Hypogene Speleogenesis in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and Texas, USA

Duchene, H; Palmer, Arthur N.; Palmer, Margaret V.; Queen, J. Michael; Polyak, Victor J.; Decker, David; Hill, Carol A.; Spilde, M.; Burger, Paul A.; Kirkland, Douglas W.; Boston, Penelope J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53348-3_31

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…While the Laramide Orogeny is considered as a period of uplift in our study area, there is little known about the extent of Laramide uplift and the pre‐Laramide landscape. Some reports suggest that the surface of the region was uplifted as much as 1 km during the Laramide, but the absolute timing of the remaining 2 km of uplift is less well known (Chapin & Cather, ; DuChene & Cunningham, ; Hill, ; Horak, ). Overall, our model of spar cave speleogenesis and measured depth results indicate that the paleo‐surface of the Guadalupe Mountains and Delaware Basin region was 500 ± 250 m above the spar horizon, and this, along with nearby occurrences of Cretaceous strata (Figure ) and lack of tectonic evidence for a strong compressional regime during the Laramide, supports a relatively low‐lying terrane ~≤1 km above sea level from 180 to 28 Ma, after which the Guadalupe tectonic block rose an additional 2 km above the adjacent salt basin graben on the west end near the fault zone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One model measured 1 km of relative Guadalupe block uplift from 12 Ma to present coeval with Rio Grande rifting (Polyak et al, ). Other models suggest that the area arose primarily during the Laramide Orogeny (DuChene & Cunningham, ; Eaton, ) or during the Oligocene‐Miocene (King, ). Pre‐Laramide crustal thickening has been suggested based on petrographic evidence (Scholle, Ulmer, & Melim, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

et al. 2018

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In carbonate terranes, rocks types that provide apatite are not available to effectively use apatite fission track (AFT) or (U/Th)‐He chronometry (AHe). Here we suggest that calcite cave spar can be an effective chronometer and complimentary to AFT and AHe thermochronometers in carbonate regions such as our study area, the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico, and west Texas. Our measured depth of cave spar deposition is 500 ± 250 m beneath the regional water table, formed at temperatures of 40° to 80°C, indicating that these caves and their spar crystals form near the supercritical CO2‐subcritical CO2 boundary where we interpret the origin of both the caves and spar to occur. This depth‐temperature relationship suggests a higher than normal geotherm, likely associated with regional magmatic activity. As a case study we examined the timing of uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains previously attributed to the compressional Laramide orogeny (ca. 90 to 50 Ma), later extensional tectonics associated with Basin and Range (ca. 36 to 28 Ma) or the opening of the Rio Grande Rift (ca. 20 Ma to Present). We show that most of the spar origin is coeval with the ignimbrite flare‐up between 36 and 28 Ma. Our results constrain the initiation of Guadalupe Mountains block uplift, relative to the surrounding terrain, to between 27 and 16 Ma and reconstruct the evolution of a low‐lying regional landscape prior to block uplift from 185 to 28 Ma, in support of models that attribute regional surface uplift to extensional tectonics and associated volcanism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

et al. 2018

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“…The cave formed in carbonate rocks of the Permian Capitan Reef Complex in the Guadalupe Mountain uplift through hypogene sulfuric acid speleogenesis (DuChene, 2000;Hill, 2000a, b). During the Miocene and Pliocene, hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), derived in part from microbial activity in hydrocarbon reservoirs in the adjacent Delaware Basin, mixed with oxygenated waters of the karst aquifer to form sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) that caused extensive carbonate dissolution and cave origin (Hill, 1987(Hill, , 2000aJagnow et al, 2000;Palmer & Palmer, 2000;Barton, 2013;DuChene et al, 2017). Substantial deposits of gypsum (hydrated CaSO 4 ) were left behind as a byproduct and their secondary dissolution and reprecipitation led to the formation of a wide variety of speleothems (Davis, 2000;Palmer & Palmer, 2000;Polyak & Provencio, 2001;Palmer, 2006).…”

Section: Reworking Of Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits By H 2 S-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Active growth of non-hydrothermal subaqueous and subaerial barite (BaSO4) speleothems in Lechuguilla Cave (New Mexico, USA)

Wisshak¹,

Barton²,

Bender³

et al. 2020

IJS

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Barite (BaSO 4) speleothems have been reported from caves around the globe and interpreted to have chiefly formed in phreatic, hypogene, hydrothermal settings. Here we report two contrasting types of barite speleothems (bluish tabular crystals in a shallow pool and actively dripping greenish stalactites), which today form at lower temperatures in the non-hydrothermal and vadose environment of Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico, USA. Scanning electron microscopy analysis, along with energy-and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, WDS), as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), characterize the habit and chemical composition as barite. Fractionation of the minor element calcium is related to growth along different crystal faces whereas variations in strontium concentration are mirrored in blue color zoning of the pool crystals. Two possible modes of non-hydrothermal barite precipitation are discussed: (1) intense evaporation driven by thermal atmospheric convection cells or (2) mixing of bariumrich, sulfate-poor water with water rich in sulfate. Both processes, in isolation or in combination, lead to supersaturation and could explain formation of the investigated barite speleothems. Observations of three types of microbes on the pool barite crystals showing evidence of incrustation raises the question whether there is a potential involvement of microbial activity in the temperate barite precipitation in Lechuguilla Cave.

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“…This process was first proposed by Principi [2] and is used to describe the formation of caves via dissolution of limestone by sulfidic groundwaters. Among the most well-known and investigated SAS caves are those from Guadalupe Mountains, USA [3,4], Movile, Romania [5], Frasassi, Italy [6,7], Cueva de Villa Luz, Mexico [8,9], and Lower Kane Cave, USA [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface runoff alters cave microbial community structure and function

Davis

Messina²,

Nicolosi

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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Caves formed by sulfuric acid dissolution have been identified worldwide. These caves can host diverse microbial communities that are responsible for speleogenesis and speleothem formation. It is not well understood how microbial communities change in response to surface water entering caves. Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatic tools were used to determine the impact of surface water on the microbial community diversity and function within a spring pool found deep in the Monte Conca Cave system in Sicily, Italy. Sulfur oxidizers comprised more than 90% of the microbial community during the dry season and were replaced by potential anthropogenic contaminants such as Escherichia and Lysinibacillus species after heavy rains. One sampling date appeared to show a transition between the wet and dry seasons when potential anthropogenic contaminants (67.3%), sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (13.6%), and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (6.5%) were all present within the spring pool.

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Hypogene Speleogenesis in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and Texas, USA

Cited by 10 publications

References 32 publications

U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

Active growth of non-hydrothermal subaqueous and subaerial barite (BaSO4) speleothems in Lechuguilla Cave (New Mexico, USA)

Surface runoff alters cave microbial community structure and function

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