Karst and caves in the Bihor Mountains - ITIM

ONAC, 2000), transports large quantities of cold and dry airin the cave, leading to a diminution of humidity (less than80%).Since the cold air in the cave is denser than the externalair in the summer, there is no air mass exchange betweenthe cave and the outside (equilibrium occurs between theoutside air and inside air of the cave). Differences intemperature (and thus the air density) between variousparts of the cave cause two convective cells between theBig Hall and the two reservations. Cold air maintained bythe overcooled walls and the ice block, flows down into thereservations replacing the warm air. This warmer air risesand follows the ceiling of the cave, but as it reaches the BigHall’s walls it cools down, thus maintaining the convection.This type of circulation is occurs from May until October.In April and October, rapid changes between summerand winter types of circulation occur, as temperature variesaround 0ºC.Due to the ventilation system, the Scărişoara Ice Cave issubdivided in three distinct parts, called meroclimaticsectors. These sectors are differentiated through thephysical (air) parameters and the types of speleothems thatdevelop in each of them. The glacial sector covers theGreat Hall, where external influences are the most intenseand the ice forms a compact block; the periglacial sectorcovers the three halls surrounding the ice block, whereexternal influences are reduced and ice stalagmitesdevelop; the warm sector characterizes the farthest parts ofthe cave, where external influences are practicallyeliminated and the speleothems are exclusively calcitic.The ice speleothemsThe ice block formed by the freezing of the water thatwas supplied from two sources. The first source is therainwater that infiltrated through surface fissures in the