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Travertine Caves in Almopia, Greece

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Travertine Caves in Almopia, Greece See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320310627 Travertine caves in Almopia, Greece Article in Cave and Karst Science · October 2017 CITATIONS READS 0 169 3 authors, including: Georgios Lazaridis Konstantinos Trimmis Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Cardiff University 29 PUBLICATIONS 47 CITATIONS 14 PUBLICATIONS 1 CITATION SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Using LEGO to explore Archaeology and acquire Modern Greek Vocabulary View project Exploring Archaeology in Museums through the 3E method View project All content following this page was uploaded by Konstantinos Trimmis on 10 October 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Cave and Karst Science, Vol.44, No.2, (2017) 58–63 © British Cave Research Association 2017 Transactions of the British Cave Research Association ISSN 1356-191X Travertine caves in Almopia, Greece Georgios LAZARIDIS 1, Konstantinos P TRIMMIS 2 and Spyridoula PAPPA 3 1 Department of Geology, Laboratory of Geology and Palaeontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Seven caves have been explored and surveyed within two travertine terraces (Aspri Petra and Baina) in the Almopia region, Greece. The Aspri Petra terrace is less faulted than the Baina and the caves of each terrace demonstrate differences that could be related to the degree of faulting. Keywords: Cave, Travertine, Almopia, Greece Received: 30 January 2017; Accepted: 24 July 2017. Travertine caves are primary landforms (Bögli, 1978), which There are around 200 travertine caves in Greece but the means that their age of the cave formation is contemporary with authors are aware of published reports on only two of them: that of the enclosing (travertine) host rock, in contrast to the the showcave of Edessa’s waterfalls and the “Zesta Nera” in majority of limestone caves, which are formed by dissolution Sidirokastro. In the former cave the depositional process and of significantly older rocks. Compared to karst caves their the speleogenessis have been studied (Vavliakis, 1998). The dimensions are commonly small and rarely exceed some tens latter, “Zesta Nera”, cave is formed above the Krousovitis of metres. In this paper the term “travertine” is used in the sense River and it presents a rare landform (a 135m-long travertine described by Pentecost (2005, p.3): bridge; Lazaridis et al., 2005), for the formation of which the coexistence of several favourable prerequisites is necessary “a chemically-precipitated continental limestone formed (Bayari, 2002). A travertine bridge is a distinct type of primary around seepages, springs and along streams and rivers, travertine cave that is formed when deposition takes place occasionally in lakes, and consisting of calcite or above a river bed. This becomes possible when the travertine aragonite, of low to moderate intercrystalline porosity spring is located higher than the river’s level and the valley and often high mouldic or framework porosity within a is narrow enough to support lateral expansion of deposited vadose or occasionally shallow phreatic environment. travertine across the gap. Thus, the travertine deposit first Precipitation results primarily through the transfer bridges between the two riverbanks and subsequently expands (evasion or invasion) of carbon dioxide from or to laterally, along line of the valley. a groundwater source leading to calcium carbonate In Almopia (Fig.1) there are travertine terraces in the villages supersaturation, with nucleation/crystal growth occurring of Orma, Kato Loutraki, Promachoi and Garefi. All these upon a submerged surface”. terraces are located on the southern part of Voras Mountain, where long, normal faults delimit the mountainous area and Travertine deposits can be observed below thermal or karst the Almopia basin to the south. At least in the areas of Kato springs in many parts of Greece. The most prominent of these Loutraki and Orma, the travertine is related to thermal water deposits (Fig.1A) are located in the areas of Veroia–Edessa– springs. Furthermore, hydrothermal karst caves (hypogene) are Naoussa, Sidirokastro–Vamvakofyto–Thermopigi, in the also known in this area (the Almopia Speleopark) (Lazaridis, foothills of Paiko Mountain, in the Mygdonia basin, in Makri 2005; 2006). The thermal springs, hypogene caves and of Evros, in Aidipsos, in Kapandriti close to Athens and in the travertine are related to the Almopia geothermal field, to area of Petralona–Eleochoria in Chalkidiki. In some of these Quaternary volcanism in the area (Vougioukalakis, 2002) and areas the rock is quarried. to neotectonic activity. 58 Cave and Karst Science 44(2), 58 – 63, 2017 Travertine caves in Almopia, Greece Figure 1: A. Map of Greece with Almopia Basin (red square) and selected travertine deposits 1. Veroia-Edessa-Naoussa; 2. Paiko Mountain; 3. Sidirokastro–Vamvakofyto–Thermopigi; 4. Mygdonia basin; 5. Petralona–Eleochoria; 6. Makri of Evros; 7. Aidipsos; 8. Kapandriti. B. Promachoi village with Baina and Aspri Petra travertine terraces. C. Aerial views of Baina (top) and Aspri Petra (bottom) terraces and cave locations. (GoogleEarth images). The Promachoi travertine caves School (coordinated by G Lazaridis and D Karadimitriou). Exploration and evaluation of the travertine caves in the By the end of 2011 seven travertine caves had been located, Almopia basin of northern Greece goes back to 2005 as a joint explored, and evaluated in two main areas around Promachoi project between the Department of Geology of the Aristotle village. The travertine caves of Baina were first explored in University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the Department of 2006 and the caves of Aspri Petra in 2005. In 2011 the HSS- Northern Greece of the Hellenic Speleological Society (HSS) Department of Northern Greece carried out further exploration and the Environmental Education Club of Promachoi High and documentation of the Baina caves. Figure 2: Partial view of the Aspri Petra travertine terrace. 59 Cave and Karst Science 44(2), 58 – 63, 2017 Travertine caves in Almopia, Greece Aspri Petra (Figs 1 and 2) and Baina (Fig.1) are two travertine terraces in the vicinity of Promachoi village (northern Greece). Both terraces lie about 1.5 km from the settlement, the former towards the north and the latter towards the east. The area of the Aspri Petra terrace is about 10,000 m2 and the Baina terrace is approximately four times larger. Baina differs significantly from Aspri Petra in that it is intensely fractured. Fissures are developed mainly along SSW–NNE and WNW–ESE trends. The orientation and frequency of these fissures, and the can be observed on aerial images (Fig.1C, upper image). Two water samples were collected from springs located at the top and at the base of the Aspri Petra terrace, and these were analyzed in the laboratory of the National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF). When plotted on a Piper (1944) diagram the water sample analysis results, which are of Ca–HCO3 type, lie very close to the results for water collected from the main thermal spring within the Almopia Speleopark (Kato Loutraki) (Fig.3).Thermo-metallic waters that lie directly upon basement rocks in the Almopia region are of essentially the same type and show low levels of total Figure 3: Piper (1944) diagram with the Aspri Petra spring-water samples (red circles) and dissolved solids (TDS) (Lambrakis and the main thermal spring water from Almopia Speleopark – yellow circles – (Kato Loutraki). Kallergis, 2005). Figure 4: Ground plans and photos of the Aspri Petra 1 and 2 caves. 60 Cave and Karst Science 44(2), 58 – 63, 2017 Travertine caves in Almopia, Greece Figure 5: Ground plans and photos of the Baina 1 and 3 caves. In the Aspri Petra terrace there are two short, narrow and elongated caves (Fig.4 and Table 1). Aspri Petra-1 is located in the lowest part of the terrace whereas Aspri Petra-2, in which there is a small spring, is about 14m higher. Both caves developed transversally to the water-flow direction of the terrace surface. Lying several kilometres to the eastsoutheast of Aspri Petra (Fig.1B), the Baina travertine terrace contains five caves that are at least a few metres in length, as well as holding a number of smaller caves (Table 1). These caves contain a few speleothems, mostly flowstones and cave corals, with some stalactites and calcite crystals. Two of the caves, Baina-1 and Baina-3, are crevice caves that are oriented along fissures in the travertine (Fig.5). Other forms found are shelter-caves (Fig.6) and rock shelters (Fig.7), both terms applied sensu Bögli (1978). The Baina terrace spring is located in a shelter-cave (Fig.6). The most impressive cave is Baina-2 (Figs 8 and 9), which is a 9m-deep pothole with two entrances and a small spring inside the cave at the nοrthern lowermost point. The highest entrance is vertical whereas the lower one is horizontal, located on the cliff side of the terrace. After a short shaft (almost 2m deep) and a narrow passage, the cave is separated in two branches. The northern branch is narrow (0.6m maximum width) and leads to the spring, whereas the southern one begins with a deep shaft (almost 6m) that leads to a narrow passage (Fig.8). After the passage a small chamber opens up, and this leads to the second – horizontal – entrance of the cave on the cliff. In all four cavities there are plant fossils within the travertine. Baina-1, Baina-2 and Baina-5 also contain evidence of human use, including pottery sherds from drinking and water storage vessels, along with domestic animal dung.
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