Bulletin of the National Speleological Society - ISSN 0146-9517
Volume 24 Part 2: 74-87 - July 1962

A publication of the National Speleological Society

Secondary Mineralization in Wind Cave, South Dakota
William B. White and George H. Deike, III

Abstract

Wind Cave contains an assemblage of calcite, hematite, and quartz apparently deposited subaqueously and calcite, aragonite, gypsum, and hydromagnesite deposited aubaerially. The boxwork of Wind Cave is a complex consisting of an inner brown calcite fracture-filling, a layer of calcite cemented sediment, an outer lining of clear calcite, and an outer sediment layer. The theory is advanced that the subaqueous minerals were deposited from a warm (100 to 150°C) solution at high CO2 pressure. Spectrographic analyses for 9 specimens are given.

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