The maze caves of the Northern Pennines are rectilinear joint‐controlled networks of predominantly tall vertical rifts developed on one level towards the top of a ~20 m thick limestone bed; they were all intersected by underground mines and have no relationship to the present landscape. Passage walls commonly have large, non‐directional scallops; speleothems are uncommon. The caves were previously identified as hypogene in origin, i.e. formed by groundwater ascending from depth, but reassessment of their origin using published data shows that they lack diagnostic hypogene features (rising wall channels, ceiling channels, ceiling cupolas and dome‐pits), and the low permeability strata above and below the limestone bed greatly restrict vertical groundwater flow through the caves. Instead the maze caves were dissolved by the sulphuric acid released by oxidation of iron sulphides (and perhaps chalcopyrite) in the mineralized veins adjacent to all these caves; passage sizes decrease away from the veins and gypsum encrusts the walls of one cave. The maze caves were not formed by vertical groundwater flow, and dissolution was focussed in a relatively small area of limestone beneath an impermeable confining layer. The caves began to form when river incision due to the probably Late Cenozoic uplift of northern England exposed the iron sulphides to weathering and oxidation.

中文翻译：

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表生硫酸的成因与表生洞穴的起源：来自英国北半球的证据

北奔尼山脉的迷宫洞穴是由直缝控制的直线网络，主要由垂直高的裂谷形成，向大约20 m厚的石灰岩层顶部发展。他们都被地下矿井相交，与目前的景观无关。通行壁通常具有较大的，无方向的扇贝。鞘脂不常见。这些洞穴先前被确定为起源于地下的洞穴，即由深度上升的地下水形成，但是使用已公开的数据重新评估了洞穴的起源，表明它们缺乏诊断性的次生特征（上升的壁通道，天花板通道，天花板穹顶和圆顶坑），并且石灰岩床上方和下方的低渗透性地层极大地限制了垂直地下水通过洞穴的流动。取而代之的是，迷宫的洞穴被硫酸盐溶解，而硫酸是由于在所有这些洞穴附近的矿化脉中硫化铁（可能是黄铜矿）的氧化而释放出来的。通道的尺寸远离静脉，而石膏包裹了一个洞的壁。迷宫洞穴不是由垂直的地下水流形成的，溶解作用主要集中在不可渗透的约束层下面相对较小的石灰岩区域。当由于英格兰北部可能晚新生代隆起引起的河流切割而使洞穴开始形成时，硫化铁就遭受了风化和氧化作用。溶解主要集中在不可渗透限制层下的一小片石灰岩中。当由于英格兰北部可能晚新生代隆起引起的河流切割而使洞穴开始形成时，硫化铁就遭受了风化和氧化作用。溶解主要集中在不可渗透限制层下的一小片石灰岩中。当由于英格兰北部可能晚新生代隆起引起的河流切割而使洞穴开始形成时，硫化铁就遭受了风化和氧化作用。