Abstract:
The genesis of the largest gypsum caves in the world and their hydrogeologic role are considered. The caves are developed in the Neogene sequence of the southwestern outskirts of the Volyno-Polilsky artesian basin. Four evolutionary-stadial settings of the formation of groundwater of the Miocene thickness are distinguished. It is found that the large maze cave systems in the gypsum are formed under conditions of a confined aquifer system due to dispersed recharge from a basal aquifer, under general ascending circulation through the gypsum layer. The general and regional models of artesian speleogenesis are elaborated, based on the ideas about substantial role of transverse percolation through dividing layers in multi-layer artesian systems and inversion of hydrogeological function of components of the geo-filtration section during speleogenesis. The conceptions about structure and evolution of groundwater circulation in the Miocene aquifer system, as well as related concepts on speleogenesis in the gypsym, constitute a new basis for solving a number of practical problems of region hydrogeology, engineering geology, geochemistry and environment. In Russian and Ukrainian, with abstract in English