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Highlights

  • A 536 m-long through cave segment developed in Miocene conglomerates
  • Cave development through dissolution, collapse, and granular disintegration
  • Rich Miocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene vertebrate fossil assemblage
  • A cave minimum age of 0.8-0.7 Ma, potentially reaching several Ma
  • A rich archive of – partly syn-sedimentary – tectonic features

Abstract

Conglomerate caves are rare, and only a few have been described in the scientific literature. Here, we present a newly discovered and significant cave system in SW Hungary, comprising over 500 m of upper passages and a shorter, lower section of a through-cave developed in Lower–Middle Miocene conglomerates. The formation of these cave passages was controlled chiefly by bedding and fractures. Dissolution has produced typical karstification morphologies, whereas corrasion, granular disintegration, and rock collapse have also played a role in shaping the cave. The cave is dominated by vadose-zone morphologies, but sediment infills indicating upward water flow, along with ceiling solution features, suggest intervals of paragenetic dissolution. The several meter thick clastic infill consists of gravel and reworked loess, and the cave is decorated with various speleothems. The cave has a rich fossil assemblage composed of Miocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene vertebrate remains, including a Miocene rhinocerotid mandible, fish and reptile remains and coprolites, along with two species of mammoth and other large mammals of Pleistocene age. The modern taphocoenosis is described to provide an analogue for interpreting fossil cave assemblages. It contains both disarticulated and associated bones, mostly of from large herbivores, medium and small sized carnivores, small mammals, and even fish. They entered the cave both on their own and as prey carried by predators. Fluctuations in the karst water table may have contributed to the trapping and deaths of animals. The abundant tectonic features in the cave indicate that the host rocks and their first generation deformations formed during Pannonian Basin rifting, followed by later strike-slip faulting. Fossils provide a minimum age of 0.8-0.7 Ma for the cave, whereas conduit geometry and exotic clastic infill point to an even older age. Recent deposition of reworked loess has narrowed cave passages, affecting accessibility, which is also influenced by precipitation-driven karst water table oscillations.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.55.1.2572

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