Die Karsterscheinungen an den östlichen Hängen des Davras Da?? (Westlicher Taurus): Karren, Dolinen, Uvalas

Abstract

Karst landforms on the eastern slopes of Davras Dag? (western Taurus): karren, sinkholes and uvalas. A characteristic of the study area is the low frequency of gully and rill karren. By length, width and depth they are not comparable with the same type of karren in the alpine karst, as they have attained only insignificant dimensions. This difference in size cannot primarily be attributed to differences of annual precipitation, but rather to the fact that they are only 2-3000 years old. Their formation started with anthropogenic forest destruction and concomitant soil stripping. As gully and rill karren depend on bare rock surfaces for their formation, they cannot have formed before that time. Joint-oriented and cavernous karren, in conrast, are widely spread in the study area. As the formation of these two types of karren is related to the existence of joints, their frequency is explained by severe fracturing of the limestone during recent tectonic movements. Although cavernous karren may also form on bare rock surfaces, best conditions for their development exist underneath a soil cover. As this no longer exists, the formation of cavernous karren has become much reduced in the historical era. Sinkholes are frequent in the planation surfaces of Mid- to Upper Miocene age and are of Pliocene and Pleistocene age. The uvalas are also not very old, as many of them contain terra rossa.© 1999 Gebrüder Borntraeger.