The Journal is published by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic, the Krkonoše Mts. National Park Administration, the Bohemian Forest Mts. National Park Administration, the Podyjí National Park Administration and the The Bohemian Switzerland National Park Administration. It has been published since 1946.
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Nature Conservation 6/2010 — 28. 12. 2010 — Nature and Landscape Management — Print article in pdf
The Jeskyně pod Sněžníkem Caves Managed by the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic
Since 2001, the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic has been in charge of managing a speleologically and geologically unique site, the so-called Jeskyně pod Sněžníkem Caves. It is a system of pseudokarst hollows discovered by fluorite mining at the Jílové–Sněžník deposit near the town of Děčín (northern Bohemia).
Since 2001, the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic has been in charge of managing a speleologically and geologically unique site, the so-called Jeskyně pod Sněžníkem Caves. It is a system of pseudokarst hollows discovered by fluorite mining at the Jílové–Sněžník deposit near the town of Děčín (northern Bohemia). In 1955–1994, where fluorite was exploited, 21 kilometres of mining galleries were built there and a lot of pseudokarst cavities were discovered underground. Among them, the 15 most known ones were examined and documented in the 1980s.
The most extensive hollow reaches 150 meters long and 2,500 cubic metres in volume. The hollows were formed on tectonic lines in an east-west direction in Lower Turon moderately grained siliceous sandstone beds and they are accompanied by low to moderate temperature hydrothermal mineralization. Filling material in dykes and coatings on walls are formed by almost pure fluorite: somewhere, there are small, but from a point of view of mineralogy highly attractive clusters of fluorite crystals. The caves are accessible only through the mining galleries; none can be reached directly from the surface.
Since 1999, the pseudokarst cavities with fluorite mineralization as well as a part of galleries in the abandoned mine at the Gallery No. 4 level have been specially protected as the Jeskyně pod Sněžníkem Caves Nature Monument. The Cave Administration of the Czech Republic implements security measures and mining workings and other necessary management there and is in charge of the sites documentation. Thus, the Administration provides a safe access to the pseudokarst hollows, further research in the unique geological and geomorphological phenomenon of European importance and its presentation particularly to experts and specialists.