Caves and Karst in the U.S. National Park Service U.S. Department … · 2012-01-05 · Kenai...

Russell Cave NM

Stones River NB

L A K EE R I E

L A K E O N T A R I O

L A K E

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L A K E S U P E R I OR

L A K E O F T H E W O O D S

Vally Forge NHP

Delaware Water Gap NRA

G r e a t S a l t L a k e

Salinas Pueblo Missions NM

Alibates FlintQuarries NM

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS

Harpers FerryNHP

Antietam NB

Fort Caroline NMEM

Parashant NM

Catoctin Mtn Park

Isle Royale NP

Glen CanyonNRA

Effigy Mounds NM

Texas

Utah

Montana

California

Arizona

Nevada

IdahoOregon

Colorado

Kansas

Iowa

Wyoming

New Mexico

Ohio

Illinois

Missouri

Florida

Nebraska

Minnesota

Georgia

Oklahoma

Alabama

Arkansas

South Dakota

Washington

Wisconsin

MaineNorth Dakota

Virginia

Louisiana

New York

Indiana

Mississippi

Kentucky

Tennessee

Pennsylvania

North Carolina

South Carolina

Michigan

West Virginia

Vermont

MD

NJ

NH

Mass.

Conn.

DE

RI

Yellowstone NP

Everglades NP

Glacier NP

Big Bend NP

Yosemite NP

Lake Mead NRA

Big Cypress NPRES

Sequoia NP

Kings Canyon NP

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Craters of the Moon NM & NPRES

Grand Teton NP Badlands NP

Capitol Reef NP

Mount Rainier NP

Zion NP

Biscayne NP

Dinosaur NM

Shenandoah NP

Crater Lake NP

Redwood NP

Buffalo NR

El Malpais NM

Arches NP

Channel Islands NP

Ross Lake NRA

Great Basin NP

Bighorn Canyon NRA

Dry Tortugas NP

Guadalupe Mountains NP

Big South Fork NRRA

New River Gorge NR

Point Reyes NS

Saint Croix NSR

Mammoth Cave NP

Olympic NP

Lava Beds NM

Carlsbad Caverns NP

Wupatki NM

Bryce Canyon

NP

Saguaro NP

Wind Cave NP

Timucuan Ecological and Historical Reserve

Lake Meredith NRA

Cumberland Island NS

Pinnacles NM

Theodore Roosevelt NP

Acadia NP

Ozark NSRCumberland Gap NHP

Chickasaw NRA

Fossil Butte NM

Cedar Breaks NM

Coronado NMEM

Colonial NHP

Obed WSR

Fort Pulaski NM

Bluestone NSR

Golden Gate NRA

Pea Ridge NMP

Canyonlands NP

Golden Spike NHS

Sunset Crater Volcano NM

Wilson's Creek NB

Apostle Islands NL

Tonto NM

Devils Tower NM

Jewel Cave NM

Lyndon B. Johnson NHS

Tuzigoot NM

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP

Bandelier NM

Rocky Mountain NP

Fort Donelson NB

Montezuma Castle NM

Oregon Caves NM

San Juan Island NHP

Gila Cliff Dwellings NM

San Antonio Missions NHP

Timpanogos Cave NM

Fort Matanzas NM

Fort Sumter NM

Mojave NPRES

Natchez Trace Parkway

DeathValley NP

DeSoto N MEM

Canaveral NS

Castillo de San Marcos NM

Fort Frederica NM

Grand Canyon NP

Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP

Amistad NRA

Nihau

Maui

Molokai

Hawai'i

Oahu

Kauai

P a c i f i c O c e a n

Hawaii Volcanoes NP

Haleakala NP

Kalaupapa NHP

Kaloko-Honokohau NHPPuuhonua O Honaunau NHP

B e r i n g S e a

G u l f o f A l a s k a

P a c i f i c O c e a n

Gates of the ArcticNP & PRES

Noatak NPRES

Bering Land Bridge NPRES

Yukon-Charley Rivers NPRES

Denali NP & PRES

Glacier BayNP & PRES

Kenai Fjords NP

Lake ClarkNP & PRES

KatmaiNP & PRES

Aniakchak NM & PRES

Wrangell-St. EliasNP & PRES

P a c i f i c O c e a n

American SamoaNational Park of American Samoa

Guam

P a c i f i c O c e a n

War in the Pacific NHP

Salt River BayNHP and Ecological

Preserve

Buck Island Reef NM

Virgin Islands NP

M E X I C OM E X I C O

C A N A D AC A N A D A

G u l f o f M e x i c o

P a c i f i c O c e a n

A t l a n t i c O c e a n

C A N A D AC A N A D A

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0 50 10025 Miles

0 40 8020 Miles

ALASKA

PACIFIC WEST ISLANDS

PUERTO RICO/ VIRGIN ISLANDS

R U S S I AR U S S I A

Hawai'i

National BattlefieldNational Battlefield ParkNational Battlefield SiteNational Historic AreaNational Historical ParkNational Historical Park and PreserveNational Historical ReserveNational Historic SiteNational Historic LakeshoreNational MonumentNational Monument and PreserveNational Military ParkNational MemorialNational ParkNational Park and PreserveNational PreserveNational RiverNational Recreation AreaNational Recreational RiverNational River and Recreation AreaNational ReserveNational SeashoreNational Scenic River/RiverwayParkwayScenic and Recreational RiverWild RiverWild and Scenic River

NBNBPNBSNHANHPNHP & PRESNH RESNHSNLNMNM & PRESNMPNMEMNPNP & PRESNPRESNRNRANRRNRRANRESNSNSRPKWYSRRWRWSR

Park Unit with Caves and/or KarstInterstate Highways

rivers

National Park Service UnitsUSGS Karst Map (2004)*

carbonategypsumvolcanicerosional

0 100 20050 Kilometers

0 200 400 600100 Kilometers

0 200 400 600 800 1000100 300 500 700 900 Kilometers

0 50 10025 Kilometers

*Bret D. Tobin and David J. Weary. 2004. Digital Engineering Aspects of Karst Map : A GIS version of Davies, W.E., Simpson, J.H., Ohlmacher, G.C., Kirk, W.S., and Newton, E.G., 1984, Engineering aspects of karst: U.S. Geological Survey, National Atlas of the United States of America, scale 1:7,5000. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1352 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1352/

National Park Service U.S. Department of the InteriorCaves and Karst in the U.S. National Park Service

Nationwide

For further information see http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/caves/

Photographs from your National Parks!

Longest Caves in the NPSRank in

the worldCave Name (Park)

Cave Length (miles - km)

Cave Depth (ft - m)

#1 Mammoth Cave System (Mammoth Cave NP) 367.0 - 590.6 379.0 - 115.5

#2 Jewel Cave (Jewel Cave NM) 146.18 - 235.3 632.0 - 192.6

#4 Wind Cave (Wind Cave NP) 132.1 - 212.5 646.0 - 196.9

#5 Lechuguilla Cave (Carlsbad Caverns NP) 126.5 - 203.6 1604.0 - 488.9

#30 Kazumura Cave (Hawaii Volcanoes NP) 40.7 - 65.5 3614.0 - 1101.5

#65 Carlsbad Caverns (Carlsbad Caverns NP) 27.5 - 44.3 1035.0 - 315.5

#100 Lilburn Cave (Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP) 20.8 - 33.5 508.0 - 154.8

#129 Fitton Cave (Buffalo NR) 17.5 - 28.2 no data

#175 Gap Cave System (Cumberland Gap NHP) 14.5 - 23.4 484.0 - 147.5

lengths are from the World’s Longest Caves Website (http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm)lengths are from the World’s Longest Caves Website (http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm)lengths are from the World’s Longest Caves Website (http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm)

NPS/G

RD

Panther Cave is just one of the limestone shelters boaters can access in Amistad National Recreation Area to see 4,000 year old rock art.

NPS/JC

HIS

Painted Cave, in Channel Island National Park, is thought to

be the largest sea cave in the world with a 160’ high entrance

and a length over 1,000 feet.

NPS/PA

RA

This millipede is only one of three new genera and 15 new species of

invertebrates discovered in the caves within Grand Canyon-Parashant Na-

tional Monument.

NPS/LA

BE

Lava Beds NM is studying perennial ice in its lava tube

systems in order to assess the effects of climate change, how

continued decline impacts cave ecology, and whether ice contains climatic data or

dateable materials.

NPS/ELM

A

The entrance of Dinty Moore Cave, one of over 250 lava caves within El

Malpais National Monument.

NPS/C

HO

H

Though less known for their karst resources, Chesapeake and Ohio

Canal NHP is home to Myotis soda-lis, more commonly known as the

Indiana Bat.

NPS/Y

OSE

Although Yosemite National Park is mostly made up of

granitic rocks, small outcrop-pings of marble contain com-plex caves with underground

streams.

NPS/TIC

A

Timpanogos Cave NM features three alpine caves with abundant delicate formations in an

array of colors.

NPS/C

RMO

Most caves at Craters of the Moon National Monument are lava tubes but deep rift caves also occur and may contain ice formations.

Fitton (Beauty) Cave, the longest cave in Arkansas is one of more than 360

documented caves at Buffalo National River.

NPS/BU

FF

NPS/W

RST

Amazing ice formations in Whispering Cave, Wrangell-St.Elias National Park

and Preserve.

NPS/W

ICA

As the world’s 4th longest known cave at 212km, Wind Cave is

known for its maze-like passages and boxwork speleothems.

People have been an important part of the Mammoth Cave story for the last 4000 years -- from prehistoric explorers to Nineteenth Century miners and tourists to modern visitors and researchers.

NPS/G

ARY

C. BERD

EAU

x

NPS/G

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IA H

YBELS

Sea caves provide habitat for several species in Acadia National Park. The genetic diversity of sea

anemones is being studied in Anemone Cave.

NPS/SC

OTT

HO

USE

Ozark National Scenic Riverways has the largest concentration of 1st magnitude springs in the world.

NPS/G

RD

In Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, caves and rock shelters in the conglomerate cliffs were used by the Mogollon people in

the 13th century to build dwellings.

NPS/G

RDN

PS/GRD

Weathering and erosion have carved caves and shelters out of the Navajo Sandstone in

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

NPS/A

ND

REA C

ROSK

REY

Sinkhole in Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.

NPS/G

RD

Suzy’s Cave, in Isle Royal National Park, was carved out by wave action from ancient Lake

Halloran, 40-60 feet higher than the current lake level.

NPS/G

RD

The caves at Oregan Caves National Monu-ment are formed in a marble outcrop locat-

ed in the Siskiyou Range.

CIV

ILIAN

CO

NSERVA

TION

C.

Rampart Cave in Grand Canyon National Park preserved one of the

thickest and least disturbed deposits of sloth dung in the world, dating to

at least 11,200 years old.

NPS/SEK

I

The cave resources at Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs alone would war-Kings Canyon NPs alone would war-Kings Canyon NPs alone would warrant National Park status. Formed in marble, the more than 260 known

caves are home to unique biological and geological resources.

NPS/G

RBA

Great Basin NP’s endemic pseu-doscorpion, Microcreagris grandis,

eating an ant in Lehman Cave. Bio-inventories have discovered nine cave endemic species in the park.

NPS/A

RT PALM

ER PA

LMER

P

The calcite crystals for which Jewel Cave was named create a backdrop

for dripstone formations in the world’s second-longest cave.

NPS/G

AV

IN N

EWM

AN

Lechuguilla Cave was dissolved by extremely aggressive sulfuric acid. This unique chemical environment resulted

in strange, yet beautiful formations such as these 5 meter long gypsum chandeliers.

Contact Information for this Program:DALE PATE PATE PActing Cave & Karst Program Coordinator3225 NATIONAL PARKS PARKS P HWYCARLSBAD, NEW MExICO 88220

PH 575-785-3107FAx 575-785-2317dale_pate@nps.gov

CAvAvA E AND KARST PROGRAMGeologic Resources DivisionNational Resource Program Center

National Park ServiceP.O. BOx 25287DENVER, COLORADO 80225