Abstract
Mammoth Cave displays a wide variety of depositional environments that permit the deposition of some unusual minerals, although the cave overall is rather devoid of speleothems. Calcite in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone is the common carbonate mineral and occurs where passages extend beyond the protective caprock. Aragonite also occurs but more rarely. Gypsum is the common sulfate minerals and occurs widely in dry passages beneath the caprock. Gypsum takes the form of crusts and curving crystals known as gypsum flowers. In the exceptionally dry portions of the cave are found other sulfate minerals including mirabilite, Na2SO4·10H2O, epsomite, MgSO4·7H2O, hexahydrite, MgSO4·6H2O, celestine, SrSO4, and blodite, Na2SO4·MgSO4·4H2O. In addition, there is evidence for the rare sulfate minerals eugsterite, 2Na2SO4·CaSO4·2H2O, and wattevilleite, Na2SO4·CaSO4·4H2O. The source of sulfate is likely the oxidation of pyrite, FeS2 that occurs in the limestone and overlying sediments. Saltpetre of uncertain mineralogy occurs in the cave sediments and was mined in the nineteenth Century. Other minerals include black manganese oxides that occur on stream cobbles and on chert ledges.
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White, W.B. (2017). Mineralogy of Mammoth Cave. In: Hobbs III, H., Olson, R., Winkler, E., Culver, D. (eds) Mammoth Cave. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53718-4_9
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