Acta carsologica, XXV (1996) 
Nadja Zupan Hajna 
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "CLIMATE CHANGE: THE 
KARST RECORD", BERGEN 
At the Geology Department, University of Bergen, Norway a conference on 
climatic changes recorded in karst has taken place between August 1 and 4 
coorganized by Karst Waters Institute, West Virginia, USA. The main topic 
discussed there was the importance of absolute dating of flowstone by 234U 
isotope and definition of paleoclimatic conditions during the speleothem 
growth on the base of oxygen and carbon isotopes. 
The Conference was attended by 72 karst researchers from all over the 
world; they presented their work by lectures or posters. There were 48 
lectures altogether, 12 on the first day, 19 on the second and 17 on the third 
and 22 posters. The introductory papers were given by distinguished karst 
scholars, Prof. D. C. Ford: Dating Cave Deposits and Prof. H.P. Schwarz: 
Paleoclimate inferences from stable isotopic studies of speleothem, both from 
McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada and Prof. W Dreybrodt: Chemical 
kinetics, speleothem growth and climate from University of Bremen, Germany. 
Fram Slovenia three representatives were present, two of them from the 
Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU. Andrej Mihevc gave a lecture entitled 
Pleistocene to Holocene climatic record in speleothems on the SE edge of the 
Kras plateau in Slovenia. My first lecture was The valuation of absolute 
speleothems dating from Slovenia and the second, with co-author Andrej 
Kranjc Paleogeomorphologically interesting detail from the Ist Island. 
The first day the lectures covered stratigraphy and chronology of flowstone 
from a theoretical point, mostly dealing with U/Th datations by mass spec-
trometry, luminiscence and speleothem growth. The second day morning dealt 
with stable isotopes and paleoclimatic records during the speleothem growth, 
stratigraphy of cave sediments and paleomagnetism. The afternoon was dedi-
cated to cave biology and paleontology. The third day the lectures covered 
regional karst researches and analyses of cave sediments. 
Fram July 30 to 31 an excursion - Geomorphology and Quaternary geology 
of inner part of Sogne fiord, south Norway was organized. In two days we 
visited typical landscape consisting of fiords and high plateaus. 
The second day of the excursion through the Dummdalen valley, 1080 to 
960 m a.s.l., was interesting in particular. In this glacial valley a layer of 
Cambrian-Ordovician marbles, some metres wide, severa! times crosses the 
stream that runs through the valley. At the contact with marbles water sinks, 
flows underground and reappears at the contact of marbles and shales. In 
lower part of the valley some shorter active caves developed. The caves have 
severa! entrances, they developed in severa! levels, the main water flow is in 
flooded passages, the upper levels are dry at low water level and flooded 
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when the water is very high. The second type of caves developed in the slope 
of the valley where the marble layer reaches the slope's surface. These caves 
are mostly phreatic tubes cut by younger vadose chimneys on many places. 
The caves in the Dummdalen valley are the largest karst caves of the 
southern Norway. 
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