FLowstone floor over breakdown

Cave geology, biology, and similar topics. Also visit the NSS Biology Section, or the Cave Geology and Geography Section, or the NSS Paleontology Section.

Moderator: Moderators

FLowstone floor over breakdown

Postby GroundquestMSA » Sep 9, 2012 8:44 pm

I'll try to describe this passage, and you can tell me what you know (or guess) about its formation. The passage is big, but has few of the large breakdown blocks usually found in tall cave. Much of the floor is smooth flowstone. There are a few spots though, where the flowstone sounds hollow, and two where it is collapsed to reveal the expected breakdown is beneath the current floor. Climbing into these collapses allows one to navigate through a scary jumble of huge blocks for short distances. How does something like this form? My own purely uneducated guess is that washed in sediment would have to have covered the breakdown to some extent to allow the deposition of flowstone. This passage is dry, though the cave has a lower stream passage.
Last edited by GroundquestMSA on Sep 9, 2012 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
GroundquestMSA
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1384
Joined: May 5, 2011 1:32 pm
  

Re: FLowstone floor over breakdown

Postby Chads93GT » Sep 9, 2012 9:07 pm

mmmm breakdown with clay......calcite covers it.........clay gets washed away, leaving hollow calcite. That is my uneducated logical explanation anyway. Sounds cool ;)
User avatar
Chads93GT
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2294
Joined: Jun 24, 2008 1:27 pm
Location: Missouri
  


Return to Speleology Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users