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Paleokarst Coastal Caves At Torricelle Hills (Lessini Mountains, Venetian Prealps, Italy), Guido Gonzato, Enrico Borghi, Roberto Chignola, Nereo Preto, Guido Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

This paper describes a set of paleokarst caves at Torricelle Hills near Verona (Southern Alps, Italy.) At this locality, erosional surfaces and paleokarst cavities show that sedimentation of late Paleogene neritic limestones was interrupted by subaerial exposure. Karst features developed during a phase of marine regression that started after the early Oligocene and ended in the mid Miocene. These caves were originally completely filled by iron oxides- and hydrated oxides-rich paleosol sediments (ochre) that, for centuries, have been mined for pigments. Mining activity emptied the caves, leaving the voids and related shapes mostly intact; as a result, the original morphologies …

Seismic Expressions Of Paleokarst, Olanrewaju Ayodapo Aboaba

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Paleokarst are characterized by epigene and/or hypogene processes in their formation and hold significant numbers of hydrocarbons and other natural resources. This dissertation examines worldwide seismic expression of paleokarst; and specifically, the characterization of paleokarst reservoirs developed across the Cherokee Platform, and in the Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma.

Worldwide subsurface paleokarst formations are of Precambrian to Miocene age and found at depths less than 200 m to as great as 8000 m. Karst can be are expressed on seismic records as sinkholes, paleocave collapse, and tower morphologies. Seismic modeling indicates that karst can be modeled and imaged to better understand its …

Assessing Paleo-Coastal Caves Evolution And Sea Level Changes In Mallorca: Results From Radiometric Dating Of Speleothems, Giuseppe Lucia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sea level affects the littoral morphology and structure in different ways. In coastal karst basins, dissolutional and depositional processes are strictly related to sea level variation. A great variety of karst-related geomorphological features and cave deposits exist above, below, and at sea level, and are extremely useful to study past changes of relative sea level. Within these, vadose speleothems such as flowstones and stalagmite, can document unequivocal maximum sea level constraints as well as record phreatic phases of sea level rise. Here we present a series of geochronological data from the eastern Mallorca and show the implication of relative sea …

Stratigraphy Of The Upper Silurian To Middle Devonian, Southwestern Ontario, Shuo Sun

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The upper Silurian–Middle Devonian succession was dominated by carbonate and evaporite deposits, with minor siliciclastic sedimentation, and a significant hiatus across the Siluro-Devonian (S-D) boundary in southwestern Ontario. The stratigraphic units include, in ascending order: Late Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations and Salina G Unit, the Devonian Oriskany Formation, Bois Blanc Formation (including Springvale Member), Detroit River Group (including the Lucas, Amherstburg and Sylvania formations), Onondaga Formation, and Dundee Formation.

Below the S-D unconformity, the upper Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations are predominantly dolostone of peritidal-sabkha origin and episodic subaerial exposure. Revised stratigraphic correlation shows that the Bertie Formation is older than …

3d Seismic Interpretation Of Paleokarst Sinkholes, Boone Limestone, Lower Mississippian: Subsurface Eastern Arkoma Basin, Conway County, Arkansas, Daniel James Moser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unconventional natural gas discoveries in the Fayetteville Shale of the eastern Arkoma Basin have led to improved understanding of subsurface geology in central Arkansas. This study interprets 3D seismic data for evidence of paleokarst within the Mississippian formations in a portion of the subsurface of Conway County, Arkansas. Quantitative data interpretation suggests that sinkholes developed during the Mississippian portion of the eastern Arkoma Basin record.

In a nine square mile area, 3D seismic mapping of Mississippian formations show 14 closed depressions interpreted as karst sinkholes. Time and depth structure maps were created and utilized to estimate the timing of dissolution …

The First Hominin From The Early Pleistocene Paleocave Of Haasgat, South Africa, Ab Leece, Anthony D T Kegley, Rodrigo S. Lacruz, Andy I R Herries, Jason Hemingway, Lazarus Kgasi, Stephany Potze, Justin W. Adams

Peer Reviewed Articles

Haasgat is a primate-rich fossil locality in the northeastern part of the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we report the first hominin identified from Haasgat, a partial maxillary molar (HGT 500), that was recovered from an ex situ calcified sediment block sampled from the locality. The in situ fossil bearing deposits of the Haasgat paleokarstic deposits are estimated to date to slightly older than 1.95 Ma based on magnetobiostratigraphy. This places the hominin specimen at a critical time period in South Africa that marks the last occurrence of Australopithecus around 1.98 Ma and the …

Stratigraphic Interpretation And Reservoir Implications Of The Arbuckle Group (Cambrian-Ordovician) Using 3d Seismic, Osage County, Oklahoma, Ryan Marc Keeling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arbuckle Group in northeastern Oklahoma consists of multiple carbonate formations, along with several relatively thin sandstone units. The group is a part of the “Great American Carbonate Bank” of the mid-continent and can be found regionally as far east as the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas, and as far west as the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. The Arbuckle is part of the craton-wide Sauk sequence, which is both underlain and overlain by regional unconformities.

Arbuckle is not deposited directly on top of a source rock. In order for reservoirs within the Arbuckle to become charged with hydrocarbons, they must be …

Analysis Of Paleokarst Sinkholes In The Arkoma Basin Using 3-D Seismic, Michael Kumbalek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Paleokarst features are important to understand, both with regards to research geologists and to the petroleum industry. In terms of geology, understanding paleokarst features can yield more information about the depositional and surface environments of past times, and how diagenetic alteration affected the environment during the formation of karst features. In the petroleum industry, paleokarst features can have positive or negative consequence resulting in a potential reservoir with enhanced porosity due to the paleokarst features, or as a geo-hazard to prepare for or avoid when drilling.

Inspired by issues faced when drilling in the Ft. Worth basin, this study utilizes …

Calcarenitas De Edad CretáCico TardíO En Las PeñAs De Garagartza Y Afloramientos Contiguos: PeñÓN De Naparraitz Y PeñA De Orobe. Cave Systems In Reef Limestone And Calcarenites Of Late Cretaceous Age In The Crags Of Garagartza And Contiguous Outcrops: Crag Of Naparraitz And Orobe Mountain., Carlos Galan, Jose M. Rivas, Marian Nieto

KIP Articles

This paper describes a set of natural cavities, located in litosomes of reef limestones and calcarenites, which form a W-E band extending about Southern Gipuzkoa end (Otzaurte-Altzania region) for penetrating Navarra (Orobe limestone mount, NW Alsasua). The age of these rocks is Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous). The top of the outcrops form prominent crags which constitute residual relief bluffs. In them there are cave systems which are witnesses of a paleokarst, rejuvenated and partially stripped of their sedimentary fills by the current karst cycle. Accessible caves show features of a long polyphase evolution, with successive phases of speleogenesis, conduits clogging, re-excavation, …

Evaluation And Quantification Of Modern Karst Features As Proxies For Paleokarst Reservoirs, Ryan Travis

Theses and Dissertations

As karst features are buried into the deep subsurface and isolated from the mechanisms that formed them, they turn into paleokarst. Some karst features, such as hypogene and island karst, have a higher probability of being preserved into the deep subsurface, as opposed to epigene karst. As these features transition from modern karst to paleokarst, they are susceptible to collapse. When an individual passage or room collapses, it results in an increase in the void’s areal and volumetric footprint. In addition, individual passages and rooms have the potential to collapse and coalesce into each other, further increasing the cave footprint. …

Cave Rock Surface Temperature Evaluation Using Non-Contact Measurement Methods, Hana Středová, Tomáš Středa, Miroslav Vysoudil

KIP Articles

The aim of this study was to evaluate the rock surface temperature (RST) regime in Kateřinská Cave in the Moravian Karst (Czech Republic, South Moravia) using nondestructive infrared methods. Air temperature monitoring was also included to quantify the dominant factors affecting the RST. Measurements were taken during the period covering January, 2010 to March, 2012. HOBO air temperature sensors with data loggers were placed in front of the cave entrance, in the entrance corridor and on selected sites in the cave interior. An infrared (IR) thermometer was used to measure the surface temperature of the solid rock. The RST in …

A Framework For Assessing The Role Of Karst Conduit Morphology, Hydrology, And Evolution In The Transport And Storage Of Carbon And Associated Sediments, George Veni

KIP Articles

Karst aquifers and conduits form by dissolution of carbonate minerals and the slow release of inorganic carbon to the surface environment. As conduits evolve in size, morphology, and position within the aquifer, their function and capacity change relative to the storage and transport of inorganic and organic carbon as sediment. Conduits serve mostly as transport mechanisms in relation to sediments. Quantified data are sparse, but for conduits to function effectively there must be at least equilibrium in the amount of sediment entering and exiting the aquifer. If sediment discharge exceeds input, little sediment will remain underground. When natural declines in …

Paleokarst And Associated Mineralization At The Linwood Mine, Scott County Iowa, Paul L. Garvin

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Operations at the Linwood Mine in Scott County, Iowa, have exposed, on two working levels, extensive pre-Pennsylvanian paleokarst and associated sediment fillings and mineralization in Middle Devonian limestones. Cavities in Davenport-Spring Grove host rocks range up to 270 meters in length and are virtually all filled with fluviatile sediment. Cavities in Cedar Rapids host rocks, on average, are smaller and some are unfilled. Limestone dissolution was controlled by high-angle fractures with a wide variety of orientations and by bedding plane and stylolitic partings. Dissolutional features on both levels of the mine provide evidence for phreatic and vadose processes. Most of …