La ricerca speleo-carsica in Albania: risultati e prospettive
Abstract
En
From 1993 to 1996 the Gruppo Puglia Grotte (Castellana-Grotte, BA) and the Gruppo Speleologico Dauno (Foggia) organized four speleological expeditions in Albania. Three karst areas, located in central and south Albania, were explored: Polisit, Kurvelesh and Tomor-Kulmakut. In the Polisit area, a strong contrast between the remarkable frequency and variety of karst landforms at the ground surface, and the limited depth and length of most of the explored caves was observed; the caves are generally structurally-controlled, and with a mostly vertical development along the main joints in the carbonate rock mass. At Kurvelesh, all of the types of carbonate rocks cropping out in the massif are interested by karst processes, under the forms of both surface landforms and underground cavities. Within the sample of 21 explored caves, 15 develop in the Cretaceous limestones, 3 in the limestones and carbonate conglomerates of lower-middle Cretaceous, and 3 in the Paleogene rocks. The most interesting caves are active and show presence of water, in some cases creating siphons that had to be patiently passed in order to proceed with the explorations. The Tomor – Kulmakut mountain ridge is located north-east of the coastal town of Valona. As regards karst landforms and caves, the area resulted in a small number of caves, most of which with limited development and depth. Better than Tomor, the north-western side of Kulmakut Mt. was more interesting, with an overall number of 20 caves. About all the caves showed a clear dependence upon the structural setting. Most of them was concentrated at altitude of 1250-1500 m. Five years after the last expedition, we now look forward to continuing speleolological research in Albania, trough co-operation with the local speleological clubs and universities.
From 1993 to 1996 the Gruppo Puglia Grotte (Castellana-Grotte, BA) and the Gruppo Speleologico Dauno (Foggia) organized four speleological expeditions in Albania. Three karst areas, located in central and south Albania, were explored: Polisit, Kurvelesh and Tomor-Kulmakut. In the Polisit area, a strong contrast between the remarkable frequency and variety of karst landforms at the ground surface, and the limited depth and length of most of the explored caves was observed; the caves are generally structurally-controlled, and with a mostly vertical development along the main joints in the carbonate rock mass. At Kurvelesh, all of the types of carbonate rocks cropping out in the massif are interested by karst processes, under the forms of both surface landforms and underground cavities. Within the sample of 21 explored caves, 15 develop in the Cretaceous limestones, 3 in the limestones and carbonate conglomerates of lower-middle Cretaceous, and 3 in the Paleogene rocks. The most interesting caves are active and show presence of water, in some cases creating siphons that had to be patiently passed in order to proceed with the explorations. The Tomor – Kulmakut mountain ridge is located north-east of the coastal town of Valona. As regards karst landforms and caves, the area resulted in a small number of caves, most of which with limited development and depth. Better than Tomor, the north-western side of Kulmakut Mt. was more interesting, with an overall number of 20 caves. About all the caves showed a clear dependence upon the structural setting. Most of them was concentrated at altitude of 1250-1500 m. Five years after the last expedition, we now look forward to continuing speleolological research in Albania, trough co-operation with the local speleological clubs and universities.
DOI Code:
10.1285/i15910725v26supp33
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