Short Creek Earthcache EarthCache
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This land belongs to Elwood Taylor who welcomes and encourages visitors to the area. Please follow all rules and requests of land owner; no fires, no camping, repelling, animals, you may walk around and enjoy the area and scenery, be respectful & safe. Please do not try and enter the caves as the land owner does not want to be responsible for any accidents that may result from someone trying to enter the caves or any fallen rock.
Stab may have been an early resurgence for Sinking Valley until collapse, sedimentation, and the down cutting of the creek forced other routes of exit such as Short Creek, a quarter-mile to the south. Evidence in Stab illustrates the process of sedimentation near the mouth of a conduit that may now be taking place near Short Creek.
The waters of Short Creek inhabit a collapsed karst window about 200 feet (70 meters) in diameter. The normal discharge has been measured at 50 cubic feet per second (14.2 cubic meters per second) and flood discharge has been estimated at three times that, Within 300 feet (100 m), the water re-enters the ground but can be followed to the middle entrance. Although thirty feet wide by ten feet high, the passage between these two entrances appears to be a collapsed extension of Short Creek Cave. Two sections of cave, each about 500 feet long, parallel this streambed with siphons between. One transmits spring water to Buck Creek, as do several other smaller outlets along the banks of Buck Creek that have been dye traced from Short Creek.
Short Creek is a site of natural beauty and wonder, revered since prehistoric times. The underground stream that feeds Short Creek is an extensive and mysterious wilderness. What biological and mineral rarities remain undiscovered cannot be guessed. But the Sinking Valley Karst Aquifer contains one resource in abundance that grows more rare each day, a mineral more valuable than gold because it sustains life. That resources is water. With technological advances, environmental advocacy, and better education, it is hoped that we will make choices that will restore and preserve the purity of these 11 waters. Short Creek has washed away the stains of a multitude of mistakes. It is hoped it will never be permanently tainted.
What you are looking at when you look out over the creek and around the area from the given coordinates, is a karst. A Karst is a special type of landscape that is formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks, including limestone and dolomite. Ground dissolution occurs when certain types of rock contain layers of material that may dissolve if they get wet. This can cause underground cavities to develop. These cavities reduce support to the ground above and can lead to a collapse of overlying rocks.
The rocks which form the caves at both ends of the creek have been dissolved away by the water to cause the openings in the caves to get wider and wider. The whole area of land which you are standing in, which is surrounded by walls of rock, have also been cut away over time by water getting these rock walls wet and causing pieces of the rock walls to dissolve or break off.
Karst regions contain aquifers that are capable of providing large supplies of water.
More than 25 percent of the world's population either lives on or obtains its water from karst aquifers. In the United States, 20 percent of the land surface is karst and 40 percent of the groundwater used for drinking comes from karst aquifers. Natural features of the landscape such as caves and springs are typical of karst regions. Karst landscapes are often spectacularly scenic areas. Examples include the sinkhole plains and caves of central Kentucky, the large crystal-clear springs of Florida, and the complex, beautifully decorated caves of New Mexico.
Common geological characteristics of karst regions that influence human use of its land and water resources include ground subsidence, sinkhole collapse, groundwater contamination, and unpredictable water supply.
To log this cache, please take a picture of yourself at the given coordinates with Short Creek and its caves behind you.
2) How long is the creek from cave to cave?
How tall and wide is the cave to the left?
How tall and wide is the cave on the right?
What is the elevation at this point?
Additional Hints
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