Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

CHARACTERISTIC OF NOVELDED MINERALS IN THE NEUTRAL MICROCLIMATIC CAVE AREA OF THE ICE FALCON (KAZAKHSTAN)

2017. №3, pp. 182-190

Golovachev Ilya V. - C.Sc. in Geography, Associate Professor, Astrakhan State University, 16 Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, 414025, Russian Federation, bask_speleo@mail.ru

Kadebskaya Olga I. - C.Sc. in Geography, Associate Professor, Mining Institute of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 78Р° Sibirskaya st., Perm, 614007, Russian Federation, icecave@bk.ru

The work is devoted to the description of mineral formations of the cave Ice Fern located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Inder (Atyrau region, Kazakhstan). It relates to the caves corrosion-erosion type and has one input. The cave was opened for the first time in 2015 and was not previously known to the local population. The Ice Fern Cave is the largest cave of the Indersko-Emba karst district and the only cave of the Northern Caspian with long-lasting icing. For the first time, the species diversity, mineralogical and crystallographic features of the minerals newly formed in the cave are described. In neutral microclimatic area at positive temperatures in the cave formed calcite, gypsum, celestite, Glauber, mirabilite, thenardite, ulexite and inderite. The conducted research allowed to draw conclusions that abundant secondary sulphate and borate mineralization on the walls in the neutral microclimatic zone of the Ice Fern Cave seems to be associated with the redeposition of B, Na, Mg and Ca elements washed from the bedrock by infiltration and condensation waters. The main cause and environment of mineral formation in the neutral zone of the cave is a thin film of water. The described manifestation of the index as a secondary mineral of caves is the first find in the world.

Key words: карст, карст гипсовых кепроков, сульфатный карст, карстовая пещера, минералы пещер, минералообразование, кристаллические образования, пещера Ледяной Папоротник, озеро Индер, Северный Прикаспий, karst, karst of gypsum cappens, sulphate karst, karst cave, c

Read