Gradient Controlled Caves, Trapper-Medicine Lodge Area, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

ABSTRACT Extensive caves have developed under canyons in the Trapper‐Medicine Lodge recharge area where ground‐water flow rates became maximized within the Madison carbonates during Cenozoic time. The large flow rates resulted directly from the superposition of steep local gradients on the ground‐water circulation system as a consequence of the erosion of confining units in the region. The cave forming process in this area is gradient controlled, a conclusion that has possible applicability elsewhere.