Bull. S.K.A.T. vol 21, # 2, p 33. THE BULLETIN OF THE SOUTH KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION OF TROGLOPHILIACS October 1987 Volume 21, Number 2 Copyright (c)1987, 1993 by David Perry Beiter CAVE, Inc. 1/2 Fast Road Ritner, KY 42639 606/376-3137 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 36ø47'07"N 84ø37'42"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.