Ponor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the name of municipalities and persons see
Ponor, Alba
Ponor (Nikšić)
A ponor is a natural surface opening, which may be found in landscapes, where the geology and the geomorphology is characterized by some kind of Karst.
While a sinkhole basically is a depression (doline) of surface topography with a pit or cavety directly underneath, a ponor is kind of a portal, where a surface stream or lake flows either partially or completely underground into a Karst ground-water system. Steady water erosion may have formed or enlarged the portal in (mainly limestone) rock, in a conglomerate or in looser materials.
Ponors are found worldwide, but only in some Karst regions. There are several municipalities in South East Europe (Hungary, Romania, Montenegro) with the name Ponor - due to according Karst openings. There are significant geological ponors in the Carpathian Mountains, the Dinaric Alps, Greece and Turkey and in several southern states of the USA.
The term ponor has become the international geological term for larger Karst induced surface waterinlets.
