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Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World pp 183–197Cite as

Inactive Hydrothermal Hypogenic Karst in SW Sardinia (Italy)

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Part of the book series: Cave and Karst Systems of the World ((CAKASYWO))

Abstract

In Sardinia, no active hypogenic caves have yet been discovered or described. Although there are a few thermal springs, mostly correlated to Quaternary volcanic activity, none of these thermal waters have interacted with carbonate rocks. Nevertheless, in the SW of the Island many metal ore deposits hosted in Cambrian limestones have been exploited over the last two centuries, allowing the discovery of so-called mine caves, some of which are clearly of hypogenic origin. These caves formed by thermal waters in a phreatic setting and are now located far above the water table and are no longer active, apart from some recent dripstone formation. The mine tunnels in Mount San Giovanni, near Iglesias and Gonnesa towns, have cut most of these caves: among them the well-known Santa Barbara cave, covered with barite crystals, Santa Barbara 2 cave, with its unique oxidation vents, and Crovassa Ricchi in Argento. Other hypogenic caves have been discovered in the mines of Campo Pisano and Monteponi (Iglesias), Mount Onixeddu (Gonnesa), and especially Masua (Iglesias). A very special case of hypogenic cave is the Corona ’e Sa Craba quartzite system, known for its barite crystals and rich in many mineral species. This chapter summarizes these known inactive hydrothermal and sulfuric acid caves.

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Acknowledgements

All geomorphological surveys and sampling campaigns have been possible thanks to the help of many cavers, without whom most of the scientific work in these mine caves would have been impossible. A special thanks to the cave photographers Victor Ferrer Rico, Ivan Licheri, Michele Pili, and many others for having shared their nice pictures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Italian Institute of Speleology, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni, 67, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Jo De Waele & Paolo Forti

  2. Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EQ, Cambridge, UK

    Fernando Gázquez

  3. Speleo Club Domusnovas, Via Roma 8, 09015, Domusnovas, Italy

    Angelo Naseddu

Authors
  1. Jo De Waele
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  2. Fernando Gázquez
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  3. Paolo Forti
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  4. Angelo Naseddu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jo De Waele .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hydrogeological Problems, Institute of Geological Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine

    Alexander Klimchouk

  2. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, State University of New York, Oneonta, New York, USA

    Arthur N. Palmer

  3. Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Jo De Waele

  4. Instituto do Carste, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Augusto S. Auler

  5. University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

    Philippe Audra

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De Waele, J., Gázquez, F., Forti, P., Naseddu, A. (2017). Inactive Hydrothermal Hypogenic Karst in SW Sardinia (Italy). In: Klimchouk, A., N. Palmer, A., De Waele, J., S. Auler, A., Audra, P. (eds) Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53348-3_11

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