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Abstract

Speleothems in the form of stalactites, linear stalactitic growths, flowstone, and crusts, from a hand-dug cave in Northeast Kansas (Sec. 2 NENW, T2S, R22E) are composed of calcite and aragonite. If the estimated age of the cave is correct, i.e., 150 to 200 years old, the stalactites have grown at a maximum rate of 0.20 to 0.15 millimetres per year along their vertical axes. All of the speleothems examined contain about one percent strontium (based on qualitative emission spectrograph analyses). Rate of supply and evaporation of the vadose waters may dictate whether aragonite or calcite is the polymorph that precipitates from the cave waters.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.2.1.15

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