The NSS Bulletin - ISSN 1090-6924
Volume 50 Number 2: 37-41 - December 1988

A publication of the National Speleological Society

Preliminary Assessment of the Solution Equilibria of Sulphur River, Parker Cave, Kentucky
W.R. Roy

Abstract

This study is a preliminary assessment of the solution equilibria of Sulphur River, Parker Cave, Kentucky. Aqueous samples were collected and chemically characterized. The chemical composition of the Phantom, a small waterfall flowing into Sulphur River, was similar to Mississippian oil-field brines in Illinois. Thermodynamic modeling of aqueous samples indicated that the reduced, saline solution was supersaturated with respect to gypsum and amorphour iron disulfide. When the Phantom waters mix with Sulphur River, gypsum precipitates and represses the solubility of carbonates. Thermodynamic modeling also predicted the precipitation of elemental sulfur and an aluminum sulfate phase, and that both the Phantom effluent and the receiving waters appeared to be in equilibrium with chalcedony.

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