File:Joint in limestone ceiling of Great Onyx Cave (Flint Ridge, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA) 1 (8313158205).jpg
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Joint in limestone ceiling in Great Onyx Cave. Great Onyx Cave is located in the northern part of Flint Ridge in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA. It has 8 miles worth of mapped passages. Geologically, Great Onyx Cave is part of the Mammoth Cave System, but it has become erosively separated from it (although an air flow connection with the Mammoth Cave System has been identified). Great Onyx Cave is the downstream continuation of the Salt Cave section of the system. The walls of Great Onyx Cave are limestones of the Paoli Member, shales of the Bethel Member, and limestones of the Beaver Bend Member of the Girkin Formation (lower Upper Mississippian). The travertine speleothem-rich areas of Great Onyx Cave are wet and occur where a cap of overlying Big Clifty Sandstone is absent. The dry portions of the cave are below an intact Big Clifty Sandstone "caprock", and include the giant canyon passage areas and the gypsum speleothem areas. The main cave passage of Great Onyx Cave is called Edwards Avenue. It is a giant canyon passage at Level B in the Mammoth Cave System. Level B passages formed about 2 to 4 million years ago during the Pliocene. This cave is sometimes accessible to the general public by guided lantern tours during boreal summer months. This photo was taken during a field trip in June 2011 as part of a cave geology course at Mammoth Cave park. The linear fracture shown above is developed in the limestone ceiling of Great Onyx Cave. Fractures in rocks along which there has been no differential displacement are called joints. If differential displacement has occurred, the fracture is called a fault. Joints and joint sets are moderately common in all rocks. They act as pathways for flowing groundwater. In regions having abundant limestone, slightly acidic groundwater slowly dissolves the wall rocks along joints, which enlarges the fractures. Extreme development of fracture enlargement produces caves and cave systems. After a cave has developed, ceiling joints receive downward-percolating water and speleothem ("cave formations") often forms at water emergence sites. |
| Date | |
| Source | Joint in limestone ceiling of Great Onyx Cave (Flint Ridge, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA) 1 |
| Author | James St. John |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/8313158205 (archive). It was reviewed on 14 October 2019 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
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| current | 17:17, 14 October 2019 | | 4,000 × 3,000 (3.33 MB) | Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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