Ordovician Geology & Hydrology of Williams Canyon
The Beginnings of Cave of the Winds
Cave of the Winds developed in the limestone formations from the Ordovician Manitou Formations (425—500 million years ago) and the Mississippian Williams Canyon Formations (310—345 million years ago).
Cave of the Winds and the springs of Manitou Springs, located just to the south of the caves, have a connection that suggests these same spring waters were responsible for the dissolution of the Cave of the Winds. Basically, the chemistry of the Manitou mineral springs suggests that, below Manitou Springs, there is a mixing zone of deep-seated carbon dioxide-rich mineral water with near-surface meteoric water. This combination readily dissolves limestone. This same chemical mix matches those found at Cave of the Winds.
Local tectonics (study of the movement of the earth’s crust) indicate the initial stages of Cave of the Winds dissolution started in the geological era between 7—4 million years ago. Study into the cave sediments, calibrated with the age of a nearby alluvium (sediment deposited by water), indicates infilling of cave passages occurred over the interval from 4.2—1.7 million years ago. The majority of the cave fill is red cay, which can be up to eight meters thick, eroded from nearby soils and transported into the cave by streams.
This section is an adaptation of the abstract of Fred G. Luiszer’s article, “The Speleogenesis of Cave of the Winds.”
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