Washburn, Richard S. 1956. The Formation and Detailed Description of a Portion of Wind Cave. Geological Engineering Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (for partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Science Degree). 25 p.

Abstract

Wind Cave is located in the southern flanks of the Black Hills and is the largest cave in the area. The formation of the cave was accomplished by solution of the Pahasapa limestone below the water table along three fracture systems during the early Tertiary time.

The most prominent features of Wind Cave compared to other Black Hills caves are the abundace of boxwork and the lack of large dogtooth spar crystals and the rarity of stalactites and stalagmites.

Traverse #Y1-21 begins in the Post Office Room at benchmark C-16 and windingly proceeds westerly to its termination at station 18. Along thetraverse good examples of boxwork, popcorn and frostwork, chert nodules, cave ice, geodes, stalctites, stalagmites and flowstone are seen. Any further survey should use station 18 as a base station.