Download or read book Speleogenesis of Shoveleater Cave Pendleton County West Virginia written by Gayle E. Harman and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shoveleater Cave of the Hellhole System is located in Germany Valley, Pendleton County, West Virginia. The Wills Mountain Anticline is breached here, exposing Ordovician limestones. Although currently dry, Shoveleater Cave retains evidence of its genesis and history that can help develop a thorough understanding of karst, both past and present in Germany Valley. This study investigated structural controls of cave formation, present day hydrology, and paleohydrology. It was hypothesized that the development of the vertical shafts of Shoveleater Cave is controlled by fracturing of the rock that hosts the cave. This was explored by comparing the locations of shafts with fractures measured in the field or found through aerial photography interpretation. Shafts coincided with fracturing in two cases. Bedding and fracture measurements taken in and above the cave were compared to the orientations of cave passages. Statistically, two times more passage length was bedding-controlled than fracture-controlled. It was hypothesized that the existence of a kink in the Wills Mountain Anticline is responsible for fracturing the rock that hosts Shoveleater Cave. Bedding was measured along the anticline limbs to determine if a bend in the ridge line of North Fork Mountain, which bounds Germany Valley to the east, was evidence of a structural kink in the anticline. A minor change in bedding strike near the bend did not account for the 9° horizontal bend in the ridge line. Instead, a slight change in bedding strike and dip, due to the anticline plunging at both ends of Germany Valley, caused inconsistent erosion of the ridge line. Dip was steeper to the north, possibly resulting in differential weathering along the ridge line. The present hydrology in Germany Valley precludes Shoveleater Cave from receiving allogenic recharge. Surface streams sink into swallets feeding Silent Stream of Hellhole prior to reaching Shoveleater Cave. It was hypothesized that paleo water flow in the southern portion of Shoveleater Cave resurged at Judy Spring by way of Silent Stream of the Southern Extension of Hellhole. Analysis of scallops and passage morphology produced an interpretation of the paleohydrology from when the cave was actively forming. Scallop surveys determined that recharge during the phreatic stage came from the northeast, northwest and southwest, converged in Hellhole Hall at the center of the cave, and then flowed southeast, exiting the cave. Paleoflow was toward Silent Stream of Hellhole, but at a higher elevation than the stream. It is unknown whether the water in Shoveleater Cave flowed to Judy Spring. Phreatic flow averaging 6 cm/s formed the main branches of the cave, which cut through bedding to create a level at 678 m elevation. Recharge also entered the main southwest branches from below, creating hemispherical chambers in a east-west trending passage and an ascending channel connecting to the main branch above. Vadose infiltration did little to modify the main branches, except in the southeast branch where a large canyon dissects the usually level passage. A vadose canyon connected to the northeastern branch meanders down bedding dip. The vadose passage contains euhedral quartz crystals, which may be evidence of hypogene development. Today the water table is 140 m lower than during the formation of the main branches of the cave. Base level in the valley is controlled by the elevation of Judy Spring, which is currently at the base of the central water gap of Germany Valley.
Download or read book Geology of Some Caves in Pendleton County West Virginia written by Christopher Swezey and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Geologic Control Development and Survey of Short Cave in Pendleton County West Virginia written by Virgil Allen Dove and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Structural and Hydrological Influences on the Evolution of Hellhole Cave Pendleton County West Virginia written by Daniel Zinz and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hellhole is an extensive (32 kilometer) cave system developed within Germany Valley (Pendleton County, West Virginia) on the flank of the Wills Mountain Anticline. The area can be described as a mature karst aquifer on the transitional margin of the Appalachian Plateau and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces. Hellhole is the most extensive and deepest (158 meters) of several mapped caves in the area (others include Memorial Day Cave and Schoolhouse Cave). The upper bounding lithology is the McGlone Limestone. The cave penetrates through the Big Valley Formation and in to the New Market Limestone, a high purity unit that is mined locally. Faulting and folding are prominently exposed in several passages, but did not affect passage development in a noticeable way. The entrance sinkhole opens in to a large room, however, the morphology of the room suggests that the room formed the entrance by the intersection of passages followed by a vertical shaft intersecting from the surface. Passage orientation and strike of the bedrock are nearly identical (N25°E). Lower passages are generally down dip from upper (older) passages. Cave sediment and paleomagnetic analysis reveals that the minimum age of sediments analyzed are 1.070 million years old. Three hundred measurements of wall scallops show that paleowaters in the Western section flowed southwest (1.1 cubic meters per second). Paleoflow from the Southern portion of the cave flowed northward (0.94 meters cubic meters per second), and flow in the Northern section flowed southward (1.0 cubic meters per second). Most passages are 50 to 100 meters below the present land surface. Most of the cave appears to have formed under phreatic conditions, but the presence of thick clastic sediments in some locations attests to vadose invasion.
Download or read book The Caves and Karst of Grant County West Virginia written by George R. Dasher and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Caves in the Richlands Area of Greenbrier County West Virginia written by Bert Ashbrook and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Survey of Cass Cave written by Robert Zimmerman and published by . This book was released on 2011-01-31 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
