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Characteristics of Dissolutional Cave Systems in Carbonate Rocks

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Paleokarst

Abstract

A dissolutional cave or cave system is defined as a solution conduit of 5 to 15 mm minimum diameter that extends continuously between groundwater input points and output points. Thousands that are of explorable dimensions are known; the greatest contain more than 100 km of accessible galleries or are more than 1000 m deep.

Approximately 80% of these caves were created by meteoric water circulating without unusual geologic confinement; these are common caves. Their plan pattern building is governed by hydraulic gradients in penetrable fissures, complicated by reorientation of gradients when initial conduits connect and by microfeatures of the fissures. Thus, patterns are not precisely predictable. On the long profile, caves may display drawdown or invasion, vadose morphology, and shallow, deep, or mixed phreatic morphology. Many caves are multi-phase features with sequences of levels.

Two-dimensional joint-guided mazes of passages develop as anomalous portions of common cave systems or as separate caves, due to artesian confinement or diffuse input or to rapid flooding. Caves formed by CO2-rich thermal waters display distributary dendritic or 2-D or 3-D maze forms. Some large caverns may develop where H2S-rich waters are oxidized. Many irregular honeycomb caves develop where salt and fresh water mix in the coastal zone.

Phreatic passage cross-sections tend to be elliptical but are complicated by differing solubility or armoring of the floor. Vadose cross-sections are canyon-like or trapezoid. Both may display solutional scalloping or a paleoflow indicator, or may be modified or destroyed by breakdown.

A variety of clastic deposits accumulate in cave interiors. Fluvial facies are dominant. More than 100 secondary minerals are precipitated in caves. Calcitc is predominant and the most significant for paleo- environmental reconstructions.

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  1. Derek Ford
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Noel P. James

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-250, USA

    Philip W. Choquette

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Ford, D. (1988). Characteristics of Dissolutional Cave Systems in Carbonate Rocks. In: James, N.P., Choquette, P.W. (eds) Paleokarst. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3748-8_2

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