason to maintain the natural springs ceased, and neglect set in. This switch, which took place in the middle of 19th century, can be considered as a sort of significant discrimen, a strong caesura between the past use, obviously linked to the active function that fountains performed, and the recent disuse,

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caused by the almost complete loss of any function for these sites. From an interpretation of the present state of spring points and of the wells to draw water, two fundamental tendencies arose. The first shows a situation of total neglect and abandonment, where pools of water and wells have been abandoned for decades, becoming overgrown and littered with dead vegetation and even garbage. However in other cases, the situation promises to be diametrically opposed and shows the transformation of these water sites into elements with only aesthetic and ornamental function in private gardens. This process seriously de-contextualizes the resource. Only some springs are seeing any action to recovery and development them.

Fig. 6: picture of Tavaran Grando, 100 m a.s.l. This is one of the perennial karst spring, located in the rim of the hill and it’s a tipical rock source. What remains today to testify to past management are drinking fountains and the wells attached to them. By studying the historical events that have caused the present situation of settlement in this region and, secondly, by carrying out a survey in the field, it is possible to reconstruct the history of water management on this karstic hill. Brentella artificial canal The problem of water supply across the region of ‘Quartier del Piave’ (the area corresponding to the plain situated between The Montello hill and Fore Alps) and for the plain to the south of the Montello hill was evident and tragic for the inhabitants of the northern part of the province of Treviso. The dry and barren condition of this land used to be fed by a few intermittent channels, conducted from the surrounding relieves. They were rarely maintained, and it was clear that they were far from sufficient to provide to the constant water needs of those regions. From the beginning of 1400 the most successful proposal was to divert the waters of the river Piave in the area of Pederobba into a canal in order to irrigate the whole the province. A committee of engineers went to analyse the possibility and the advantages of carrying out such work. The outcome of their study was that a project of this nature was likely to be advantageous for the whole of the Treviso plain; not only to provide an effective solution to meet the territory’s water needs, but also in terms of an improvement to the general fertility and thus the monetary value of land in a region commonly considered to be uncultivable and sterile. In 1443 work started that would last for centuries. The large amount of money required for such an undertaking was provided mainly by local communities. Although a great number of influential

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families from the beginning aspired to finance the works, it was mainly the community that received the burden of payment, obliged by the necessity of a resource so precious as water, even if such need meant huge expense. The achievement of such an important infrastructure involved first of all the completion of the main canal; starting from Pederobba (at the foot of Mount Grappa), the original plan was for this main artery to go to Rovigo. The second step was the realization of the ‘seriole’, all the secondary canals that were used to carry water, like capillaries, to all the 57 villages that were to be provided. Administrative organizations, set up for the purpose, used to manage the diversion and the distribution of these seriole, as well as all the operations of maintenance and improvements to the canal network that had already been built. From 1450 they started to build mills in proper locations and with the proper distances between one aother along the main canal system. Several mills in 8 specific positions, for instance, were built along the Brentella canal that runs from Caerano San Marco (a small village on the west of Montebelluna) to Selva del Montello (on the eastern part of the Montello hill’s southern slope). For a long period they tried to improve the working of the main canal, as well as complete it as per the original plan. But in 1530 the aqueduct network still hadn’t become available throughout the territory. During the centuries which followed, under different governments, they continued in the operation in an attempt to conclude and improve this primary network. At the beginning of 20th century they recognized the need to maintain the continuity and efficiency of supply, but equally important was finding the right balance between water provision and the increased needs of agriculture and industry.

CONCLUSIONS Perspective in the use of water resources on the Montello hill One of the most aims of the use of the Montello’s aquifer is to become a kind of tank, a reserve of water for inhabitants of the surrounding plain. The area that is specifically interested is the plain situated to the south of the hill, one of the mostly densely-populated and industrialized areas of the Padana Plain. With 6 km3 of rock, this karst massif could provide a huge quantity of water. The measure of the vadose zone is approximately 4.07 km3, which expresses the volume of permeable karst rocks. The saturation zone has approximately 1.86 km3, which represents the real reserve of water. Rainfall events are rapidly discharged from springs and in this way the maintenance of water in the vadose zone is critical. Moreover, the aquifer disperses water into several springs (the perimetral ones) each one with a low capacity: also for this reason it is difficult to collect water from these several sub-basins. Another problem, connected with the anthropic use, regards the quality of water: drinking water is nowadays impossible due to the high level of pollution from coliform and fertilizers. To improve these conditions it would be necessary discourage the farming of crops, which are unsuitable for acid soils. A stricter control on human habitation (including the use of the area for heavy tourism) and livestock would also be necessary in order to return the water quality to an acceptable standard. Water sources have a great value in themselves. As they are widely spaced throughout the forest, they have a great natural importance for the biodiversity of the areas which surround them, representing unique habitats, which are undoubtedly indispensable for the rich plant and animal life they support. An understanding of the importance of these water points is inextricably linked to a knowledge of the historical value that they once had. Through the insights gained from the study of their past employment, we can acquire knowledge about real sustainable management of such a vital resource, creating perfect harmony between the environment and the needs of human.

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REFERENCES AA. VV., 1988: Il bosco del Montello, Quaderno n. 1 Per conoscere il Montello, Segusino Stampa, Segusino (Treviso). AA. VV., 1989: Atti del convegno di studi naturalistici sul Montello 7 giugno 1987, Quaderno n. 2 Per conoscere il Montello, Segusino Stampa, Segusino (Treviso). AA. VV., 2000: Il Piave, a cura di BONDESAN A., CANIATO G., VALLERANI, F., ZANETTI M., Cierre Edizioni, Verona. Abrami, G. & Massari, F. , 1968: La morfologia carsica nel colle del Montello, Riv. Ital., 75. Bertolini, P., 1905: Il Montello, Storia e colonizzazione, Roma, Nuova Antologia. Pubblicato nel 1987 (a cura di Aldo Durante) dal Museo dello Scarpone, Montebelluna (Treviso). Boccalon, G., Cucchi, F. & Forti, P., 1987: The hydrogeology of the Montello Karst area (Italy), Geolis, vol. I. Buosi, B., 1997: Il bosco del Montello tra Venezia e Vienna, Atti del Convegno di Studi TrevisoPreganziol. Buosi, B., 1992: Maledetta Giavera, Edizioni Amadeus, Montebelluna (Treviso). Casti Moreschi, E. & Zolli, E., 1988: Boschi della Serenissima, Storia di un rapporto uomo-ambiente, Dal passato a noi, strumenti didattici – 2, Arsenale Editrice, Verona. Cucchi, F., 1978: Indagini strutturali su alcune cavità del Montello Nord-orientale (TV). Trieste. Mondo sotterraneo, 2, (1), pp. 13. Ferrarese, F., 1999: Analisi della rete fluviocarsica del Montello. Vicenza. Speleologia Veneta, pp. 49-59. Ferrarese, F., 2000: Doline di crollo. Aspetti morfogenetici di eventi catastrofici nel carsismo del Montello. Speleologia, 43. Ferrarese F., Sauro, U. & Tonello, C., 1998: The Montello Plateau: karst evolution of an alpine neotectonic morphostructure. Berlin – Stuttgart. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie. Supplementband 109, 41-46. Ferrarese, F. & Meneghel, M., 1991: Aspetti dell’influenza strutturale sulla morfogenesi carsica nel Montello (Treviso), Atti e Memorie Comm. Grotte “E. Boegan”, Vol. 30, Trieste. Fileccia A., 1995: La sorgente del Forame: un caso di inquinamento da benzina. Vicenza. Speleologia Veneta, pp. 78 – 91. Fileccia A., 1999: Tracciamento in sistemi carsici: il colle del Montello. Vicenza. Speleologia Veneta, pp. 60 – 72. Fileccia, A., Galassi, P. & Mazzola, M., 2002: Idrogeologia e risorse idriche nel colle del Montello (Treviso), promosso da Provincia di Treviso e Associazione Speleologica Arianna, Stampa Grafiche Vianello, Treviso. Garlato, A. & Mozzi, P., 2005: I suoli del Montello, Verona, in Castiglioni B.: Montello, 3kcl, Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. Meneghel M., Sauro U., Baciga M., Fileccia A., Frigo G., Toniello V. & Zampieri D., 1986: Sorgenti carsiche ed erosione chimica nelle Prealpi Venete. Trento. Studi trentini di Scienze Naturali, Acta Geologica, 62, pp. 145-172. Modesto, M., 2005: Le risorse idriche del colle: una retrospettiva storica sulla gestione, uno sguardo al presente tra abbandono e trasformazione, Verona, in Castiglioni B.: Montello, 3kcl, Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna. Saccardo, A., 1885: Ricerche intorno alle erosioni del Montello, Atti Soc. Ven. Sc. Nat. 9, Prosperini, Padova. Saccardo, A., 1923: Le caverne del Montello, Stab. G. Carestiato, pubblicato a cura di Giovanni Zaniol, Treviso. Serena, A., 1929: Il canale della Brentella e le nuove opere di presa e di derivazione nel quinto secolo dagli inizi, Treviso, Arti grafiche Longo e Zoppelli. Stella, A., 1902: Descrizione geognostico agraria del Montello, Mem. descr. Carta Geol. It. 11. Taramelli, T., 1900: Relazione sulle condizioni geologiche del Colle del Montello in rapporto alla circolazione sotterranea, Montebelluna (Treviso). Taramelli, T., 1912: La foresta e le sorgenti, Giornale di Geologia Pratica, Parma.

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Vergani, R., 2001: Bretella. Problemi d’acque nell’alta pianura trevigiana dei secoli XV e XVI, Edizioni Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche / Canova, Treviso. Zannoni, I., 1906: La colonizzazione dell’ex-bosco Montello (12 anni dopo la quotizzazione), Ufficio Agrario della Società Umanitaria, Milano. Pubblicato nel 1989 (a cura di Aldo Durante) dal Museo dello Scarpone, Montebelluna (Treviso).

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THE DISCOVERY AND PROTECTION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ANCIENT METROPOLITAN CAVE SITES OF THE MIDDLE EAST: HOQ CAVE ON SOQOTRA ISLAND, YEMEN Peter De Geest1 and the members of the Soqotra Karst Project2 Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Department of Geology; DGLG-WE; Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, E-mail: [email protected] 2 http://www.speleo.be/socotra 1

Abstract In 2000 the Soqotra Karst Project (SKP) discovered a wealth of archaeological remains in Hoq cave on the Yemeni island Soqotra. Archaeological research had been conducted for more than a century, but cave site investigations had never been undertaken. A systematic cave inventory was started and today ancient relics; such as calcified pottery, mural paintings, epigraphs, charcoal fragments, footprints and even a wooden tablet with an inscription from the 3rd century CE have been recorded. Most of the text fragments refer to merchants arriving from East Africa (Abyssinian), Southern Arabian (pre-Arabic), actual Syria (Palmyrian), but mostly West India (Brahmi) and up to Pakistan; making Hoq cave probably one of the most metropolitan cave site of the region during the first centuries CE. Today protection measurements are started in collaboration with Yemeni Ministries and national and international NGO’s. There is a high national pressure to develop the site as a show cave for eco-tourism. Keywords: Hoq Cave, Archaeology, Protection, Soqotra, Yemen

INTRODUCTION Soqotra (also Socotra, Suqutra), located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean is the biggest and one of the most strategically placed islands of the Arab World (Al Hity, 1996). Soqotra is an archipelago, consisting of the main island Soqotra (3.549 km²) and three smaller islands: Samha (45 km²), Darsa (ca. 10 km²), also known as the two brothers and Abd al-Kuri (162 km²) (Mies & Beyhl, 1996) (Fig. 1). The population is estimated at 44.000, mostly concentrated in the capital Hadiboh and the western town Qalansiyah (Zandri, 2003). Although a multi-nationalistic mix of seafaring people are living at the coastal regions, the more native Soqotri live in the mountains and on the interior plateaus. Fig. 1: Location of the Soqotran archipelago.

THE DISCOVERY OF HOQ CAVE Although archaeological research has been conducted for more than a century (Bent & Bent, 1900), (Shinnie, 1960), (Bottings, 1958), (Doe, 1970, 1992), (Naumkin, 1993), Weeks et al., 2002) and (Naumkin & Sedov, 1993, 2005)., everyone overlooked the potentials in the many Soqotran cave sites. During new year 2000-2001 Hoq cave, situated in the north eastern limestone cliffs of the main island, was explored by the SKP-team as their first location for systematic cave studies. Three topographic teams spent three days to draw a map of the cave, with a total development of around 3300 m. The mean gallery, oriented WNW-ESE according to the bedding plane, stretches approximately 2000 m parallel with the cliff face and has overall dimensions of 50 m and 20 m in width and height respectively. Two smaller side galleries are oriented WSW-ENE (De Geest, 2003; De Geest et al., 2005). Even though local people were afraid of going inside caves due to the presence of spirits, called “Jinn”, the members of the SKP-team were not the first people to enter this underground sanctuary, as archaeological remains were abundant. The rediscovered cave site revealed the collection of calcified pottery, mural paintings, inscriptions, charcoal fragments, footprints and even a well preserved wooden tablet with an inscription. These discoveries could clarify the cultural heritage of the island and its importance in the wider region.

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVENTORY: WATER BASINS Approximately 120 m from the entrance, just after passing through an opening in a man made wall, one encounters anthropogenic water basins, made by assembled pieces of stalagmite into a reservoir or by the placement of naturally hollowed rocks underneath a dripping stalactite. Nowadays most are water filled, especially just after the rainy period from October to December – January. This is the area where daylight from the entrance zone remains visible. Sometimes goats visit these pools to drink, although the wall near the entrance is sometimes closed of by the local Soqotri to prevent animals to enter the cave, as they are afraid of loosing them. In some places ancient shells and pieces of pottery can be found nearby, clearly used to collect water.

POTTERY Pieces of pottery can be found from near the entrance up to the extremity of the cave, 2 km inwards. Two types occur, those for fetching water and others to burn incense. Around 11 incense burners were be found, most decorated with four spines, strongly resembling the locally made type (Dridi, 2002). Perhaps the burners could also have been used to find your way more easily through the system, as two burners seems always within sight (De Geest, 2004).

MURAL PAINTINGS Especially in the second half of the cave after passing a muddy area near a permanent natural water basin called “The Tub”, the presence of figurative mural paintings and inscriptions becomes more frequent. All archaeological remains point out that the early visitors were determined to walk up to the very end of this cave system, as many paintings, inscriptions, pottery and ancient footprints occur in the last 150 m of the cave site. This approximate one hour walk would not have been completely without any risk, as some area’s can be slippery, one has to crawl through a 60cm squeeze in between massive calcite concretions to reach “The end” and falling without a light could have been an irreversible situation. Drawings of flowers in a vase at a calcified wall and figurative flowers on top of a wide stalagmite can be found. Also a hand-drawn boat with three sails and outer riggers made in mud is situated nearby a group of inscriptions (Fig. 2). Fig. 2: hand-drawn boat with three sails and outer riggers made in mud (scale 1 m).

INSCRIPTIONS H. Dridi (2002), part of the French validation team reported 48 inscriptions, most of them drawn by hand with the use of mud, some written with a piece of broken stalactite and a few made with charcoal (Dridi & Gorea, 2003). The major part was identified as being Brahmi (NW-India), some are south Arabian and a few Abyssinian (Ethiopia). All inscription indicate a palaeographical age of around the 2nd – 3th century CE (Robin & Gorea, 2002). During the latest fieldtrip in January 2006, I. Strauch an German Indologists, accompanied us in Hoq to further investigate the Brahmi writings. The estimated number of only Indian inscriptions amounts now to more than 100 epigraphs. They can be divided in three groups: only the name of a person; a name of a person together with the indication of his father’s name; and a few epigraphs who give whole sentences of a kind (Strauch & Bukharin, 2006 in press.). A recent discovered inscription mentions the city of Bharukaccha, one of the most important West Indian harbour towns of that period and also an Indian Kharosthi script, which was used only in the North West of ancient India (modern Pakistan) and in Central Asia (Strauch, pers. comm.). The complete corpus of the Brahmi writings is actually under study. The use of a cave as a natural temple was very common in India in these periods and even today this cave gives his visitors a feeling of holiness and divinity.

WOODEN TABLETS A small wooden tablet was found near an incense burner on top of a wide stalagmite in the area called “the sanctuary”. Unfortunately the condition of preservation was very bad and no text could be read (De Geest et al., 2005). A little further in the middle of the same gallery the SKP-team discovered a perfectly preserved wooden tablet with a Palmyrian inscription left behind near a stalagmite (Fig. 3). Thanks to the translation done by M. Gorea (Robin & Gorea, 2002) we know that a certain Abgar, son

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of Absmayâ, had visited the cave on the 25th July of the year 258 CE to pray for an unknown divinity living here and he hoped that the visitors after him would leave the tablet on his location. This most southern Palmyrian inscription confirmed the presence of visitors during the 3rd century CE, making this found the oldest dated on the island (Dridi & Gorea, 2003). Fig.3: Palmyrian inscription from the 3rd century CE “Tablet De Geest” (dimensions 20x50 cm).

THE PROTECTION OF HOQ CAVE From the first day that the cave was mapped, a preliminary walking pathway to prevent further damage on the floors was constructed. During exploration the SKP-team followed their own tracks and if new locations had to be checked, pictures were taken prior to the visit. In February 2002 an internal report was handed over to the director of the General Organization of Antiquities Museums and Manuscripts (GOAMM), Prof. Dr. Youssouf Mohammed Abdullah to officially claim the SKPdiscoveries. An archaeologist from the department, Marmer Al Hameri, joined the team during the next fieldtrip to accurately note down the exact locations of all remains inside the cave. Unfortunately later that year a group of military left a trail of vandalism during a one night visit to the cave. Pottery was stolen, stalagmites broken, paintings in mud damaged and also their names were immortalised by graffiti on certain walls and floors, sometimes sadly covering ancient ones. After this event the SKPteam protected most movable artefacts and built a double lined walking pathway with reflecting tape. A local guide was trained to accompany the first “eco-tourists” in the cave with a strict visiting deontology. It was obvious that both more adequate safeguard onsite and an official protection legislation on a (inter)national level was needed to keep the splendour of this natural and cultural site for future generations. A series of internal conservations issues and guidelines were delimitated in collaboration with the Socotra Archipelago Conservation and Development Programme (SCDP), the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the ministries of Tourism and Water & Environment. M. Caruso (2006) handed in the proposal for inclusion in the world heritage list of UNESCO. Because there is a high national pressure to develop the site as a show cave, not only the preservation and sustainable management of the cave-site is currently at stake, but also the unique cultural importance of this ancient metropolitan hot spot could be lost in no time! Therefore the need for support and the following up of a equilibrated action plan is of the up most importance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the minister of Water and Environment (MOWE), Dr. Abdelrahman Al Eryani, also national manager of the Socotra Archipelago Conservation and Development Programme (SCDP), for his logistic support and collaboration. Our gratitude also goes to the national and local stakeholders of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA); Dr. Abdelkareem Al Eryani as director of the Socotra Conservation Fund (SCF) for his support; Prof. Dr. Youssouf Muhammed Abdullah as director of the General Organization of Antiquities Museums and Manuscripts (GOAMM) for his help and understanding; and the ministry of tourism (MOT). The fieldwork would have been impossible without the efforts and friendship of all the Soqotra Karst Project members and the thrust and respect from the Soqotri people themselves.

REFERENCES Al Hity, S.B., 1996: The geostrategic importance of Soqotra island. In Dumont, H.J., eds, Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Soqotra Island: Present & Future, 285-290. Bent, T., Bent T., 1900: Southern Arabia. Smith, Elder & Co, London, UK (1994), p. 455. Botting, D., 1958. Island of the Dragon’s Blood. Hodder and Stroughton, London, UK , p. 251. De Geest, P., 2003: Soqotra Karst Project: karst exploration and cave research on Soqotra island. Dioscorida, issued by Friends of Socotra (2), 4. De Geest, P., 2004: Soqotra Karst Project: The underground mysteries of Soqotra revealed. Bulletin of the Society of Arabian Studies, 9, 6.

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De Geest, P., Van Damme, K., Beyens, J., Roelandt, D., Claes, E. Martens, R., 2005: Soqotra Karst Project 2000-2004: Speleologische expedities naar het eiland Soqotra, Jemen. Unpublished report, Soqotra Karst Project, Belgium, p. 150. Doe, B., 1970: Socotra: an Archeological Reconnaissance in 1967. Miami, Florida : Field Research Projects, p. 156. Doe, B., 1992: Soqotra Island of Tranquillity. Immel Publishing, Ireland, p. 237. Dridi, H., 2002: Indiens et Proche-Orientaux dans une grotte de Suqutra (Yémén). Journal Asiatique, 290 (2),565-610. Dridi, H., Gorea, M., 2003: Le voyage d’Abgar à Suqutra. Archéologia 396,48-57. Hébert, J., 2003: Atlantide la solution oubliée. Orbis Enigma, Carnot France, p. 186. Mies, B.A., Beyhl, F.E., 1996: The vegetation ecology of Soqotra. In Dumont, H.J., eds, Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Soqotra Island: Present & Future, 35-81. Naumkin, V.V. 1993: Island of the Phoenix – An Ethnographic Study of the People of Soqotra. Translated from Russian by Valery A. Epstein. Ithaca Press, Reading, U.K., p. 421. Naumkin, V.V., Sedov, A.V., 1993: Socotra. Topoi, 3 (2),569-623. Naumkin, V.V., Sedov, A.V., 2005: Monuments of Socotra, in M.F. Boussac & J.F. Salles, ed., Athens, Aden, Afrikamendu: Essays on the interrelations between India, Arabia and the Eastern Mediterranean, New Delhi: Centre de Sciences Humaines,193-250. Robin, C., Gorea, M., 2002: Les vestiges antiques de la grotte de Hoq (Suqutra, Yémen). Comtes Rendus des Séances de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres: 14,409-445. Shinnie, P.L., 1960: Archaeological research on the island of Soqotra in 1956. Antiquity 134, 100110. Strauch, I., Bukharin, M.D., 2006: Indian Inscriptions from the Cave Hoq on Suqutra (Yemen). Annali Neapel., In prep. Weeks, L., Morris, M., McCall, B., Al-Zubairy, K., 2002: A recent archaeological survey on Soqotra. A report on the preliminary expedition season, January 5th-February 2nd 2001. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 13,95-125. Zandri, E., 2003: Saving Socotra: the treasure island of Yemen. UNDP/EPA/GEF/UNOPS, p.49.

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1: Location of the Soqotran archipelago.

Fig. 2: hand-drawn boat with three sails and outer riggers made in mud (scale 1 m).

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Fig.3: Palmyrian inscription from the 3rd century CE “Tablet De Geest” (dimensions 20x50 cm).

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GROUNDWATER VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT AND PARAMETER SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS APPLICATION OF EPIK METHOD IN THE NATIONAL PARK “TARA” Vladimir Živanović1 & Zorica Bjelivuk1 & Igor Jemcov1 Institute of Hydrogeology, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Đušina 7, Belgrade, Serbia, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 1

Abstract National park Tara presents one of the largest karst groundwater system of western Serbia. The karst aquifer is developed in Triassic and Cretaceous limestones. Besides the National Park status of Tara Mt., there are many violations of the natural balance, particular of karst groundwater. These violations resulted with constant bacteriological contamination. Potentially highly vulnerable zones should be identified for karst groundwater protection, firstly identifying intrinsic and further specific vulnerability. This paper describes application of the EPIK method for assessment the intrinsic vulnerability of groundwater's and to ensure sustainable development of the whole region, as a first approach. Additionally in order to evaluate the influence of each parameter on the vulnerability assessment, parameter sensitivity analyses were performed. Keywords: karst aquifer, vulnerability assessment, EPIK, sensitivity analysis.

INTRODUCTION The National Park Tara has the surface area of 192 m2, situated at the west of Serbia. Endemic species of flora and fauna, along with beauty of nature of the Tara National Park, are main prerequisites for future touristic development and also potential violation of the natural balance, especially ground water. Protection of the park today is based on National legislative for National Parks and Environmental protection. In such circumstances and according to the existing policy, there is a whole range of preventive and active protection programs In spite of great number of restrictions, the existences of many examples of natural balance violation were detected especially in field of groundwater contamination. For that reasons highly important task is to establish intrinsic vulnerability map, in order to define zones of highly, moderate or low vulnerable, as route of future human activity to provide sustainable development of National Park.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA The study area characterised with wide existence of Triassic and Cretaceous limestone's, while the Palaeozoic schist's and Jurassic diabase, gabbro and Quaternary deposit occupy very small area.

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Fig.1. Hydrogeological map of National park „Tara“ The karst aquifer presents the most important source for water supply of National Park and wider area. The main drainage points are 3 karst spring (Perućac, Lađevac and Rača), located on the northern part, on the contact of limestone's with low permeable Palaeozoic sediments. One of the largest is Perućac spring with minimum annual capacity above 400 l/s.

APPLICATION OF EPIK METHOD Since that karst aquifers occupy most part of territory of National Park, and taking of account of the data availability for intrinsic groundwater vulnerability assessment, the EPIK method was applied (Doerfliger & Zwahlen, 1998). All parameters in EPIK equation (E - Epikarst, P - Protective cover, I - Infiltration conditions and K Karstic network development) was consecutive estimated and implemented into GIS, to obtain final vulnerability map.. For epikarst estimation, along with classical procedures (by using topographic and geologic maps), the analysis of satellite images was used. Three categories were singled out: E1- highly developed epikarst (swallow holes, valleys, karst fields); E2 - moderately developed epikarst and E3 - non existent epikarst.

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Fig.2. Epikarst map of the National park „Tara“ In purpose of improvement of the available pedological map (scale 1:50.000), the satellite image were used with different digital filter applied, to extract vegetation and pedological conditions. According of criteria such are the thickness of protective layer and composition of vegetation, four categories of factor P were distinguished (P1, P2, P3, and P4).

Fig.3. Protective cover map of the National park „Tara“ Created DTM (digital terrain model) with resolution of 20 m and vegetation cover were used for the estimation of the infiltration conditions. Three of four categories were distinguished (I1, I3 and I4). I1 represents zones of direct concentrated infiltration (ponors and ponor zones), while I2 does not exist according to proposed criteria. The criterion of the EPIK method has been slightly changed (Iurkiewicz et al, 2005) considering the widespread of highly dense forest. Factor I3 represents catchments area of karst aquifer. I4 represent the zones outside catchments area of karst aquifer.

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Fig.4. Infiltration conditions map of the National park „Tara“ Geological map and hydrogeological maps along with applied different exploration methods were used for the estimation of factor K. Three categories were distinguished: K1 - well developed karst networks; K2 - moderately developed karst network and K3 - the rest of the area.

Fig.5. Karstic network development of the National park „Tara“ The map of the groundwater vulnerability was produced by formula F = Ei + Pj + Ik + Kl, where the weighting values for  and are 3, 1, 3 and 2 (Doerfliger & Jeannin & Zwahlen, 1999).

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Fig.6. Vulnerability map of the National park „Tara“

PARAMETER SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS When parametric method for the groundwater vulnerability assessment is being used, subjectivity is inevitable when it comes to estimating parameters’ and their weighting values. To avoid subjectivity factor, sensitivity analysis should be accomplished. For that purpose, two analyses have been done: “Map-Removal Sensitivity” and “Effective Weighting Factors”. Map-Removal sensitivity. This analysis enables calculation of the vulnerability index with excluding one of four parameters. Comparing the new index with the initial one provides the influence of the missing parameter. The following equation is used (Gogu & Dassargues, 2000): where: SXi = sensitivity (for the ith subarea) associated with the removal of one V V map (of parameter X); Vi = vulnerability index; VXi = vulnerability index of the S Xi  i  Xi ith subarea without considering parameter X (E, P, I, or K); N = number of N n parameters used in primary suitability (4); n=N-1 (3) For the calculation of the Average sensitivity to removal of one parameter the following equation was used:

S AXi  

S Xi  Pi P

where: Pi = surface area i P = surface area of the National Park.

Table 1 shows results of the calculation: Paramete r

Average (SAXi)

Minimum value (%)

SE SP SI SK

0.48 1.28 1.06 0.66

0.00 0.08 0.00 0.00

Maximum Value (%) 2.33

2.25 2.42 1.83

Map Removal Sensitivity shows the great sensitivity of parameters P and I. Sensitivity of the parameter E is lowest which indicates that size of this parameter follows the size of vulnerability index. On the other hand, great sensitivity of P shows that correlation factor with vulnerability index is very small.

Effective Weighting Factors represent the influence of each parameter for some subarea when calculating the final vulnerability index. Effective factors can be calculated in the following equation (Gogu & Dassargues, 2000): where: XRi and XWi are, respectively, the rating values and the weights for X X W Xi  Ri Wi 100 the parameter X assigned in the subarea i; Vi = the vulnerability index for Vi the same subarea. For calculation of the Average Effective Weight the following equation was used:

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W AXi  

W Xi  Pi P

where: Pi = surface of the area i P = surface area of the National Park.

Table 2 shows results of the calculation: Parameter

Theoretica l weight

Theoretical weight (%)

Average effective weight WAXi (%)

E

3

33.33

29.67

P

1

11.11

12.16

I

3

33.33

42.08

K

2

22.22

16.09

Effective Weighting Factor shows how every parameter truly influences on vulnerability index. From the table 2 it can be seen that parameter I has biggest effective weight (42.08) so that this parameter has the biggest influence. Effective weight of E and P correspond with theoretical weights. Analysis shows smaller influence of the parameter K comparing the theoretical weight.

CONCLUSION Application of EPIK method for the territory of the National Park Tara is just the first phase in specifying the vulnerability of the groundwaters. EPIK was used to distinguish and focus on the most vulnerable zones for further investigations. Applied sensitivity analysis was used to measure influence of each parameter on the vulnerability assesment and it helps the interpretation to be more efficient.

REFERENCES Doerfliger, N. & Zwahlen, F.‚ 1995: EPIK: A new method for outlining of protection areas in karstic environment, Karst Waters and Environmental Impacts, Gunay and Johnoson (eds), Balkema, Rotterdam Doerfliger, N. & Jeannin, P.Y. & Zwahlen, F.‚ 1999: Water vulnerability assessment in karst enviorments: a new method of defining protection areas using a multi-attribute approach and GIS tools (EPIK method), Environmental Geology 39 (2), 165-176 Gogu, R.C. & Dassargues, A., 2000: Sensitivity analysis for the EPIK method of vulnerability assessment in a small karstic aquifer, southern Belgium, Hydrogeology Journal 2000-8, 337345 Iurkiewicz, A., Horoi, V., Popa, R.M., Dragusin, V., Vlaicu, M., Mocuta, M., 2005: Groundwater vulnerability assesment in a karstic area (Banat Mountains, Romania) - Support for water management in protected areas, Proceedings of International Conference "Water Resources and Environmental Problems in Karst - CVIJIĆ", Stevanović Z and Milanović P (eds), BeogradKotor, p. 127-133

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