Bulletin of the National Speleological Society - ISSN 0146-9517
Volume 35 Number 3: 89-95 - July 1973

A publication of the National Speleological Society

Sulfur in Cottonwood Cave, Eddy County, New Mexico
Donald G. Davis

Abstract

Sulfur is found in a gypsum vein and in massive blocks of gypsum in Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico. It occurs both in porous, rhombic-crystalline and in dense, massive forms and appears to be of subaqueous origin. Probably, it was deposited late in the phreatic history of the cave and was derived from hydrogen sulfide in groundwater, either by anaerobic oxidation of hydrolgen sulfide by ionic sulfate or by aerobic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide by oxygenated surface water or air flowing through the cave.

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