AEG-DMV April 2023 Meeting

Presenter: Bob Denton, CPG, LPSS, LRS with Terracon Consultants, Inc.

Topic: Hiding in Plain Sight : Evidence for a Mesozoic Genesis of the Phreatic Karst Network in the Appalachian Great Valley 

Ever since the seminal research of William Davis in the early 20th century, the paradigm for the development of Appalachian cavern systems has regarded regional downcutting and lowering of the base level since the Late Miocene epoch as the primary mechanism of speleogenesis. The majority of cave systems were considered no older than the Irvingtonian North American Land Mammal Age (Early through Middle Pleistocene), based on dating of vertebrate index fossil remains found in cavern fill sediments. Nevertheless, since the mid-19th century, there have been reports that suggest the parent phreatic network of the Appalachian Great Valley region may be far older.

Paleogene dates were first suggested for lignite deposits found in karst depressions at Brandon, Vermont, and Pond…