Hydrochemical observations in soma Austrian caves

Several thousands of water samples have been collected in Austrian alpine caves. It was possible to differentiate between karst waters in common sense and condensing waters.

Due to lower temperatures at higher elevations the soil-biological activity is decreasing, hyper-compensating the higher solubility of COp.

Therefore the carbonate dissolution is lower. The opposite effect can be observed with the condensing waters as there is a higher uptake of COp during condensation according to lower condensing temperatures in high alpine caves.

Thus the mineralisation of condensing waters tends to increase with altitude. As the dissolution of common karst waters is more than compensated by the increase of precipitation with altitude it can be concluded on the whole that a higher carbonate-dissolution is taking place in high alpine karst regions currently.