Underground Karst Morphology (Speleology)

Abstract

The peculiarity of karst is evident in the appearance of underground karst forms—caves. Caves are natural cavities in the rock mass large enough for a person to “enter”. The structure of karst can be compared to “Swiss cheese”; it is full of voids, but only some are visible on the surface. The quantity of the voids (caves) depends on the thickness and type of rock. Caves that do not have a natural entrance on the surface are called “caverns”. So far, around 12,500 caves with natural entrances have been discovered and explored in Croatia. It is estimated that there are at least as many caves yet to be discovered. There are 3 times more caverns at depths up to 100 m, i.e. about 75,000, and at depths up to 500 m at least 10 times more or 250,000. These numbers are calculated from the statistical data about the caverns discovered while tunnelling (Garašić and Garašić 2015).