INVESTIGATION OF UPWELLING ALONG THE EASTERN BOUNDARY FAULT OF THE ARBUCKLE-SIMPSON AQUIFER

Coal Creek Cave is located in the Pontotoc Ridge Preserve, just south of Pontotoc, Oklahoma, and is overseen by The Nature Conservancy. The cave is also located on the northeast boundary of the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer. Within the cave, traces of what are thought to be sulfur deposits surround the backside of the cave where a spring is present. We hypothesize that the deposits are the result of mixing of deeper basinal fluids with shallow groundwater from the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer. We utilized hand-held XRF and water chemistry to investigate this potential mixing.