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Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 33.
THE BULLETIN OF THE
SOUTH KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION OF TROGLOPHILIACS
April 1987
Volume 21, Number 2
Copyright (c)1987, 1995 by
David Perry Beiter
CAVE, Inc.
1/2 Fast Road
Ritner, KY 42639
606/376-3137
byter@mcimail.com
Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this material, provided
that this copyright notice is included.
Color prints of The Phallactite are available as follows:
20" x 30" $20.00
11" x 14" $10.00
4" x 6" $ 5.00
Proofs supplied upon request
Kentucky addresses add 6% "Sales" Tax.
All add $1.00 packing, shipping & handling.
Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 34.
The Phallactite: a Novel Speleothem from Hanging Well Cave on
The Little South Fork of The Cumberland River in Wayne County,
Kentucky, United States of America
David Perry Beiter
University of Hard Knox
An unusual speleothem has been found in a cave in the
southeastern Kentucky karst. The phallactite is an eccentric
stalactite with the superficial resemblance to a phallus.
The phallactite consists of cryptocrystaline pseudopenependulite,
with impurities of satyrite and priapite. Trace element analysis
showed elevated levels of quandrium and egadolinium.
Hanging Well Cave is developed in the Kidder Member of the
Monteagle Formation of Upper Mississippian [Lower Carboniferous]
Age.
Introduction
Speleothems, formed by mineral precipitation within caves, may
take on many unusual forms. Among the more bizarre are
helictites (ref), ophiolites (Gfroerer, 1976), phenaktites
(Beiter, 1984), xenolites (Nnbutunubu and Jones, 1984) and
kazoolites (Pitman and Miller, 1982) The phallactite is another
of the myriad of singular decorations which may be found in the
underground.
Most speleothems are the result of precipitation of minerals from
waters entering the cave. In limestone caves in the humid
eastern United States, the common minerals are calcite and
gypsum. For an overview, see (Hill and Forti, 1986).
Regional setting
Hanging Well Cave is developed near the top of the Kidder
Limestone Member of the Monteagle Limestone Formation (Newman
Limestone) of the Chester Series of the Upper Mississippian
System. (Lewis and Taylor, 1976), (Smith, 1976). The Kidder
Limestone Member is medium to light bluish gray medium to thin
bedded limestone, 40 meters (130 feet) thick. A 0.5 meter (1.5
feet) bed of calcareous siltstone is observed in the cave.
Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 35.
Above the Kidder Limestone Member is the Hartselle Formation, a
greenish plastic shale about a meter (three feet) thick, which
acts as an aquaclude. Above this is the Bangor Limestone, 15
meters (50 feet) of argillaceous limestone. Above this is the
Pennington Formation, 70 meters (230 feet) of shale, with
occasional meter (three feet) thick beds of limestone near its
base. Above this is the Breathitt Formation (Lee Formation) of
the Pottsville Series of the Lower Pennsylvanian System. The
Breathitt Formation consists of sandstone, siltstone, and shale
with 1 meter (three feet) seams of coal. The top of the hill
over Hanging Well Cave has been strip mined for this coal.
The Kidder Limestone Member extends down beneath the cave
entrance for 35 meters (115 feet) to the bed of The Little South
Fork of The Cumberland River. The contact with the underlying
Ste. Genevieve Limestone Member is approximately at river level.
The regional strike is approximately N40E, with a dip of 5 meters
per kilometer (30 feet per mile) to the SE. The Little South
Fork of The Cumberland River flows northeast along the strike.
The River is approximately 50 meters (150 feet) wide and has cut
entrenched meanders 50 meters (150 feet) deep below a former
valley floor 0.5 to 1 kilometer (1500 to 3000 feet) wide. The
local relief from the ridgetops to the River is approximately 200
meters (600 feet).
Hanging Well Cave is developed on the southeast flank of the
Ritner Anticline, a minor structure which, at this location, has
little influence on the regional dip.
Hanging Well Cave
Hanging Well Cave is a small cave with approximately 100 meters
(300 feet) of explored passage. The entrance is located at
36°47'07"N 84°37'42"W [1000-meter Universal Transverse Mercator
grid, zone 16, 4073485mN 711636mE] at an elevation of 270 meters
(885 feet). The entrance is an inconspicuous crack in the
limestone approximately 35 meters (115 feet) above the present
level of The Little South Fork of The Cumberland River.
The cave is entered via a narrow shaft approximately 8m (26 feet)
deep, which enters into the ceiling of the entrance room. This
room is approximately 3 meters (10 feet) wide, 10 meters (30
feet) long and 1 meter (3 feet) high. The room is floored with
breakdown and stream sediments. A small stream with a maximum
observed discharge of one liter per second (8 gallons per minute)
enters from a passage too small for human penetration. The
stream disappears into the breakdown, and can be followed into a
vadose canyon cut below a phreatic tube.
Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 36.
Approximately 30 meters (100 feet) from the entrance the phreatic
tube is 2 meters (6 feet) wide, and has collapsed into a 4 meter
(13 feet) deep vadose canyon. The phreatic level continues, but
is soon filled to within a few centimeters of the ceiling with
sediment. The vadose canyon continues for approximately 100
meters (300 feet) before plunging 5 meters (15 feet) over an
unclimbable waterfall.
Stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone are common in this cave.
One of these stalactites has an aberrant morphology, and was
immediately given the appellation "phallactite", due to its
fancied resemblance to a phallus (Beiter, 1977).
The Phallactite
The phallactite is a deviant stalactite. Its length is
approximately 35 centimeters (14 inches) and the diameter is
approximately 5 centimeters (2 inches). The upper third of the
phallactite is vertical, with the lower two thirds offset by an
angle of approximately 20 degrees. Several other stalactites are
growing within one meter of the phallactite, but these do not
show any indications of this offset. However, a nearby column
has been broken and the lower section settled 15 centimeters (6
inches). This settling of the large breakdown blocks on the
floor does not appear to be recent.
In color, the phallactite is distinctly pinkish, as compared to
the surrounding stalactites, which appear light yellowish brown.
The composition seems somewhat softer, and has less of a ringing
sound when struck with the fingernail, as compared to the
adjoining stalactites.
Phallactite Mineralogy
Micro samples of the phallactite were removed for laboratory
analysis. N-ray resonance performed in the laboratories of
Prof. M. Fuller Mullarchae with a Bergman Model II N-ray
Phenactron Reconfabulator gave the mineralogical composition as
91% pseudopenependulite, 8.6% satyrite, 0.22% priapite, with
traces of aragonite, quartz, amorphous silica, montmorillinite,
and xenite.
Elemental psi-wave analysis by Dulles Hamm and Jack Cass of
Infernal Research And Development showed elevated levels of
quandrium and egadolinium.
Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 37.
Acknowledgements
Dulles Hamm and Jack Cass of Infernal Research And Development
graciously provided the elemental psi-wave analysis of a sample
of the phallactite.
The author wishes to thank the following members of The South
Kentucky Association of Troglophiliacs for their invaluable
assistance in the excavation and exploration of Hanging Well
Cave: Jack & Jenny Ascii; Clay Banks; Rocky & Sandy & Dusty &
Titus & Belle E. Crowl; Uvala Fields; K. V. Hill; John &
Lavine Kalethrill; Karsten & Karen Kalkstein; Fuller Mudd;
Ima Pitman; Rhea Lalia Swift; Troglodytie Tuttle; Lance Tyson;
and I. M. & R. U. Underhill.
Funding, in part, was supplied by United States Department of
Entropy Grant No. 6846354984 to Prof. M. Fuller Mullarchae,
Department of Secular Eschatology, University of Hard Knox.
References
Beiter, D. P. (1977)- Hanging Well Cave, A Preliminary Report:
Bull. S.K.A.T. 11:87-94.
Beiter, D. P. (1984)- Phenaktites in Natural Septic Tank Cave:
Bull. S.K.A.T. 18:12-17.
Gfroerer, M. P. (1976)- Ophiolites Discovered in Big Blowing
Viper Cave, Kentucky: Jour. Cave Rats Vertical Caving
Organization 7:8-13.
Hill, C. A. and Forti, P. (1986)- Cave Minerals of the World:
Huntsville, AL, Natl. Speleol. Soc., 260pp.
Lewis, R. Q., Sr., and Taylor, A. R. (1976)- Geologic Map of the
Coopersville Quadrangle, Wayne and McCreary Counties, Kentucky:
U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-1315.
Nnbutunubu, Q. R., and Jones, R. E. (1984)- Anomalous Mineralogy
of Nbobo Mkuluku Cave, Eastern Transvaal: Proc. S. Afr. Soc.
Mineralogists & Gemnologists 14:114-121.
Pitman, I. M., and Miller, E. D. (1982)- Kazoolites in Tasmanian
Caverns: Speloechemica et Cosmochemica Acta 36:127-133.
Smith, J. H. (1976)- Geologic Map of the Nevelsville Quadrangle,
South-Central Kentucky: U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map
GQ-1326.