Filipčíková N., Milovský R., Lánczos T. & Csibri T., 2018: Characterising CO₂ carbon isotopic composition in a cave atmosphere at Havranická Cave, Malé Karpaty Mts.: A case study. Acta Geologica Slovaca, 10, 1, 65–71.

Characterising CO₂ carbon isotopic composition in a cave atmosphere at Havranická Cave, Malé Karpaty Mts.: A case study

Petronela Filipčíková¹, Rastislav Milovský², Tomáš Lánczos¹ & Tamás Csibri³

¹Department of Geochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; nela.filipcikova@gmail.com, tlanczos@gmail.com
²Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ďumbierska 1, 974 01, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia; milovsky@savbb.sk
³Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; tamas.csibri@gmail.com

Abstract

This study provides the results of an investigation of the carbon isotopic composition in a CO₂ cave atmosphere at Havranická Cave, Malé Karpaty Mts., Western Carpathians. The measured concentrations and δ¹³C values range between near-atmospheric (~ 612 ppmV and –7.38 ‰ PDB) values and depleted (~1039 ppmV and –13.5 ‰) values suggesting mixing of two contrasting CO₂ sources. Other measured characteristics such as temperature, humidity and CO₂ concentrations show trends related to depth, where temperature and humidity remain constant and the CO₂ content increases with depth. We conclude that the carbon isotopic composition of cave air is a result of mixing of atmospheric and soil-derived CO₂, degassed from dripwater. The contribution of carbon from limestone bedrock is possible, however, it cannot be confirmed with the current dataset.

Key words: Malé Karpaty Mts., Havranická cave, cave atmosphere, carbon dioxide, stable isotope

Manuscript received: 2017-11-10

Revised version accepted: 2018-05-09