Intense karst denudation in a crystalline basin with a small share of carbonate rocks (Sudety Mountains, SW Poland)

•The paper describes the rate of karst denudation in a small crystalline catchment.•A small marble interbed surrounded by non-carbonate rocks becomes dissolved.•Hydrochemical measurements were used to define the dissolution rate.•The research was conducted in an ungauged catchment for eight years.•The calculated rate of 7.35 m3 of marble per year is equivalent to 203.0 mm ka− 1.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the determination of the intensity of karst dissolution in a small ungauged catchment in the Góry Złote Mountains in the Sudety mountain range (SW Poland). In the study area, the marble interbed is surrounded by non-carbonate crystalline metamorphic rock. Marble corrosion is caused primarily by the influx of allogenic waters from the non-carbonate part of the catchment. Hydrochemical measurements were made over the course of eight years. The calculated denudation rate per year was 7.35 m3 of marble. This translates into a rate of 203.0 mm ka− 1 for the surface area of the investigated marble outcropping. The paper discusses both the study area's rate of denudation and the process used to calculate it.