As early as the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries numerous academic expeditions headed by P.Pallas, I.Lepechikhin and R.Murchison undertook a study of the area and discovered an uncommon geological phenomenon - a gypsum-bearing elevation of considerable height rising above uniformly level terrain, something that did not fit in with their customary notions about gypsum.

Pallas drew the attention of his contemporaries to what struck him personally. He noticed that during severe winter frosts clouds of vapour could be seen rising from the crevices of the Gypsum mountain melting the snow and silvering the rocks with rime. Curling over the top it gave the mountain the semblance of an active volcano which would stay "dormant", however, throughout the summer, emitting instead draughts of frosty air through the cracks in its foot below.

Long before P.Pallas made his observation, the phenomenon of seasonal changes in the direction of air movement in mines and drifts was explained by M.Lomonosov (1742-1744) who recommended using his theory to better understand similar processes taking place in caves. In winter, he asserted, when the temperature outside is lower than that underground, the denser and colder portion of air will come out of the cave through passages inside the mountain pushing out at the same time warmer and lighter air masses thus making them rise toward the mountain top and out into the open. (This accounts for the vapour in the summertime). During the warm season, however, the movement of air in the subterranean grottoes is reversed. Now its colder portion flows out of the cave towards its exit to be replaced by warmer currents entering by way of vertical hollows from outside. It should be pointed out in this connection that the factor of permanency of ice-wrought decorations of gypsum caves made it difficult for M. Lomonosov's contemporaries to apply his explanation to the phenomena of gypsum karsts. In the 40s of the 19th century R.Murchinson addressed European scientists with a dramatic appeal to try and solve the riddle of the Gypsum mountain by joint efforts. Though this triggered off a spate of hypotheses it was not until 1881 that Yu.Listov, the author of a classical work about ice-caves, supplied the answer. His investigations can by right be considered as a brilliant confirmation and further development of the theory propounded by M.Lomonosov a century and a half before. More than that. They led to the unexpected discovery of a new element in the life of gypsum: Yu.Listov established that this mineral was an excellent cold accumulator.

For hundreds of years, beginning with Pliny the Elder, to be exact, an opinion was current that gypsum and lime were essentially kindered substances. Throughout the seven centuries that separated Pliny from European mineralogical achievement gypsum continued to be erroneously called "limy soil". In 1746 Pott showed that gypsum and lime are altogether different materials. A year later MaeGuer expressed the view that "oil of vitriol" could not be entirely excluded as one of its components. In 1750 Margraffe succeeded in determining the real chemical composition of gypsum. But the origin of huge gypsum thicknesses had yet to be explained. (Tested and brought up to date, this theory is used to this day as the basis for explaining the genesis of gypsum). And yet, as time went on, its allegedly universal character was increasingly called in question, all the more so because gypsum was getting to be an object of close attention not only on the part of geology but also of its related sciences such as oceanography, halurgy and karstology. Belonging to diverse geological epochs it presents undoubted interest to scientists specializing in the study of the Cambrian, the Silurian and the Devonian ages, the Neogenic and Quaternary periods. At the present time, as part of the program for the stratagraphic exploration of the Perm area, investigations are being conducted of the mighty deposits of gypsum of the Permian epoch, especially of its Kungur era, when virtually inexhaustible reserves of it were being created in the "cellars" of the Urals. Moreover, problems relating to gypsum are widely discussed by experts in the fields of engineering geology, construction, road-building and geological exploration. It would be no exaggeration to say that as regards the abiding interest it was shown and the extent of knowledge acquired about it, gypsum can be said to occupy the most privileged place among ornamental stones. Perhaps, today we know even more about this mineral than about jasper, rhodonite or malachite.

The world of gypsum is attractive in its own way. It may not be so brightly coloured as other representatives of the mineral kingdom but it is certainly rich in forms of its manifestation in nature. Prominent among them are beautiful druses, bristling brushes and plate concretions ("roses of the desert" or gypsum "flowers"), glistening crusts of tiny crystals and transparent plates, repoteks gypsums impregnated with sand and so called "swallow's tails" noted for their original geometrical patterns.

Unique is the view of cliff outcrops of gypsum on the banks of rivers chiselling their course through mighty gypsum-bearing thicknesses. In this respect the gypsums of the Urals occupy a place peculiar to themselves for nowhere else does one come across such a multiplicity of forms as here. Gypsums of a more or less regular geometrical configuration having the spherical form of balls and heads, nests, nodules and lenses alternate with bilateral varieties, represented by veins and seams. Of these, the heads are considered to be most characteristic of the ornamental gypsum of the Ural region. And it is precisely they that happen to be the object of an especially persistent quest. This because the number of heads found in a deposit determines not only the quality of gypsum contained therein but its significance for the stone-cutting industry as well.

Of the Kungur gypsums most widespread are granular, fibrous (satin-spar) and lamellar varieties. The granular kind is represented by marble-like massive gypsums with a characteristic sugar-type cleavage. Its lower grades owe their patchy colouring and reticular structure to the numerous convolutions of the veins composed of clayey material. Satin-spar, also called acicular or fibrous gypsum is formed of thin threadlike, compact and parallelly stacked crystals. Silky to the touch, it is rich in copperly tints while its pearly play of colour makes satin-spar akin to tiger's eye. No wonder, therefore, that it was exactly this variety of gypsum that attracted the attention of stone-cutters when they first encountered it.

One of the distinctive features of satin-spar is that clearly visible horizontal line which divides each layer into two parts and which is usually referred to as "the seamy surface band". In common parliance, the upper part is called "top" and the lower - "bottom". Of these, only the tops are extensively used while the bottoms are rejected as con-taining impurities and admixtures. It must be said, however, that there still exists no uniformity of opinion as regards the origin of this seamy surface band. According to L.Mirpolsky, for example, it was brought about by simultaneous growth of gypsum crystals at the bottom and at the top end of the fracture which led to this ultimate collision. V.Kokarovtsev holds, however, that the crystals might have been growing simultaneously in an upward and in a downward directions away from the seamy surface band until they filled up the whole of the fissure.

To the European and the American reader the lamellar (also spar, optical or coarse-grained) variety of gypsum is better known under the name of selenite. It consists of colourless or opaque lamellae or folia which cleave easily and vary widely in number. Just like satin-spar, selenite is known to occur as filling-in material in the cracks of the various types of rock and in the form of accumulations around large-size gypsum bodies. It also tends to "sprout" deep inside the massive layers of friable amorpherous gypsums.

By differently combining their basic structural elements i.e., granules, fibres and lamelae, nature produces almost unlimited varieties of gypsum. Nearly all of them can be encountered in the Urals