Speleothems break and regrowth testifying past visits in some caves of Southern France
Géomorphologie et Spéléogenèse - Symposium introduction
Résumé
Various causes can be invoked to explain the anthropogenic broken speleothems: the exploration of caves, which sometimes requires the enlargement of passages, breakage by awkwardness, as a game, for different uses, profane or cult, and for many other reasons that still remain unknown. For scientist, the advantages of speleothems are multiple and are justified by a relative durability of the flows at the origin of their formation. This allows deducing a relative chronology recorded in the growth laminated layers. Paradoxically, the fragility of speleothems, very sensitive to destruction and collection, is a very good clue for the identification of past human frequentation.
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