Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers The Virtual Scientific Journal ISSN 1814-294X www.speleogenesis.info Oсhtiná Aragonite Cave (Slovakia): morphology, mineralogy and genesis Pavel Bosák1, Pavel Bella2, Václav Cilek1, Derek C. Ford3, Helena Hercman4, Jaroslav Kadlec1, Armstrong Osborne5 and Petr Pruner1 1 Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 135, 165 02 Praha 6-Lysolaje, Czech Republic; E-mail:
[email protected] 2 Slovak Caves Administration, Hodžova 11, 031 01 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovak Republic; E-mail:
[email protected] 3 School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, 1280, Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; E-mail:
[email protected] 4 Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland; E-mail:
[email protected] 5 Faculty of Education, A35, University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia; E-mail:
[email protected] Re-published from: Geologica Carpathica 2002, 53 (6), 399-410 Abstract Ochtiná Aragonite Cave is a 300 m long cryptokarstic cavity with simple linear sections linked to a geometrically irregular spongework labyrinth. The limestones, partly metasomatically altered to ankerite and siderite, occur as lenses in insoluble rocks. Oxygen-enriched meteoric water seeping along the faults caused siderite/ankerite weathering and transformation to ochres that were later removed by mechanical erosion. Corrosion was enhanced by sulphide weathering of gangue minerals and by carbon dioxide released from decomposition of siderite/ankerite. The initial phreatic speleogens, older than 780 ka, were created by dissolution in density-derived convectional cellular circulation conditions of very slow flow.