Vein cavities: an early stage in the evolution of the Castleton Caves, Derbyshire, UK

Recent discoveries have revealed an increasing number of large, commonly isolated, phreatic dissolution cavities in mineral veins, faults and fractures around Castlelon, Derbyshire. They are suggested to be significant as an early phreatic phase of the development of the Castleton karst, having providing inception routes for movement of water through the limestone massif, thereby stimulating later phreatic and vadose development of caves along the bedding in the adjacent Carboniferous Limestone.