Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Pădurea Craiului Mountains

2018; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-319-90747-5_43

2364-4591

Gheorghe M. L. Ponta,

Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Pădurea Craiului has the largest plateau-type karst in the Apuseni Mountains developed at about 500–600 m altitude with numerous karst features as karren, dolines, ponors, springs, and caves. In the southern part of the plateau, Ciur Izbuc–Ciur Ponor–Topliţa de Roşia karst system includes two distinct caves. Ciur Izbuc is a through cave traversed by a stream that disappears in the middle of the cave to resurface in Ciur Ponor–Toplița de Roşia Cave. The highlights of the system are the Bears Gallery (Galeria Urșilor) and the Footprints Hall, which housed many skeletal remains of cave bear and about 400 footprints as old as 27–31 ka. Ciur Ponor–Topliţa de Roşia is the longest through cave in Romania, with a stream that runs from Ciur Ponor entrance to Topliţa de Roşia Spring passing through large chambers with their floor covered with alluvial sediments and breakdown blocks and large passages and sumps in between. In the northern part of the plateau, the underground stream traversing Bătrânului Cave resurfaces a few km downstream in Vadu Crişului Cave ending its journey with a spectacular waterfall in the south bank of the Crişul Repede River.