Affiliation:
1. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Science
Abstract
The aim of this work was to determine mechanisms of formation of perennial ice in caves of the Southern Urals, as well as to find sources of water and processes responsible for the formation of isotopic parameters of the cave ice. Isotopes δ18О and δD were investigated. The caves Askinskaya and Kinderlinskaya are the most famous ones in the Southern Urals located at the lowest levels a.s.l. (260 and 208 m, respectively). In the summer of 2019, samples of perennial ice and infiltration water were taken in both caves. Ices of the Askinskaya and Kinderlinskaya caves are characterized by a narrow range of δ18О and δD values with very slight variations in depth: −11.42…−12.89‰ and −83.8…−95.7‰, respectively. Values the isotopes in the infiltration water sampled in the Kinderlinskaya cave are: δ18О = −13 and δD = −76‰. For both Askinskaya and Kinderlinskaya caves, the isotopic parameters of ice correspond to the calculated line of Rayleigh crystallization in a closed system when water with the isotopes freezes. The narrow range of values δ18О and δD suggests that aufeises (naleds) existing in caves for many years are the congelation (hydrogenic) ice formed by the growth of thin water layers freezing through at a high rates. Infiltration waters are formed mainly due to the precipitation of the winter seasons. The ratio between winter and summer precipitation is about 2:1. The infiltration type of the cave ice alimentation as well as evidence of long time of averaging of the isotopic signal in the atmospheric precipitation do not allow to use the cave ices as a climatic (paleo)archive.
Publisher
The Russian Academy of Sciences
Reference29 articles.
1. Badaluta C.A., Persoiu A., Ionita M., Piotrowska N. Stable isotopes in cave ice suggest summer temperatures in east-central Europe are linked to Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation variability. Climate of the Past. 2020, 16: 2445–2458.
2. Baker J.L., Lachniet M.S., Chervyatsova O., Asmerom Y., Polyak V.J. Holocene warming in western continental Eurasia driven by glacial retreat and greenhouse forcing. Nature Geoscience. 2017, 10 (6): 430–435.
3. Clark I., Lauriol B. Aufeis of the Firth River Basin, Northern Yukon, Canada: Insights into Permafrost Hydrogeology and Karst. Arctic and Alpine Research. 1997, 29 (3): 240–252.
4. Clausen H., Varna K., Hansen S., Larsen L., Baker J., Sigaard-Andersen M.-L., Sjolte J., Landholm S. Continental ice body in Dobşina Ice Cave – results of chemical and isotopic study. Proc. of the 2nd Intern. Workshop on Ice Caves. Demanovska Dolina. 2006: 29–37.
5. Fórizs I., Kern Z., Szántó S., Nagy B., Palcsu L., Molnár M. Environmental isotope study on perennial ice in the Focul Viu Ice Cave, Bihor Mountains, Romania. Theoretical and Applied Karstology. 2004, 17: 61–69.