The dissolution of gypsum of Disueri reservoir left bank

Results of a laboratory research programme on the rate of dissolution of selenitic gypsum are reported and discussed. The tested gypsum samples have been recovered from boreholes drilled in a thick layer outcropping on the left bank of Disueri reservoir located near Gela in Sicily. The tests carried out demonstrate that the rate of dissolution Rd depends essentially upon the velocity v of water flowing over the surface of the gypsum. Values of Rd range from 0.94 to 3 kg/(m2 • day) for v values from 0.05 to 0.20 m/s. Such high rates can account both for the rapid evolution of the existing cavities and for the creation of new caves within the gypsum mass subsequent to the impounding of the reservoir, and for the ineffectiveness of the grout curtains and of the waterproof facing of the outcropping front of the gypsum layer intended to prevent reservoir water from entering the gypum mass.