DISSOLUTION OF CARBONATE ROCKS IN GUNUNG MULU - SARAWAK, NORTHERN BORNEO: FIRST RESULTS
ROBERTO ZORZIN
Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Museum of Natural History of Verona, Italy.
SIMONE ZANNOTTI *
Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Museum of Natural History of Verona, Ital
ALESSANDRO ZORZIN
Speleological Group Centro Ricerche Naturalistiche M. Lessini, Verona, Italy.
HEIN GERSTNER
Mulu World Heritage, Sarawak, Malaysia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Gunung Mulu (Sarawak, Borneo), Unesco World Heritage site since 2000, is one of the most important area in the world for the study of karst phenomena. In 2019 the Geology and Paleontology Department of the Natural History Museum of Verona (Italy) started to study the concentrations of Radon-222 and the karst corrosion operated by surface and underground waters. The field researches are currently in progress.
Rock tablets were used to calculate the dissolution rate, collecting this type of “data loggers” after approximately a year. The results of this first monitoring campaign show very low values of corrosion rate in the water. Such values are unexpected due to the exceptional development of the caves, high rainfall and the presence of a rainforest. This study provides more information on the existing data of karst corrosion in the Mulu World Heritage area which could also be useful for a comparison with current global climate change.
Keywords: limestone, karst corrosion, rock tablets, Mulu National Park, Malaysian Borneo.