Speleological mapping in the northern part of Moravian Karst
Sirotek, Jan & Josef Weigel
Moravian Karst is one of the longest explored karst areas worldwide. Itts situated north of Brno on a surface of 100 sq km. The longest cave system is Amaterska cave, having more than 35 km of underground corridors. The system of Amaterska Cave also contains the world famous Punkevni Caves with Macocha abyss. The Czech Speleological Society has had a long term cooperation with the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology. Several special projects have focused on karsological mapping over the past 10 years. The main aim of these projects was the precise localisation of the cave systems towards the surface and towards other caves. A precise geodetic control pointts network was established in the Northern Part of the Moravian Karst using GPS technology. This network was used for the precise localization of the cave entrances. The main sink holes on Ostrov Plateau were surveyed by GPS as well as by the Czech Speleological Society the caving club Pusty Zleb started a new surveying of Amaterska Cave in 1993. The main polygon was surveyed using a total station with tripod set. More than a 5 km long free polygon was tied through the complicated underground terrain all the way to the end of Sloupsky Corridor. During the survey, it was proven that the old survey was invalid. The new survey was approved using the radio-beacon method. The main target of the latest speleo-explorations in this region has been the search for a connection between Amaterska Cave and the Sloupsko-sosuvske Caves. Both caves are separated by a system of several sumps (siphons) which must be dived to get through. The radio-beacon method was also used to locate a chimney between sump No. 4 and No. 5, which is getting very close to the surface. Cavers opened an artificial shaft in this place to gain better access to this part of the chimney. A comparison of the maps of both systems led to a physical connection of both caves in November 2005.
Event: XXIII International FIG Congress : Shaping the change
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