PRE-CAVE EVENTS

In this paper, the sequence of events for Kartchner Caverns and surrounding region are correlated and traced from the Mississippian Period to the present. Pre-cave events include the deposition of the Escabrosa Limestone during the Mississippian Period and block faulting and hydrothermal activity in the Miocene Epoch. The cave passages formed in the shallow phreatic zone ~ 200 Ka. Vadose events in the cave include the inwashing of pebble gravels and a maximum deposition of travertine during the Sangamon interglacial. Backflooding by undersaturated water caused bevelling of the limestone and travertine. Recent events include the habitation of the cave by vertebrates and invertebrates, and the dis-covery and development of the cave by humans. This paper provides an overview of events affecting Kartchner Caverns. An outline of this sequence of events, inte-grated with respect to regional events, has been compiled from the literature and from the results of this Symposium (Table 1). Kartchner Caverns is located in the Whetstone Mountains, ~13 km south of Benson, Arizona, USA, just west of Arizona State Highway 90. The cave is developed in a downdropped block of Mississippian Escabrosa Limestone. The cave is over 3 km long, and is developed primarily along one level at an ele-vation of ~1410 m (4625 ft). The cave contains spacious rooms, one as long as 100 m. Kartchner Caverns is Arizona’s 25th and newest State Park and is due to open in Novembe