Early Pennsylvanian (309–318 Ma) paleocave sediments hosted in the Mississippian (345–359 Ma) Leadville Limestone were partly derived from long-distance (>2000 km) source areas. In addition to showing the importance of long-distant dust transport in cave sediments, because these paleocave deposits are derived from loess, their presence may document the earliest terrestrial signature of the late Paleozoic ice age in North America.

The Leadville Limestone was subject to karst processes following late Mississippian eustatic sea-level fall, including formation of phreatic tubes, breakout domes, tower karst (kegelkarst), solution valleys (poljes), sinkholes (dolines), solution-enhanced joints (grikes), surficial flutes (rillenkarren), and solution pans (kamenitzas)....