Butler Cave

The Butler Cave-Sinking Creek System, Bath County, Virginia (White and Fless, 1982) is developed with a master trunk passage along the axis of a syncline. Tributary... 

Figure 12. Photo of thalweg facies in Butler Cave main stream charnel.

Figure 13. Photo of diamiction facies. Dave s Gallery in Butler Cave.

White, W.B. and Hess, J.W., 1982, Geomorphology of Burnsville Cove and the Geology of the Butler Cave -Sinking Creek System, Natl. Speleol. Soc. Bull. 44 67-77. 

Modem analytical techniques such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and the electron microprobe allow chemical analysis with a spatial resolution of a few micrometers. In the few investigations that have been made, Sr and Mg are found to exhibit banding on the scale expected from the annual growth rate (Fig. 15). The data from Uamh an Tartair Cave in northern Scotland show Mg and Sr to vary in antiphase to each other. Data from Butler Cave, west central Virginia show Mg and Sr to vary in phase. Further, in the Butler Cave sample, the seasonal low concentrations are sharp downward spikes compared with the much broader high concentrations. The presence of a systematic annual pattern in Sr and Mg has been demonstrated for two examples. The interpretation of these results remains to be worked out. 

Figure 15. Strontium and magnesium banding in speleothems. (15A) Uamh an Tartair Cave, Scotland showing antiphase relation in strontium and magnesium (Roberts et al., 1998). (15B) Butler Cave, Virginia showing in-phase relation (Crowell and White, unpublished data).

Cave MR, Butler O, Cook JM, Cresser MS, Garden LM, Holden AJ, Miles DL (1999) Atomic Spectrometry Update Environmental Analysis. J Anal Atom Spectrom 14 279-353. 

Cave MR, Butler O, Chenery SRN, et al. (2001) Atomic spectrometry update. Environmental Analysis.of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 16 194-235. 

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