Cottonwood cave 2005-11-05

Participants: Mike Spilde, Leslie Melim, Michael Queen, Susan Herpin

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Fall colors in the canyon below the cave	Sulfur deposit with Mike Spilde for scale. Leslie Melim and Michael Queen flash assistants


Gypsum chandelier in the same area as the sulfur. Mike Spilde for scale. Used in the 2008 edition of the Cave and Karst studies brochure for the program at New Mexico Tech.	Needle crystals growing on trail rock.


View of brown u-loops and associated crust covered by later white flowstone. Tape for scale. Note the brown crust points up and down in different places. When it points up it tends to branch up a little. When going down it gets narrower. This is overview of a large tower feature that is the area for crw _5830 to crw_5848 . It likely has a core of a stalagmite but it is completely coated in brown crust and moonmilk.	View of brown u-loops and associated crust covered by later white flowstone, but close up of upward point brown crust tower that stays fairly narrow, no obvious u-loops.


View of brown u-loops and associated crust covered by later white flowstone. Closer view of upward branching brown crust and u-loops. Good view of later white flowstone as well.	View of brown u-loops and associated crust covered by later white flowstone. Closer view of brown crust with small towers.


View of brown u-loops and associated crust covered by later white flowstone. Closer view of smooth cone of brown crust; small area of lighter tan moonmilk that tends to underlie the brown crust and u-loops. Tape for scale.	Same area, view of brown u-loops and associated crust; area with down hanging strings and u-loops, view of moonmilk core; also coated sunken raft.


Same area. Closer view of 5842.	Same area, good u-loops.


Same area, closer view of broken crust showing crumbly moonmilk underneath. Center of shot shows apparent u-loops in white crumbly moonmilk.	View of water line with smooth brown crust extending about 30 cm then spreads out as u-loops and associated drippie fingers. The hanging "lion's tail" like things are brown crust growing on earlier stalactites. crw_5851.crw Same general are, another view showing the way they expand after coating the stalactites. Also shows white moonmilk that is usually under the brown crust. Michael Queen for scale.


Same general area, but a few meters over. View of brown crust with u-loops, bulbous crust, and thin drippies/pool fingers. Note how they start of stalactites but then expand downward and outward and a little upward.	Same area, view looking directly up and brown crust and u-loops. Also shows white moonmilk core area.


Area of brown u-loops and drippie/pool fingers where two small stalactites have grown sideways into single clump.	New area, u-loops and thin drippies/pool fingers.


Area of brown u-loops and drippie/pool fingers that is coated with needles. Also view of crust around broken stalactites.	Brown u-loops and associated drippie crust growing on stalactite making a "lion's tail" or "warclub". Note thickening on crust at end of "lion's tail". Also moonmilk. Michael Queen for scale.


Same area, better view of three "tails" with water line, thin crust, and drippie/u-loop crust.	Moved over to area where pool CW-01 is over flowstone coming off pool CW-02. Brown knobby crust which is close to meringue. (sample CW051105-03). See next shots for overview of this area.


Overview of water line going from wall across the flowstone as small ridge at same level. Knobby/meringue area is flat area in front of Leslie Melim.	Same area, best view with water line visible across wall and flowstone. Also note coated stalactites behind Leslie Melim and coated stalagmites in front of her.


Down in hole in far right corner of room. This area is entirely below the waterline visible in other shots. View up at two broken stalactites showing the crystalline core (nicely hollow in right hand one) then progressive layers ending in white moonmilk knobbies.	Overview of area with broken stalactites above. Stalactites coated in white moonmilk knobbies. Note more elongate drippie in center of photo, looks more like the brown u-loop crust (and has a u-loop that isn't easy to see.) Michael Queen for scale.


Same area showing brown drippies coating upper part of column but not the lower part. Michael Queen for scale.	Needle crystals of a mineral


Needle crystals of a mineral	Gypsum chandelier in the same area as the sulfur. Mike Spilde for scale.