The first occurrence of sulfuric acid speleogenesis in Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

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Abstract

A cave formed during the process of sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) was explored on the territory Uzbekistan. Evidence of sulfate speleogenesis includes the characteristic morphology of the cave, the upward flow of warm groundwater of a chloride-sulfate sodium-calcium composition with the release of hydrogen sulfide, the widespread development of ascending passage, the presence of biomats in water, and characteristic secondary minerals. Based on the chemical composition of the water and the values of stable isotopes of oxygen and deuterium, it was concluded that the underground water of the cave are formed by mixing infiltration waters and buried sedimentogenic waters of marine sediments. The cave is an example of active sulfuric acid speleogenesis in Uzbekistan.

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About the authors

E. P. Bazarova

Institute of the Earth Crust of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: bazarova@crust.irk.ru
Russian Federation, Irkutsk

O. I. Kadebskaya

Mining Institute of the Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: bazarova@crust.irk.ru
Russian Federation, Perm

E. A. Tsurikhin

FSUE “Gosrybtsentr”

Email: bazarova@crust.irk.ru

Ural branch

Russian Federation, Ekaterinburg

A. M. Kononov

Institute of the Earth Crust of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences; Irkutsk National Research Technical University

Email: bazarova@crust.irk.ru
Russian Federation, Irkutsk; Irkutsk

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2. Fig. 1. Geographical location of the Khodjaipak cave (indicated by the red arrow). In the inset on the right, Turkmenistan (1), Kyrgyzstan (2) and Kazakhstan (3) are marked with numbers.

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3. Fig. 2. Scheme of the cave and its morphological features: depressions in the walls formed at the water‒air boundary when the groundwater level dropped (a); corrosion morphology of the cave ceiling above the underground river (corrosion dome-shaped depressions are shown by arrows) (b); general view of the cave passage, where crusts of replacement gypsum are visible on the walls, and thick loose gypsum deposits cover the floor (the greenish color is caused by sulfur deposits) (c); a section of the wall covered with replacement gypsum, the arrows indicate pockets formed when pieces of gypsum fell, areas of snow-white recrystallized gypsum and yellowish-green sulfur deposits are visible (d).

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4. Fig. 3. Needle-shaped crystals of celestine (a) and plate-shaped crystals of barite (b) on the surface of gypsum crystals (Gp), star-shaped intergrowths of thenardite crystals (Thn) among gypsum (Gp) crystals (c).

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5. Fig. 4. Isotopic composition of groundwater in the Surkhantau Ridge area. 1 ‒ global meteoric water line (GMWL) according to [17], 2–3 ‒ local meteoric water line (LMWL) (2) and eastern Mediterranean meteoric waters (EMWL) (3) according to [18]; 4–8 ‒ fresh karst waters of the Surkhantau Ridge: 4 ‒ spring flowing out of the Boy-Bulok cave, 5 ‒ lake in the Lunnaya cave, 6 ‒ spring in the Grand Canyon, 7 ‒ stream in the Vishnevsky cave at a depth of 200 m, 8 ‒ dripping water in the Vishnevsky cave at a depth of 60 m; 9 ‒ spring in the Khodjaipak cave.

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