Geomorphology and hydrology of upper sinking cove, cumberland plateau, Tennessee

AbstractUpper Sinking Cove, dissecting the eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau, is characterized by a multiple aquifer, predominantly vadose hydrologic system with minor surface components. There is a central trunk channel along the axis of the cove and a network of independent tributaries. Aquitards within the limestones, particularly Hartselle Formation shales, have influenced both cave and surface landform development by perching ground waters and slowing the vertical growth of closed depressions. Long‐term solutional denudation in the portion of the cove underlain by limestones (40 per cent) is an estimated 56 mm per 1000 years, suggesting that karst development began 15–16 million years ago. Despite lower soil CO2 and spring water hardness, 61 per cent of annual denudation occurs in the six winter months when 76 per cent of yearly runoff occurs. Landform development in Upper Sinking Cove appears to have begun as stream erosion carved a valley first in the sandstone caprock of the escarpment and later in the underlying Pennington Formation limestones containing numerous shale layers which promoted surface stream flow. Eventually stream erosion exposed the massive Bangor limestones which allowed deep ground water flow. Surface streams were pirated underground with the eventual formation of the chain of three closed depressions which constitute Upper Sinking Cove.