Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mehedinti Mountains: Martel and Lazului Caves

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Cave and Karst Systems of Romania

Part of the book series: Cave and Karst Systems of the World ((CAKASYWO))

  • 653 Accesses

Abstract

Martel and Lazului are active phreatic/epiphreatic caves with a superimposed vadose morphology. Martel is a branchwork cave developed parallel with the river as a left (north) side meander and is located at about 8 m below the thalweg. The water level in the cave rises and falls along the main gallery, where the lakes/streams at the lightest rain become sumps. The cave is relatively poor in speleothems, except the fossil gallery (CS FV Gallery of Memories) located at the upstream end of the cave, but numerous erosion and corrosion features are present. Lazului is also a branchwork cave, forming a large meander on the right (south) side of the Motru Sec River, where at the lowest points of the cave, five streams are disappearing underground. Erosion and corrosion features are present, and speleothem is found occasionally in the upper level of the cave.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aldica G, Ponta G (1978) Peştera Lazului. Bul Speol 2:30–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldica G, Ponta G, Sluka M (1980) Jeskyne Lazului. Cesky Kras 5:76–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Bleahu M, Decu V, Negrea Ş, Pleşa C, Povară I, Viehmann I (1976) Peşteri din România. Ed Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, p 415

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandrabur G, Povară I, Bandrabur R (2010) Mehedinţi Mountains and Plateau. In: Orășeanu I, Iurkiewicz A (eds) Karst hydrogeology of Romania. Ed Belvedere, Oradea, pp 121–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Chappuis PA, Jeannel R (1951) Enumération des grottes visitées, 1927-1949 (8e série). Arch Zool exp gén 88:81–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Decu V, Bleahu M (1967) Grottes d’Olténie explorées de 1959 à 1962. In: Decu V, Bleahu M (eds) Recherches sur les grottes du Banat et d’Olténie (Roumanie, 1959–1962). CNRS Paris, pp 229–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumitraș D, Marincea S, Diaconu G (2002) Leocophosphite and taranakite in the bat-guano deposit from Lazului Cave (Mehedinţi Mountains). Rom J Miner Depos 80:23–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutihac V, Ionesi L (1974) Geologia României. Ed Tehnică, București, p 646

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer AN (2007) Cave geology. Cave Books, Dayton, p 454

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponta GML, Aldica GV, Dumitru R (2018) Polovragi Cave - Oltetului Gorge karst area. In: Ponta GML, Onac BP (eds) Karst and cave systems of Romania. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 83–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponta G, Povară I, Isverceanu G, Onac BP, Marin C, Tudorache A (2013) Geology and dynamics of underground waters in Cerna Valley/Băile Herculane (Romania). Carbonates Evaporites 28:31–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pop G, Berza T, Marinescu F, Stănoiu I, Hârtopanu I (1985) Geologic map of Romania, Tismana Sheet (106d; L-34–106-D). Scale 1:50.000, Inst Geol Rom, București

    Google Scholar 

  • Săndulescu M (1984) Geotectonica României. Ed Tehnicǎ, București

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulucan T (1979) Peștera Martel. Bul Speol 1:14–24

    Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Bleahu M (1972) Karst of Rumania. In: Herak M, Springfield VT (eds) Important karst regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 341–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocean P (1995) Peșterile României. Potențial Turistic. Ed Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, p 264

    Google Scholar 

  • Orghidan T, Negrea Ș, Racoviță G, Lascu C (1984) Peșteri din Romania. Ghid Turistic. Ed Sport-Turism, București, p 504

    Google Scholar 

Useful Websites

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Focul Viu Caving Club Bucharest and Nyphargus Praha for their support during the exploration and research activities at these two caves. We are also grateful to G. Diaconu (Senior Researcher with the “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology), the scientific coordinator of Focul Viu Caving Club in the 1970s and 1980s, for his advices and recommendations for fieldwork activities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Alabama, 420 Hackberry Lane, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35401, USA

    Gheorghe M. L. Ponta

  2. National Institute of Materials Physics, 105 Bis Atomiștilor Street, P.O. Box 077125, Măgurele, Ilfov, Romania

    Gheorghe V. Aldica

  3. Vișinului 77, 310197, Arad, Romania

    Tiberiu Tulucan

Authors
  1. Gheorghe M. L. Ponta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gheorghe V. Aldica
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tiberiu Tulucan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gheorghe M. L. Ponta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Groundwater Assessment Program, Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

    Gheorghe M. L. Ponta

  2. School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Bogdan P. Onac

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ponta, G.M.L., Aldica, G.V., Tulucan, T. (2019). Mehedinti Mountains: Martel and Lazului Caves. In: Ponta, G., Onac, B. (eds) Cave and Karst Systems of Romania. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90747-5_19

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation