Lukas Plan
YOU?
Author Swipe
Modelling flow and transport to assess the influence of subsurface geometry on Alpine karst aquifer vulnerability Open
Karst areas are highly susceptible to contamination due to rapid recharge and throughflow caused by their heterogeneous structure with unknown networks of conduits embedded in a matrix of low conductivity. Vulnerability methods have been u…
The Role of Snowmelt on the Recharge Dynamics of a Vadose Alpine Karst Open
In Alpine karst aquifers, snowmelt plays a crucial role in groundwater recharge, yet the processes governing water flow through the soil and epikarst into the vadose zone and to the phreatic zone remain poorly understood. This study aims a…
Constructing a cave sediment stratigraphy for the Dachstein Massif sheds light on landscape evolution (Eastern Alps) Open
The Dachstein in Austria is the second largest karst massif in the Alps. It is dominated by Upper Triassic limestone and 290 km of cave passages have been documented. For this study, five major cave systems on the northern edge of the Dach…
Hidden Faults: The Late Pleistocene Transpression of the Königssee–Lammertal–Traunsee Fault Inferred from Caves Deformation (Eastern Alps) Open
The Eastern Alps have undergone lateral extrusion since the Late Oligocene, with major crustal-scale strike-slip faults still active, as evidenced by earthquakes up to M6, despite scant geological record. Research has focused more on the S…
View article: Characterisation of structural and water flow processes in the upper vadose karst zone using a multi-method approach in a cave
Characterisation of structural and water flow processes in the upper vadose karst zone using a multi-method approach in a cave Open
The complexity of karst aquifers hampers the assessment of groundwater recharge processes in the upper vadose zone. Consequently processes governing water flow in the soil and epikarst into the vadose zone remain poorly understood. This st…
Fault mirrors in the process zone of a seismogenic fault (Karawanks, Eastern Alps) Open
Square centimetres sized polished fault surfaces are exposed in the vicinity of a seismic fault in the Obir Caves (Northern Karawanks, Carinthia, Austria). Microtectonic studies reveal that contrary to published natural and experimental fa…
The elevated low-relief landscapes of the Eastern Alps Open
The morphology of the Eastern European Alps is characterized by a bimodal slope distribution with relatively flat surface areas located at both high and low elevations. While low-slope regions in valley floors are easily explained by base-…
The rapid surface uplift of the Eastern Alps. Evidence from cosmogenic nuclides and mapping of elevated low relief surfaces Open
Surface uplift of the Eastern Alps is generally considered to have occurred more or less continuously over the last 30 Ma. During this period, the interplay of many kilometres of rock uplift and erosion has resulted in surface uplift of so…
Unusual fault kinematic behaviour and near-surface crustal stress variations before and during an earthquake series in the Vienna Basin (Austria) in spring 202 Open
Short-term earthquake prediction remains one of the primary goals of seismotectonics. Here detailed observations of unusual fault kinematic behaviour and near-surface crustal stress variations are presented from before, during, and shortly…
Cave Levels in the Totes Gebirge (Eastern Alps) Open
The Totes Gebirge is not only the largest karst massif in the Northern Calcareous Alps, it also contains the most cave passages. In this area we are investigating the vertical distribution of phreatic cave passages to determine cave levels…
3D active fault kinematic behaviour reveals rapidly alternating near-surface stress states in the Eastern Alps Open
Stress variations in the Earth's crust need to be understood in both the spatial and temporal domains to address a number of pressing societal issues. In this paper, precise three-dimensional records of fault kinematic behaviour obtained b…
The Obir caves adjacent to the Periadriatic Fault in southern Austria: Uplifted hypogene caves formed by carbonic acid speleogenesis Open
Hypogene karst caves, formed independently of surface processes, have garnered increasing attention in recent decades, revealing a wider distribution than previously assumed. While most studies have relied on morphological observations, th…
Deformation of columnar calcite within flowstone speleothem Open
Damaged and faulted speleothems have proven valuable for neotectonic investigations and dating. Flowstone (or “bacon”) speleothems often consist of coarse (cm-scale) columnar calcite with a pronounced primary crystal orientation. However, …
4D flow pattern of the longest cave in the Eastern Alps (Schönberg-Höhlensystem, Totes Gebirge) Open
The Schönberg-Höhlensystem (SBH) is not only the longest cave system in the Eastern Alps (length 156 km, depth 1061 m), but a significant proportion of the passages have developed on or just below two surfaces that dip 1.7° to the NE. Thes…
Surface uplift of the Eastern Alps. Much faster than we thought? Open
We present cosmogenic nucleide data that help to understand the ill-constrained uplift history of the Eastern Aps. Well accepted, but indirect evidence for this uplift history includes: (a) the onset of flexural subsidence of the foreland …
Cave Levels in the Dachstein Massif (Eastern Alps) Open
This paper investigates the vertical distribution of horizontal and subhorizontal cave passages in the Dachstein Massif of Austria. Cave passages that are confined to vertical ranges, so-called cave levels, can be correlated with former va…
Statistical analysis of karst springs in Lower Austria Open
Karst springs play a central role in Austria’s water supply. This paper aims to provide an overview of the karst springs of Lower Austria, analysing statistical correlations of spatial distribution, discharge, electrical conductivity (EC),…
Differentiating between artificial and natural sources of electromagnetic radiation at a seismogenic fault Open
Ultralow frequency (ULF) to low frequency (LF) electromagnetic radiation represents one of the most promising effects of brittle rock strain and microcracking that might be potentially helpful for short term earthquake forecasting. In this…
Flow regime evolution of a major cave system in the Eastern Alps (Hirlatzhöhle, Dachstein) Open
The 116 km-long and 1560 m-deep Hirlatzhöhle is one of the major cave systems in the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA; Austria). It is located in the NW part of the Dachstein, an extensive karst massif encompassing 576 km² with its highest po…
Plio-/Pleistocene landscape evolution in the Eastern Alps: new insights from cosmogenic nuclide dating Open
The Eastern Alps hold an abundance of landscapes with noticeably low topographic gradients at higher elevations above much steeper slopes. Many of these elevated low-relief landscapes (ELRL) are organized in distinct surface levels. Sub-ho…
Quaternary paleostress regimes in the Eastern Alps inferred from ruptures in karst caves Open
In the Alps, the Adriatic plate convergence provoked eastward lateral extrusion compensated by strike-slip faulting and N-directed thrusting. Since the Miocene, these complex processes have led to several paleostress phases. Since the Quat…
Speleothem deformation due to the 2017 Mw 6.6 Bodrum–Kos earthquake in a cave on Pserimos (Dodecanese, Greece) Open
Although damaged speleothems have been widely investigated to study paleo-earthquake records in caves, only few reports could directly link damages to specific recent earthquakes. We mapped before the 2017 Mw 6.6 BodrumKos earthquake the s…
Co-seismic deformation of the 2017 Mw 6.6 Bodrum–Kos earthquake in speleothems of Korakia Cave (Pserimos, Dodecanese, Greece) Open
Structural mapping and dating of damaged speleothems have been used to investigate earthquake records in caves, especially of large infrequent events. However, there are few reports of damages in caves visited before and after a particular…
Flow dynamics in a vadose shaft – a case study from the Hochschwab karst massif (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria) Open
Karst aquifers are highly vulnerable to contamination due to quick water flow through conduits. Their high heterogeneity and the poorly known infiltration effect of the vadose zone make quantification of recharge processes difficult. This …
Stable isotope imprint of hypogene speleogenesis: Lessons from Austrian caves Open
Hypogene speleogenesis involves the formation of solution-enlarged permeability structures driven by ascending water acquiring its acidity from deep-seated sources. This process occurs in a wide range of geological settings and in differen…