Abstract
A factor of great significance for evolution of karst is a tectonic setting. There are two important tectonic failures.
The first is the Ramzová thrust fault striking NE – SW and the Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF) of the NW – SE direction. Stripes of carbonates (elongated in NE – SW direction) are displaced by many transversal fractures of Sudetic directon (NW – SE) and divided into some substructures.
Due to this fact and lithological characteristics of limestones, all karst phenomena are significantly tectonically predisposed in accordance with the nearest tectonic structure. In this area the directions NW – SE and NE – SW are the most distinct (in the Vápenná karst area N - S, W – E).
In order to measure present-day tectonic movements, the deformometers TM71 were installed directly across faults in two karst caves situated within the SMF zone. Monitoring by these deformometers has revealed slow micro-displacements (10-3 – 10-2 mm per year) with prevailing vertical components.