THE SULPHATE KARST MAP OF THE SOUTHERN CIS-URAL REGION (CONTENT, PRINCIPLES AND MAPPING METHODOLOGY)

Abstract

Karst phenomena of the Southern Cis-Ural region has been known since the first Academic expeditions of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts (the second half of the 18th century). Long-term studies have established the presence of sulfate, carbonate and sulfate-carbonate karst, as well as karst of calcareous tuffs and clastokarst. The main patterns of development of these types of karst are determined, the forms of karst manifestations and the nature of their distribution are characterized. It is established that the most widespread and dangerous type of all karsts is the sulfate karst, which is developed mainly in the Cis-Ural region in the most economically exploited part of therepublicofBashkortostan. Despite good state knowledge of the karst of theSouthern Uralsand the Cis-Urals, at the present, only the small-scaled composite maps are published for this region. The first and the last for today summary map of the karst of the Southern Urals and the Cis-Urals in the borders of theRepublicofBashkortostanis a 1 : 1 000 000 scale and was compiled 46 years ago hasn’t been publishedand is available only in the geological funds. Karst data for the South Urals and the Cis-Urals region’s accumulated over the past decades allows to carry out modern typification of the karst in South Urals and the Cis-Urals region’s, define the main principles, the techniques and the content of sulfate karst map with a scale of 1 : 500 000 by using the modern GIS- technologies. The initial data for mapping is listed together witht sufficient justification for using a the software product GIS «Map-2011» for creating a GIS-project «Karst of theSouthern Uralsand the Cis-Urals region’s». The main groups of layers of the GIS project are defined and as well as additional ones. The fragment of the sulphate karst map of the Southern Cis-Urals region is provided where practically all karst types are presented according to the degree of overlapping rocks of the karst by non-karstic ones and the forms of their manifestations, both surface and underground. Some distribution patterns of surface karstic manifestations are shown on the map fragment.