Origin of double-tower raft cones in hypogenic caves

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)

GÁSQUEZ, F.

Water Resources and Environmental Research Group - Dept. of Hydrogeology and Analytical Chemistry, Univ. of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, Espagne

CALAFORRA, J.-M.

Water Resources and Environmental Research Group - Dept. of Hydrogeology and Analytical Chemistry, Univ. of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, Espagne

Description :
The AA. describe a variety of raft cones that were discovered in the Paradise Chamber of the Sima de la Higuera Cave (Murcia, south-eastern Spain) based on their morphological and morphometric characteristics. These speleothems, dubbed double-tower cones, have a notch in the middle and look like 2 cones, one superimposed over the other. The genetic mechanism that gave rise to the double-tower cones must include an intermediate stage of rapid calcite raft precipitation, caused by a drop in the water table and by changes in cave ventilation leading to greater carbon dioxide (CO2) degassing and evaporation over the surface of the thermal lake where these speleothems formed. Calcite rafts were deposited in Paradise Chamber, completely covering many of the cones. Later, conditions for slower calcite raft precipitation were restored and some of the cones continued to grow at the same points.

Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Earth surface processes and landforms, issn : 0197-9337, 2013, vol. 38, n°. 14, p. 1655-1661, nombre de pages : 7, Références bibliographiques : 23 ref.

Date :
2013

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley

Langue :
Anglais