Abstract:
The development of caves influenced by the deep circulation of water has received increasing interest for the last thirty years. Presently, hypogene caves have been recognized all around the world. Conversely, the ancient examples filled with sediments and representing palaeokarst forms are not so common.
The karst forms and their sediment fillings were encountered in the Dębnik Anticline (Kraków region, Southern Poland) composed of Middle Devonian to Mississippian carbonates. The development of karst slightly postdates the Permian (ca. 300 Ma) volcanic activity in the Kraków region. In this region major transcontinental strike and slip Hamburg-Kraków-Dobruja fault zone induced a series of minor, en echelon, extensional faults, which served as magma passages and guided karst conduits.
The karst forms in the Dębnik Anticline reach several to tens of meters in size. They are filled with: i) massive, subaqueous, coarse crystalline calcite spar; ii) crystalloclastic, bedded limestones; iii) jasper lenses; iv) kaolinitised tuffs. The sediments are characterized by red colouration caused by iron compounds.
Coarse crystalline calcite spar composes beds up to several dozen centimeters in thickness. They are laminated and comprise frutexites type structures. The calcites are interbedded with pinkish-red crystalloclastic limestones, which are built of detritic calcite crystals from silt size to a few millimeters across. Some of the crystals are of skeletal type. Crystalloclastic limestones are normally graded. Both calcite spar and crystalloclastic limestones underwent synsedimentary deformations, which resulted in brecciation and plastic deformations.
The above deposits fill karst forms up to a few metres in lateral extent. However, analogously filled enormously huge (up to around 100 m across) forms were recognized in the early 80s of the last century. Presently, they are completely exploited.
The karst forms were fragments of extensive circulation system. It was fed by waters of elevated temperature, rich in endogenic CO2, which is proved by fluid inclusion analysis and stable isotope investigation. The origin of this system was associated with volcanic activity. The roots of the system are represented by fissures filled with coarse crystalline, red and white calcites of onyx type, which are common in the Dębnik Anticline. Water issuing from this system on the surface caused precipitation of red travertines. These travertines are preserved only as clasts in the Lower Permian conglomerates deposited in the local tectonic depressions.
The study was financed by Ministry of Science and Higher Education project N307 022 31/1746.