The Earliest Chinese Karstologist Xu Xiake

Prvega pravega znanstvenega raziskovanja krasa in jam na območju južne Kitajske se je lotil Xu Xiake (1587 - 1641). Kras je proučeval več kot trideset let ter obiskal preko 300 jam. Svoja popotovanja po skoraj polovici ozemlja tedanjega kitajskega cesarstva je opisal v knjigi ≈Xu Xiakejeva potovanja« (≈Xu Xiake youji«), ki je bila prvič objavljena leta 1642. Velja za najzgodnejše razprave o krasu in je napisana v obliki dnevnih zapiskov. Opisal je podzemne reke in jezera, vodne vire, narisal je tlorise nekaterih jam in zabeležil njihove vhode ter opisal različne oblike speleotemov, načine plezanja po jamah in metode raziskovanja jam. Prvi je opisal različne tipe tropskega krasa ter se osredotočil na značilnosti in vzroke nastanka stolpastih vzpetin. V literaturo je vpeljal izraz fēnglín (gozd vrhov). Zato Xu Xiake ni oče moderne speleologije, krasoslovja, geomorfologije in geografije le v kitajskem merilu, temveč tudi v svetovnem.The first real scientific exploration of karst and karst caves in south China was undertaken by Xu Xiake (1587 - 1641). Chinese karst was studied by Xu Xiake for more than thirty years. He described his journeys to almost half of the territory of the Ming dynasty in his book ˝Xu Xiake's travels˝ (˝Xu Xiake youji˝), that was first published in 1642. He dedicated a lot of time to the research of the underground world by describing subterranean rivers and lakes as water resources. He also made ground plans of some caves, marked their entrances and described different shapes of speleothems. He first described different ways of climbing in caves and methods for cave research. Altogether he visited over 300 caves. Xu Xiake first described different types of the tropical karst and focused on the characteristics and reasons of the tower hills origin. He introduced the term fenglin (peak forest), which is still used in the scientific literature. However, he is not only the father of the modern speleology, karstology, geomorphology and geography in the Chinese scale but in a worldwide sense

Creative social groups in Slovenia: contribution to geographic studying of human resources

The article analyzes the spatial dispersion of creative occupations in various municipalities in Slovenia. The main conclusion, which can be drawn from the article, is the very uneven distribution of creative occupations, which are most dominant in national employment centres and suburban areas of city regions. Creative social groups undoubtedly represent a strong impact on the regional development, which is seen through GDP per capita. The areas with higher levels of creative occupations are more innovative and their social and economic development more dynamic. The analyses also show a positive correlation between the share of employed people in creative occupations and innovativeness based on the average number of patents per capita

Selective exposure on Facebook

This study investigated the causes and consequences of selective exposure on Facebook. The sample included Dutch and Slovenian (N = 134) undergraduate students. The results show that people who see, read, or click more news posts on Facebook feel more informed about the current political issues. Moreover, using Facebook as the main source of news was shown t go strongly influence the strength of the opinions towards political topics, namely immigration and membership in the EU. In overall, the study suggests that ideological selectivity to political information is influenced by the use of social media. &nbsp

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREJ KRANJC

Andrej Kranjc is a world-recognized karstologist and speleologist for his achievements in karst geomorphology, hydrology, cave research, karst terminology and history of karst science. In 2013 he celebrated his 70th anniversary. As his student and colleague I took this opportunity to present some highlights of his life and work. Despite being retired already since 2010, he is currently a Vice-President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. During our relaxing and amusing conversation in his office over a cup of coffee the present interview arose

Regional Development in the Regional Division of Slovenia

In the reform of the institutional system with the introduction of a second level of local self-gov-ernment, factors of balanced regional development play an important role. These are linked to the suitable division of Slovenia into functionally rounded areas and the evaluation of variant divisions and the effects of the polycentric basis of the network of settlements and the decentralization of institutions. The size and geographical position of regions are of strategic importance for the country's regional and spatial plan-ning policies

Karst aquifer hazard assessment and mapping on the Classical Karst

The article presents potential and actual sources of groundwater contamination on the Kras plateau, which is the recharge area of the Klariči karst water source that provides drinking water for the Kras plateau and Koprsko primorje. The water source is insufficiently protected due to inadequate water protection policy and the control over the implementation of the provisions has often been ineffective. Untreated wastewaters, illegal waste-disposal dumps and traffic endanger the water source. The hazards are shown on a simplified map that could be, in a suitable scale, a valuable practical tool for further water source protection and in land-use planning

Recent advances in karst research: from theory to fieldwork and applications

Karst landscapes and karst aquifers, which are composed of a variety of soluble rocks such as salt, gypsum, anhydrite, limestone, dolomite and quartzite, are fascinating areas of study. As karst rocks are abundant on the Earth's surface, the fast evolution of karst landscapes and the rapid flow of water through karst aquifers present challenges from a number of different perspectives. This collection of 25 papers deals with different aspects of these challenges, including karst geology, geomorphology and speleogenesis, karst hydrogeology, karst modelling, and karst hazards and management. Together these papers provide a state-of-the-art review of the current challenges and solutions in describing karst from a scientific perspective

Variability of groundwater flow and transport processes in karst under different hydrologic conditions

Significance of hydrological variability in karst is presented, which also discusses factors inducing such variability and consequences it may cause. Groundwater flow in karst aquifers is often characterized by strong variability of flow dynamics in response to different hydrologic conditions within a short time period. Consequently, water table fluctuations are often in the order of tens of meters, differences in flow velocities between low- and high-flow conditions can reach ten or even more times. In dependence to respective hydrologic conditions groundwater flow also results in variations of flow directions, and thus in contribution of different parts of the aquifer to a particular spring. The described hydrological variability has many implications for contaminant transport, groundwater availability and vulnerability. Groundwater level rising reduces thickness of the unsaturated zone and decreases protectiveness of the overlying layers. Higher water flow velocities reduce underground retention. Due to more turbulent flow, transport and remobilization of solute and insoluble matter is more effective. During high-flow conditions there is usually more surface flow and hence more concentrated infiltration underground. Particularly in karst systems that show very high hydrologic variability, this should be considered to correctly characterize, understand or predict the aquifers’ hydrological behaviour and to prepare proper protection strategies.Keywords: karst aquifer, temporal hydrological variability, groundwater flow, transport processes, karst spring, water source protection.DOI: 10.3986/ac.v42i2.64