STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENT FROM RUSSELL CAVE, NORTHEAST ALABAMA

Russell Cave is a cave system located in the Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia (TAG) region that acts as a sediment trap recording past depositional events. These sediments record climatic events of the surrounding area. The environment of inner cave systems are special, as pedogenesis does not occur, leading to minimal alteration of sediment after deposition. Five core sites along sediment banks ( ~ 3 ft depth) were collected and sampled in 2 cm intervals to analyze for grain size distribution, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and loss on ignition (LOI). The intent of the study is to use multivariate statistical analysis to determine if there is a relationship between the three measured parameters within a single core and/or between all the core sites. This analysis is the first step to understanding the change in flow characteristics among various cave passage morphologies and how these changes result in sediment deposition.