Karst and caves in the Bihor Mountains - ITIM

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Scărişoara Ice CaveSpeleogenesisThe speleogenesis of the Scărişoara Ice Cave and itsexistence is closely related to the evolution of the wholecave system to which it belongs. The evolution of the cavesystem is the result of the deepening of the Ocoale Valley,in parallel with the progressive deepening of the GârdaSeacă Valley. The process happened during three majorstages, leading to three karstification levels (Fig. 4).Fig. 4. Ocoale – Coteţul Dobreştilor karst system(after RUSU et. al., 1970).The first and highest level of the system, presently fossil,includes the Scărişoara Ice Cave and Pojarul Poliţei Cave.This level formed when the Ocoale Valley was drained by aswallet located on the northern slope of the Pârjolii Ridge.Nowadays, this cannot be ascertained by the surfacemorphology. The water entering the swallet was directed to“Sânziana’s Palace”, crossing along the whole cave untilreaching the Coman Passage. The water then passed theWhite Hall from Pojarul Poliţei Cave and exited the surfacethrough a confined spring, presently the entrance toScărişoara Ice Cave. The reconstruction of the OcoaleValley underground pathway in this first stage of the karstsystem is based on several solid arguments. First, the twochimneys at the end of the Little Reserve show that thewater entered Scărişoara Ice Cave at this point and not
through the entrance shaft, as one could believe at a firstglance. The surveys of the underground passages provedthat the White Hall from Pojarul Poliţei Cave is separatedfrom the Coman Passage by a mere 5 m long passage,now completely filled with sediment. Finally, it is more likelyto consider that the shaft formation follows a pattern oftenseen in karst, namely the simultaneous evolution of asinkhole at the surface and of a chimney in the alreadyformed underground passage. This hypothesis is alsosustained by the hourglass shape of the entrance shaft, nottaking account of the snow covering its bottom.The second karstification level, temporarily active,formed in two phases (stages). The water from OcoaleValley was first drained through the Şesuri Pothole, shownnowadays by the succession of pits in the first part of thecave. The stream reached the surface through the PoliţeiSpring, 224 m below the entrance to the Pojarul PoliţeiCave. The piracy later moved upstream to the swalletlocated in the place named “La Vuiagă”, which todayreceives only a small temporary brook. Developed over avertical extent of 214 m, the hydrologic connection betweenthe Şesuri Pothole and Poliţei Spring was confirmed asearly as 1957 by dye tracing.The third level of the system was found in 1964 throughdye tracing. This level consists of the permanent presentdaydrainage between the swallets from the middle and theupper basin of the Ocoale Depression and the large springof Coteţul Dobreştilor being located on the edge of theGârda Seacă Valley. The vertical extent between the twoextreme points of the drainage reaches 402 m.Cave descriptionThe Scărişoara Glacier Cave (Fig. 5A, B) opens with anelliptical, funnel shaped shaft of impressive dimensions: upto 60 m in diameter and 48 m in depth. The bottom of the
Page 1 and 2: European Society for Isotope Resear
Page 3 and 4: and which drains the northeastern p
Page 5 and 6: values were measured in combination
Page 7: Each block contains is own karst aq
Page 11 and 12: During springtime, ice stalactites
Page 13 and 14: in the non-glaciated parts of the c
Page 15 and 16: limestone or through the chimney lo
Page 17 and 18: also a large selection of calcite s
Page 19 and 20: • The water infiltrating from the
Page 21 and 22: Fig. 7. Evolution of Urşilor Cave

Karst and caves in the Bihor Mountains - ITIM

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