Research in the Kungur Ice Cave carried out by the Mining Institute UB RAS from 2004 to 2024

Abstract

The article considers the latest and most outstanding achievements of the Mining Institute of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in different scientific directions over a twenty-year period of activity. The works on delineation of the main structural and morphological and morphometric indicators, peculiarities of grottoes and galleries of the cave have been carried out. A detailed textural and structural description of all rock formations composing the massif was made and the existing lithological-stratigraphic section was supplemented, the conditions of sedimentation were established. A new topographic plan of the cave and a plan of the surface of the mountain massif were obtained. Studies were carried out on the strength and deformation characteristics of the rocks composing the Ice Mountain massif. For the first time, the main physical and mechanical parameters were determined for the sulfate-carbonate rocks of the massif. The morphology and composition of newly formed minerals in the Kungur Ice Cave are described. In hydrochemical  studies, a method based on the study of variations in hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios was used for the first time, which provided new data on the composition and movement of groundwater in the
karst massif. Biological, seismological, radiological and surveying methods were developed and incorporated into annual monitoring. An assessment of the excursion and museum activities of the staff of the Mining Institute has been carried out.