Geomorphic History of the Mammoth Cave System

1989 ◽  
pp. 317-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur N. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Cave System ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Cosmogenic burial dating of in cave-deposited alluvium: unravelling long-term incision rates and complex speleogenesis in multi-level cave systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Rixhon ◽  
Didier L. Bourlès ◽  
Régis Braucher ◽  
Alexandre Peeters ◽  
Alain Demoulin
Keyword(s):  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Fluvial Terrace ◽  
Base Level ◽  
Cave System ◽  
River Incision ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multi Level

<p>Multi-level cave systems record the history of regional river incision in abandoned alluvium-filled phreatic passages which, mimicking fluvial terrace sequences, represent former phases of fluvial base-level stability. In this respect, cosmogenic burial dating of in cave-deposited alluvium (usually via the nuclide pair <sup>26</sup>Al/<sup>10</sup>Be) represents a suitable method to quantify the pace of long-term river incision. Here, we present a dataset of fifteen <sup>26</sup>Al/<sup>10</sup>Be burial ages measured in fluvial pebbles washed into a multi-level cave system developed in Devonian limestone of the uplifted Ardenne massif (eastern Belgium). The large and well-documented Chawresse system is located along the lower Ourthe valley (i.e. the main Ardennian tributary of the Meuse river) and spans altogether an elevation difference exceeding 120 m.</p><p>The depleted <sup>26</sup>Al/<sup>10</sup>Be ratios measured in four individual caves show two main outcomes. Firstly, computed burial ages ranging from ~0.2 to 3.3 Ma allows highlighting an acceleration by almost one order of magnitude of the incision rates during the first half of the Middle Pleistocene (from ~25 to ~160 m/Ma). Secondly, according to the relative elevation above the present-day floodplain of the sampled material in the Manants cave (<35 m), the four internally-consistent Early Pleistocene burial ages highlight an “anomalous” old speleogenesis in the framework of a gradual base-level lowering. They instead point to intra-karsting reworking of the sampled material in the topographically complex Manants cave. This in turn suggests an independent, long-lasting speleogenetic evolution of this specific cave, which differs from the <em>per descensum</em> model of speleogenesis generally acknowledged for the regional multi-level cave systems and their abandoned phreatic galleries. In addition to its classical use for inferring long-term incision rates, cosmogenic burial dating can thus contribute to better understand specific and complex speleogenetic evolution.</p>

scholarly journals A multiscale stratigraphic investigation of the context of StW 573 ‘Little Foot’ and Member 2, Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Bruxelles ◽  
Dominic J. Stratford ◽  
Richard Maire ◽  
Travis R. Pickering ◽  
Jason L. Heaton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Hominin Evolution ◽  
Geological Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
Depositional Units ◽  
Foot Skeleton ◽  
Fossil Hominin ◽  
Mixed Age

AbstractThe Sterkfontein Caves has an 80 year history of yielding remarkable evidence of hominin evolution and is currently the world’s richest Australopithecus-beafing site. Included in Sterkfontein’s hominin assemblage is StW 573 (‘Little Foot’). Discovered in the Member 2 deposit in the Silberberg Grotto, StW 573 represents the most complete Australopithecus skeleton yet found. Because of its importance to the fossil hominin record, the geological age of Little Foot has been the subject of significant debate. Two main hypotheses have been proposed regarding the formation and age of Member 2 and by association StW 573. The first, proposes that Member 2 formed relatively rapidly, starting to accumulate at around 2.8 million years ago and that the unit is isolated to the Silberberg Grotto - the underlying chambers and passages forming later. The second proposes that Member 2 formed slowly, its accumulation starting before 3.67 million years ago and that the deposit extends into the Milner Hall and close to the base of the cave system. Both assume a primary association between StW 573 and Member 2, although which sediments in the Silberberg Grotto are associated with Member 2 has also been questioned. Recently a third alternative hypothesis questioning the association of StW 573 to Member 2 sediments proposed a ‘two-stage burial scenario’ in which sediments associated with StW 573 represent a secondary and mixed-age deposit reworked from a higher cave. The stratigraphic and sedimentological implications of these hypotheses are tested here through the application of a multiscale investigation of Member 2, with reference to the taphonomy of the Little Foot skeleton. The complete infilling sequence of Member 2 is described and depositional units are tracked across all exposures of the deposit in the Silberberg Grotto and into the Milner Hall. Facies development follows patterns characteristic of colluvially accumulated taluses with 30-40° angles of repose developing coarser distal facies. Sediments are generally stratified and conformably deposited in a sequence of silty sands eroded from well-developed lateritic soils on the landscape surface. Voids, clasts and bioclasts are organized consistently across and through Member 2 according to the underlying deposit geometry, indicating a gradual deposit accretion with no distinct collapse facies evident, no successive debris flow accumulation, and only localized intra-unit post- depositional modification. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of Member 2 supports a simple single-stage accumulation process through which Member 2 partially fills the Silberberg Grotto and extends into the deeper chambers and passages of the Sterkfontein Caves. Through this work we demonstrate at multiple scales the primary association between the sediments of Member 2 and the StW 573 ‘Little Foot’ skeleton.

SEDIMENTOLOGY AND DEPOSITIONAL HISTORY OF THE RISING STAR CAVE SYSTEM: PROVIDING A FRAMEWORK FOR TAPHONOMIC AND GEOCHRONOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah L. Hilbert-Wolf ◽  
◽  
Eric M. Roberts ◽  
Paul H.G.M. Dirks ◽  
Jess L. Robbins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depositional History ◽  
Cave System ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Approaching Cave Level Identification with GIS: A Case Study of Carter Caves

ISRN Geology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne S. Jacoby ◽  
Eric W. Peterson ◽  
John C. Kostelnick ◽  
Toby Dogwiler
Keyword(s):  
Cumberland Plateau ◽  
Cosmogenic Dating ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Erosion History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Karst Systems ◽  
Elevation Model ◽  
Level Identification

Cave passages that are found at similar elevations are grouped together and called levels. The current understanding is that passages within a level are speleogenetically linked to a common static baselevel or stratigraphic control. Cave levels have provided an interpretive framework for deciphering cave development, landscape evolution, and climatic changes. Cosmogenic dating has been successfully used to interpret levels in Mammoth Cave and the Cumberland Plateau; however, this technique is expensive and there are limited funding resources available. Geographic information systems may be used as preliminary procedures to identify cave levels and constrain the timing of level development. A GIS method is applied to the Carter Cave system in northeastern Kentucky. Cave entrance elevations along stream valleys were found by extracting elevation values from a  m digital elevation model. Using a histogram generated from the frequency of cave elevations and a natural breaks classifier, four cave levels were identified in the Carter Cave system. This work improves the understanding of the Carter Cave system evolution and contributes toa methodology that can be used to ascertain an erosion history of karst systems.

scholarly journals Paleostress reconstruction of faults recorded in the Niedźwiedzia Cave (Sudetes): insights into Alpine intraplate tectonic of NE Bohemian Massif

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Sobczyk ◽  
Jacek Szczygieł
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Bohemian Massif ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Basin Inversion ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Fault Block ◽  
Riedel Shear ◽  
History Of

AbstractBrittle structures identified within the largest karstic cave of the Sudetes (the Niedźwiedzia Cave) were studied to reconstruct the paleostress driving post-Variscan tectonic activity in the NE Bohemian Massif. Individual fault population datasets, including local strike and dip of fault planes, striations, and Riedel shear, enabled us to discuss the orientation of the principal stresses tensor. The (meso) fault-slip data analysis performed both with Dihedra and an inverse method revealed two possible main opposing compressional regimes: (1) NE–SW compression with the formation of strike-slip (transpressional) faults and (2) WNW–ESE horizontal compression related to fault-block tectonics. The (older) NE-SW compression was most probably associated with the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene pan-regional basin inversion throughout Central Europe, as a reaction to ongoing African-Iberian-European convergence. Second WNW–ESE compression was active as of the Middle Miocene, at the latest, and might represent the Neogene–Quaternary tectonic regime of the NE Bohemian Massif. Exposed fault plane surfaces in a dissolution-collapse marble cave system provided insights into the Meso-Cenozoic tectonic history of the Earth’s uppermost crust in Central Europe, and were also identified as important guiding structures controlling the origin of the Niedźwiedzia Cave and the evolution of subsequent karstic conduits during the Late Cenozoic.

scholarly journals New Chronological Constraints from Hypogean Deposits for Late Pliocene to Recent Morphotectonic History of the Alpi Apuane (NW Tuscany, Italy)

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Ilaria Isola ◽  
Francesco Mazzarini ◽  
Giancarlo Molli ◽  
Leonardo Piccini ◽  
Elena Zanella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Fluvial Deposits ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Base Level ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Cave Sediments ◽  
History Of

A sedimentary sequence of fluvial deposits preserved in the Corchia Cave (Alpi Apuane) provides new chronological constraints for the evolution of the cave system and the timing and rate of uplift of this sector of the Alpi Apuane since the late Pliocene. Supported by magnetostratigraphic analysis performed on fine-grained fluvial deposits, and by radiometric dating of speleothems, we suggest that the deposition of fluvial sediments occurred between ~1.6–1.2 Ma. This implies that the host volume of rock was already located close to the local base level, adding key information about the recent tectonic evolution of the Alpi Apuane. A few before ~1 Ma, an erosive phase occurred due to the base-level lowering, followed by continuous speleothem deposition since at least 0.97 Ma. From that time, Monte Corchia uplifted at a maximum rate of ~0.5 mm/year, which is consistent with isostatic uplift mainly driven by erosional unloading. The petrographical study of the fluvial deposits highlights the presence of material derived from the erosion of rocks that today are absent in the cave’s catchment area, suggesting a different surface morphology during the Early Pleistocene. This study highlights the potential of cave sediments as archives for reconstructing the uplift history of mountain ranges.

Shining a light into the world’s deepest caves: phylogenetic systematics of the troglobiotic scorpion genus Alacran Francke, 1982 (Typhlochactidae : Alacraninae)

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos E. Santibáñez-López ◽  
Oscar F. Francke ◽  
L. Prendini
Keyword(s):  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
The State ◽  
Disjunct Distribution ◽  
Ancestral Population ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Sierra Madre ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sierra Madre Del Sur

The scorpion genus Alacran Francke, 1982, endemic to eastern Mexico, was created to accommodate Alacran tartarus Francke, 1982. This remarkable troglobiotic species is adapted for life in some of the world’s deepest caves, 720–916 m below the surface in the Sistema Huautla of the state of Oaxaca (the deepest records at which a scorpion has been found). A second species, Alacran chamuco Francke, 2009, was later described from Te Cimutaá, also in Oaxaca. In the present contribution, we describe a third species, Alacran triquimera, sp. nov., recently discovered in a cave system in the state of Puebla, and test the monophyly and internal relationships of Alacran, based on a cladistic analysis of 10 terminal taxa (including seven species representing all four genera of Typhlochactidae) and 151 informative morphological characters, building on a previously published matrix. The single most parsimonious tree obtained, supports the monophyly of Alacran and the following relationships among its component species: (A. chamuco (A. tartarus + A. triquimera, sp. nov.)). The phylogenetic relationships among the three species of Alacran are consistent with the biogeographical history of the caves they inhabit. Based on the geological history of the Sierra Madre del Sur and the likely similar speleogenesis of the Tres Quimeras, Sistema Huautla and Te Cimutaá caves, we propose a vicariance hypothesis to account for the disjunct distribution of the three species of Alacran, whereby an initially more widespread, panmictic ancestral population speciated into three geographically isolated taxa following fragmentation of the southern Sierra Madre del Sur.

Chasing sand: evolution of the surface and subsurface drainage of the Sinkhole Plain, Central Kentucky Karst, USA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Bosch ◽  
Dylan Ward
Keyword(s):  
Network Flow ◽  
Stream Network ◽  
Green River ◽  
Clastic Rocks ◽  
Base Level ◽  
The North ◽  
Cave System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Karst Systems ◽  
Profile Reconstruction

<p>This work extends the established geochronology of the Mammoth Cave region, Kentucky, USA, spatially and temporally, to infer evolution of the karst landscape and to consider the shifting drainage basins of the Barren River and the Green River in relation to regional drainage rearrangements. Previous studies have focused on the Mammoth Cave System and used cosmogenic radionuclide dating to link the incision history of the Green River and the Cave as far back as 3.25 Ma. We posit that prior to the wide-spread karstification that produced Mammoth Cave, drainage consisted of a purely fluvial stream network flow on the youngest clastic rocks. When this caprock was breached, carbonate dissolution ensued and the system transitioned to fluviokarst. Relict large trunk passages that originated at that time can be found in features such as Prewitts Knob, Bald Knob, and Huckleberry Knob. We intend to use sediments and speleothems collected from Crystal Onyx Cave in Prewitts Knob to constrain the age of this stage of karst development and to provide an estimate of the long-term erosion rate of the Sinkhole Plain surrounding the knob. These relict trunks were also used for cave stream profile reconstruction in combination with the east-west trending uvalas and sets of steep, deep sinkholes. We interpret that paleodrainage as having been west-flowing into the Barren River which then served as regional base level. Thus, we infer that as the rivers incised, this drainage was pirated to the north and began flowing to the Green River. The system then evolved into a more mature karst, large conduits near the surface collapsed, and dissected the landscape into isolated depressions. The collapsed limestone formed red soil and the sandstone produced angular clasts scattered throughout that soil. The retreating Chester Cuesta, marking the boundary between the Sinkhole Plain and the sandstone-capped Chester Upland, eroded most rapidly where limestone was exposed to the surface and more slowly where it was sandstone-capped leaving abandoned isolated cave trunk passage segments in remnant knobs. The results of this work have implications for understanding timescales of the evolution of karst systems in unconfined carbonate sequences as well as the interaction of karst areas with the transience in drainage networks.</p>

scholarly journals Mammoth Cave: A Hotspot of Subterranean Biodiversity in the United States

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Matthew L. Niemiller ◽  
Kurt Helf ◽  
Rickard S. Toomey
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
High Surface ◽  
The United States ◽  
Karst Region ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Cave Fauna ◽  
High Dispersal ◽  
Surface Productivity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conservation Concern

The Mammoth Cave System in the Interior Low Plateau karst region in central Kentucky, USA is a global hotspot of cave-limited biodiversity, particularly terrestrial species. We searched the literature, museum accessions, and database records to compile an updated list of troglobiotic and stygobiotic species for the Mammoth Cave System and compare our list with previously published checklists. Our list of cave-limited fauna totals 49 species, with 32 troglobionts and 17 stygobionts. Seven species are endemic to the Mammoth Cave System and other small caves in Mammoth Cave National Park. The Mammoth Cave System is the type locality for 33 cave-limited species. The exceptional diversity at Mammoth Cave is likely related to several factors, such as the high dispersal potential of cave fauna associated with expansive karst exposures, high surface productivity, and a long history of exploration and study. Nearly 80% of the cave-limited fauna is of conservation concern, many of which are at an elevated risk of extinction because of small ranges, few occurrences, and several potential threats.

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