Though comparatively small, West Bohemia contains a great array of mineral waters, which vary in mineralization, temperature and gas content. The Slavkov Forest reserve occupies a central position between world-class mineral spas, and contains the curative springs and carbonated waters of spas like Marianske Lazne and Karlovy Vary.
Mere geological variance hardly explains such qualitative diversity. Hypotheses on the waters‘ origin have a long history and professional opinion is fragmented. New information convinces us that tectonics has not received its due. Gravimetric and magnetic measurement data on the faulting of the Czech massif allow a fresh view of the minerals waters‘ genesis.
Deep faults have fundamentally influenced the geological evolution of the area since the Precambrian period. Under the right conditions, these discontinuities in the earth‘s crust, penetrating to mantle rock, can constitute open passages. The ultratectonic theory of the development of endogenous ore deposits states that ore elements migrate from the earth‘s depths across its crust, first through major bathic faults, then along main tectonic lines and into tectonic splinter zones. Individual bathic faults have their own mineralization types, depending especially on their depth.
One can infer that the above processes continue even today. The prolonged influx of endogenous materials evidently has important influence on the creation of various mineral waters. Wide fissures found through deep drilling (Karlovy Vary; central Sokolov basin) confirm the existence of these exit routes. In West Bohemia, geophysically documented bathic faults separate crustal segments (blocks) of varied paleological development. Foremost is the Litomerice fault, the most important and geotectonically longest functioning fault in the Czech massif. Its basic direction (southwest to northeast) is followed by some other bathic faults. Simplified tectonic maps show striking parallels between these faults and mineral water distribution. An important factor in the advent of springs is an influx of postmagmatic CO2, whose escape is also tectonically determined. One interesting phenomenon is the outflow of C02 into phreatic waters as mofettes, at Milhostov, Smradoch and elsewhere.
The Slavkov Forest is bordered to the northwest by the northern branch of the Litomerice fault (possibly a continuation of the Strezov fault). The southern branch runs roughly on a line from the Doupov mountains to Ma-rianske Lazne and represents the areas southeast border. To the southwest the forest is delineated by the Marianske Lazne fault and its parallel the Plana fault.
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