Abstract:

Dissolution of gypsum and anhydrite in four stratigraphic units in the Black Hills, South Dakota and Wyoming, has resulted in development of sinkholes and has affected formational hydrologic characteristics. Subsidence has caused damage to houses and water and sewage retention sites. Substratal anhydrite dissolution in the Minnelusa Formation (Pennsylvanian and Permian) has produced breccia pipes and pinnacles, a regional collapse breccia, sinkholes, and extensive disruption of bedding. Anhydrite removal in the Minnelusa probably dates back to the early Tertiary when the Black Hills was uplifted and continues today. Evidence of recent collapse includes fresh scarps surrounding shallow depressions, sinkholes more than 60 feet deep, and sediment disruption and contamination in water wells and springs. Proof of sinkhole development to 26,000 years ago includes the Vore Buffalo Jump, near Sundance, WY, and the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. Several sinkholes in the Spearfish Formation west of Spearfish, SD, which support fish hatcheries and are used for local agricultural water supply, probably originated 500 feet below in the Minnelusa Formation. As the anhydrite dissolution front in the subsurface Minnelusa moves down dip and radially away from the center of the Black Hills uplift, these resurgent springs will dry up and new ones will form as the geomorphology of the Black Hills evolves. Abandoned sinkholes and breccia pipes, preserved in cross section on canyon walls, attest to the former position of the dissolution front. The Spearfish Formation, mostly comprising red shale and siltstone, is generally considered to be a confining layer. However, secondary fracture porosity has developed in the lower Spearfish due to considerable expansion during the hydration of anhydrite to gypsum. Thus, the lower Spearfish yields water to wells and springs making it a respectable aquifer. Processes involved in the formation of gypsum ka