Abstract
Rich in historical heritage and natural beauties and located close to Prague, the Bohemian Karst has attracted visitors and scholars for centuries. Lower Paleozoic strata, folded and faulted during the Variscan Orogeny, have yielded thousands of fossil species.
Well-exposed sedimentary rocks enabled definition of five international stratotype and/or parastratotype sections of geological boundaries. Most of the karst forms are inactive and largely sediment-filled (paleokarst).
The area is poor in karren fields, dolines and underground active streams, but rich in complex maze caves, locally with small but deep cave lakes. Morphological evolution of the present-day landscape was initiated after Cretaceous and Paleogene planation, when the area started to be entrenched by low-gradient Oligocene and Miocene rivers.
In the Middle and Late Pleistocene, the entrenchment of river valleys was accelerated, forming steep-walled rocky canyons combined with a system of river terraces. Following earlier thermal water karstification, river floodwater injection was the main speleogenetic process during the Neogene and Quaternary.
Archaeological finds and human bones up to ca. 150,000 years old have been discovered in the area. Historical sites, like the former Slavic fortified settlement at Tetín, majestic Gothic Karlštejn Castle, the Baroque monastery and church at Svatý Jan pod Skalou, and the hiking and educational trails annually attract approximately half a million visitors.