backflooding

   1. Temporarily rising water level in a cave caused by downstream passage being too small to pass an abnormally high discharge. The excavation and reexcavation of some caves is ascribed to the enlargement of a passage at or near the water table by gravity flow alternating with periods of calcite precipitation [10].

   2. Flooding due to backup of excess flow behind a constriction in a major conduit. Water that is ponded in tributary passages and proto-caves upstream of the constriction may contribute to the enlargement of maze caves [9].