Datensatz

Zusammenfassung

This very young thesis is so simple that it is hard to imagine that it is new and that no one had this idea before. The thesis applies to the Green Karst only. It promises to be an essential addition to the understanding of karstification. NERO assumes that CO2 not only participates passively in the water cycle, but also has an independent, in‐depth mobility (Greek: nerochytis = sink). NERO could be highly relevant to karstification. CO2 has a higher specific density than air. Carbonated water has a higher specific density than non‐carbonated water. Overall, CO2 has an in‐depth mobility vector. The NERO thesis means turning the focus away from only the water cycle and towards both, water cycle and cave‐air CO2 mobility. There are stations and transitions: the soil, the gaseous transition from the soil to the vadose zone, the vadose zone with cave‐air ventilation, density‐driven dissolution at the karst water level, the phreatic zone and the karst spring. The NERO thesis offers a new approach to understanding cave formation in the Green Karst: At the karst water level, water is enriched with additional CO2 from the cave air. In the following new solubility arises. Subterranean waterways with their typically round, phreatic wall and ceiling shapes can be understood as a result of that process. Perhaps even giant halls can be explained by this process (SCHERZER et al. 2017, 2020).