Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst

Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst

The Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst are outstanding for the large number of complex, diverse and relatively intact caves concentrated into a relatively small area. Located at the north-eastern border of Hungary and the south-eastern border of Slovakia, this exceptional group of 712 caves, recorded at time of inscription, lies under a protected area of 56,651 ha and a larger buffer zone. Today more than 1000 caves are known. Karst processes have produced a rich diversity of structures and habitats that are important from a biological, geological and paleontological point of view. While the karst continues to develop in mountains of medium height and under temperate climate conditions, sediments and fossil landforms provide ample evidence of Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary subtropical and tropical climatic conditions as well as periglacial denudational activity during the Quaternary. Shaped over tens of millions of years, the area provides an excellent demonstration of karst formation during both tropical and glacial climates, which is very unusual and probably better documented here than anywhere else in the world.

xw70@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

736

05/05/2023

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Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst

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xw70@st-andrews.ac.uk