Long-term experiment on studying of disolution of the sulphatic rocks in the Kungur ice cave

The experiment on studying of speed of samples disolution in the Kungur Ice Cave begun by E.P. Dorofeev in 1985 has been going on. The long observations on leaching of 10 samples of gypsum and anhydrite is carried out. The relative rate of karst denudation is calculated in two ways: measuring the total loss of the substance (mm / year) and alteration of the samples mass (mg / day or %). It was confirmed that the higher dissolution rate has been observedfor samples with impurities than that for pure sulfate rocks, and activation of dissolution occurs in spring or during intense precipitation in the summer-autumn period accompanied by flooding of the cave areas. A new cycle of observations on the leaching of sulfate rocks in organ pipes has begun.