Search results for "sulphuric acid cave"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Acqua Fitusa cave: An example of inactive water-table sulphuric acid cave in Central Sicily
2012
Description of the sulphuric acid cave in Sicily (see pdf attached)
Dissolution‐corrosion measurements with limestone and gypsum tablets in active sulphuric acid caves of southern Italy
2022
Dissolution‐corrosion (DC) represents an important factor for speleogenesis, and can be measured monitoring weight variation over time of carbonate and gypsum tablets exposed in underground environments. The oxidation of H2S produces H2SO4, which in carbonate host rock induces the surface of carbonate tablets to be rapidly corroded by sulphuric acid, whereby CaCO3 is replaced by CaSO4∙2H2O, producing a significant weight gain. We describe preliminary results of DC monitoring in four still‐active SAS systems, including Ninfe Cave and Terme Sibarite (Calabria), Fetida Cave (Apulia), and Acqua Fitusa Spring Cave (Sicily). The tablets have been set inside the caves, in three different condition…
Morphology and evolution of sulphuric acid caves in South Italy
2016
Sulphuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) related to the upwelling of acid water enriched in H2S and CO2 represents an unusual way of cave development. Since meteoric infiltration waters are not necessarily involved in speleogenesis, caves can form without the typical associated karst expressions (i.e. dolines) at the surface. The main mechanism of sulphuric acid dissolution is the oxidation of H2S (Jones et al., 2015) which can be amplified by bacterial mediation (Engel et al., 2004). In these conditions, carbonate dissolution associated with gypsum replacement, is generally believed to be faster than the normal epigenic one (De Waele et al., 2016). In Italy several SAS caves have been identified…