title: Snežna jama (Slovenia): Interdisciplinary dating of cave sediments and implication for landscape evolution.
abstract: Caves are important markers of surface evolution, since they are, as a general rule, linked with ancient valley bottoms by their springs. However, caves can only be dated indirectly by means of the sediments they contain. If the sediment is older than common dating methods, one has to use multiple dating approaches in order to get meaningful results. U/Th dating, palaeomagnetic analysis of flowstone and sediment profiles, cosmogenic dating of quartz pebbles, and mammalian dating allowed a robust estimate of speleogenesis, sediment deposition, climatic change at the surface, and uplift history on the Periadriatic fault line during the Plio-Pleistocene. Our dates indicate that Snežna jama was formed in the (Upper) Miocene, received its sedimentary deposits during the Pliocene in a rather low-lying, hilly landscape, and became inactive due to uplift along the Periadriatic and Sava faults and climatic changes at the beginning of the Quaternary. Although it is only a single cave, the information contained within it makes it an important site of the Southern Alps.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute for Speleology and Karst Studies SISKA, c.p. 818, 2301 La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Häuselmann
authors.affiliation: Karst Research Institute, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Titov trg 2, 6230 Postojna, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mihevc
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pruner
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 4, 128 43 Praha 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Horáček
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Čermák
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hercman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Geology, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Strasse 70, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sahy
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Geology, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Strasse 70, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiebig
authors.affiliation: Karst Research Institute, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Titov trg 2, 6230 Postojna, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Nadja Zupan
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Hajna
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bosák
keywords: Cave sediment dating; Dating methods; Periadriatic fault; Slovenia; Speleogenesis