Field test of a calcite dissolution rate law: Fort's Funnel Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park
- EMPE Inc., Nashville, TN (United States)
- Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling Green, KY (United States). Center for Cave and Karst Studies
The laboratory-derived calcite dissolution rate law of Plummer et al. (1978) is the most widely used and mechanistically detailed expression currently available for predicting dissolution rates as a function of water chemistry. Such rate expressions are of great use in understanding timescales associated with limestone karst development. Little work has gone into the field testing of the rate law under natural conditions. This work measured dissolution rates by a crystal weight loss experiment in Buffalo Creek within Fort's funnel Cave, which lies within a pristine, forested catchment of Mammoth Cave National Park. Continuous water chemistry sampling over the same period allowed a time-integrated prediction of the dissolution based on the Plummer et al. (1978) expression. Results indicate that the rate law overpredicted dissolution by a factor of about ten. This concurs with earlier laboratory work suggesting that the law tends to overpredict rates in solutions close to equilibrium with respect to calcite, as were the waters within this part of the groundwater flow system.
- OSTI ID:
- 6819502
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9404221-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 26:4; Conference: 43. annual meeting of the Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America, Blacksburg, VA (United States), 7-8 Apr 1994; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Folsom Mammoth Hunters? The Terminal Pleistocene Assemblage From Owl Cave (10BV30), Wasden Site, Idaho
Foliar injury, tree growth and mortality, and lichen studies in Mammoth Cave National Park. Final report, 1985-1986