1. Speleology 101
Greg Brick
Minnesota Minerals Education Workshop
Winona State University
June 19, 2012

2. My Cave Research
Nitrate concentrations in sediments
of Lake Pepin caves

3. My Cave Books

4. Speleology
Horace Carter Hovey (1833-1914), Father of American Speleology

8. A major geohazard
associated with karst—sinkholes

10. Karst Contamination

11. Caves
• ¼ M caves in the World
• Longest: Mammoth Cave (350 miles)
• 50,000 US Caves
• Missouri—the Cave State (6000)
• Minnesota—300 caves, longest is 12 miles

13. Solutional Cave Types

14. Epigenic vs. Hypogenic

16. Cave Levels

17. Age of Caves
• Younger than enclosing rock.
• Younger than nearby river gorges.
• Uranium dating of stalagmites.
• Bones only as far back as Ice Ages.

18. Cave Features
• Depositional • Erosional

20. Depositional Forms
• Dripstone
Stalactites
Stalagmites
• Flowstone
• Subaqueous
• Erratics

22. Evaporite Minerals

23. Bat Minerals
Biogenic Minerals: Nitrates and Phosphates

24. Many other cave formations…
• Cave balloons • Fried eggs
• Cave chandeliers • Moonmilk
• Cave clouds • Snottites
• Cave cotton • Snowballs
• Cave flowers • Transistorites
• Cave pearls • Xmas trees

25. Erosional Forms (Speleogens):
• Ex: scallops
• Derive stream velocity

26. Non-Carbonate Caves
Non-Carbonate Karsts
Gypsum Karst (Ukraine)
Salt Karst (Israel)
Pseudokarst—everything else!
Boulder caves
Lava tube caves
Littoral caves
Piping caves

27. Lava Tubes

28. Littoral Caves

29. Minnesota Caves

32. The Cave Farm (Spring Valley, MN)

33. Carver’s Cave

36. Fountain Cave

37. Artificial Lagering Caves

39. Biofilms

43. Schieks Cave

46. Chute’s Cave

47. Channel Rock Cavern, Minneapolis

49. Be Sure to Visit Devil’s Cave--
The Most Famous Cave in Winona!

50. Questions?
www.GregBrick.org