Parco Regionale dei Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa
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Home » Nature and Territory » Parco Regionale dei Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa » Protected Area » Geomorphology

Candles and gypsum bubbles

The soluble and macrocrystalline nature of selenite explains the unique karst forms that can be seen along the gypsum outcrops.

These include the deep vertical furrows created along steep walls, referred to as candles because of their particular shape and formed by the run-off of water along the lines of greatest slope.

Instead, on other outcrops you'll find unusual bulges, revealing, through their small openings, bizarre dome-shaped cavities.

These are gypsum bubbles, created from complex dissolution and recrystallization processes that cause the recrystallized rock mass to increase in volume, resulting in the buckling and detachment of a gypsum crust.

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