Saturday, February 7, 2015

Geo 1095: February 7, Day 768: Nice Joints to Hang In

I pointed out this same sort of feature in Tuesday's post, but this one is even more clear cut: the intersections of joints in the overhanging ceiling with the open air of the cavern are favorable spots for the deposition of speleothems. The two in the upper center look as if, given enough time, they might develop a nice pair of cave draperies. The deposits in the bottom left center have the beginnings of maybe four or five stalactites. But the thing that stands out to me, given the variety and density of decoration elsewhere, is that it's comparatively sparse here. This suggests the joints may be pretty tight, and simply don't allow passage of very much ground water. So these nascent features may never really develop as fully as they might in another location.

Photo unmodified. May 9, 2013. FlashEarth Location. (Since we're underground, I have only a vague idea where this is with respect to the surface.)

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