Clay formations in the carbonate caves of Urals

Abstract

The article summarizes the research results of certain Western Ural caves. The author studied the bodies of agglomerative breccias with the clay cement in the limestone and the clay deposits of the caves. The study revealed the injection relations between breccias cement and limestone and showed cement of breccias and clay deposits of the caves to be argillizations of coarse-grained silicate rocks without the traces of stratification. The compositions of both those rocks and the alkaline-basic magmatic rocks are similar to each other. The author hypothesizes that there may be a shaping of some types of cavities in the carbonate rocks. The cavities shaping may be caused by thermal dissociation of calcium carbonate accompanied by the intrusion of high-temperature magma.