Ochtiná Aragonite Cave (Western Carpathians, Slovakia): Morphology, mineralogy of the fill and genesis

Ochtiná Aragonite Cave is a 300 m long cryptokarstic cavity with simple linear sections linked to a geometrically irregular spongework labyrinth. The metalimestones, partly metasomatically altered to ankerite and siderite, occur as isolated 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 …