Open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
THIS IS SEASONAL, BUT KEEPING IT ACTIVE FOR THOSE PLANNING A VISIT.
EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
1. MESSAGE …. Estimate the depth of the sinkhole.
2. MESSAGE …. a. What speleothem indicates that there was once water flowing through this cavern? ... b. How does the size of this speleothem indicate how fast the water was moving? ... NOTE: This is a speleothem found in Whisper Rocks but NOT found in Lincoln Caverns.
3. MESSAGE …. Name one organism (plant/animal, living/fossilized ) that you encountered in the cavern.
4. MESSAGE …. CAVE DWELLERS - Describe how TWO invertebrates and TWO vertebrates use caves.
5. MESSAGE …. Using the cave classification information, classify this cave ... a. By the rocks they are in, ... b. By the morphology of the cave, ... c. By the time they were formed, ... d. By the way they were formed, and ... e. By the age of the rock.
6. MESSAGE …. Match the pictures of speleothems (A-J) with the rooms they are in. Speleothems in Whisper Rocks II are found online (See resources).
7. LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item anywhere along the Whisper Rocks tour. This picture is your log signature.
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
SINKHOLES
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.
Sinkholes are usually but not always linked with karst landscapes. In such regions, there may be hundreds or even thousands of sinkholes in a small area so that the surface as seen from the air looks pock-marked, and there are no surface streams because all drainage occurs sub-surface.
Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur.
KARST TOPOGRAPHY
Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. Due to subterranean drainage, there may be very limited surface water, even to the absence of all rivers and lakes. Many karst regions display distinctive surface features, with sinkholes or dolines being the most common. However, distinctive karst surface features may be completely absent where the soluble rock is mantled, such as by glacial debris, or confined by a superimposed non-soluble rock strata. Some karst regions include thousands of caves, even though evidence of caves that are big enough for human exploration is not a required characteristic of karst.
Karst landforms are generally the result of mildly acidic water acting on soluble bedrock such as limestone or dolostone. The carbonic acid that causes these features is formed as rain passes through the atmosphere picking up CO2, which dissolves in the water. Once the rain reaches the ground, it may pass through soil that may provide further CO2 to form a weak carbonic acid solution: H2O + CO2 = H2CO3. Recent studies of sulfates in karst waters suggests sulfuric and hydrosulfuric acids may also play an important role in karst formation.
This mildly acidic water begins to dissolve the surface and any fractures or bedding planes in the limestone bedrock. Over time these fractures enlarge as the bedrock continues to dissolve. Openings in the rock increase in size, and an underground drainage system begins to develop, allowing more water to pass through and accelerating the formation of underground karst features.
Somewhat less common than this limestone karst is gypsum karst, where the solubility of the mineral gypsum provides many similar structures to the dissolution and redeposition of calcium carbonate.
The karstification of a landscape may result in a variety of large or small scale features both on the surface and beneath. On exposed surfaces, small features may include flutes, runnels, clints and grikes, collectively called karren or lapiez. Medium-sized surface features may include sinkholes or dolines (closed basins), vertical shafts, foibe (inverted funnel shaped sinkholes), disappearing streams, and reappearing springs. Large-scale features may include limestone pavements, poljes and blind valleys. Mature karst landscapes, where more bedrock has been removed than remains, may result in karst towers or haystack/eggbox landscapes. Beneath the surface, complex underground drainage systems (such as karst aquifers) and extensive caves and cavern systems may form.
CLASSIFICATION OF CAVES
Caves are classified a. By the rocks they are in, b. By the morphology of the cave, c. By the time they were formed, d. By the way they were formed, and e. By the age of the rock.
1. By the rocks they are in .... a. Limestone Caves (limestone, dolomite, marble) / b. Gypsum Caves / c. Lava Caves.
2. By the morphology of the cave, the geometric structure .... a. Horizontal Caves consist of some nearly horizontal tubes. / b. Fissure Caves consist of a single fissure in the rock. / c. Vertical Caves consist of shaft(s) and short links in between. / d. Cave Systems are rather large and contain many different features. The discrimination in horizontal and vertical caves is useful only in areas with rather small caves. These caves consist normally of a single tunnel or shaft. In other karst areas with larger caves any cave is a cave system.
3. By the time they were formed, in relation to the forming of the rocks they are in .... a. Primary Caves formed together with the surrounding rocks. These are typically lava tubes or gas bubbles or tufa caves. / b. Most caves are Secondary Caves. After the formation of the rock there is a time when part of the rocks are removed. This secondary stage formed the cave. / c. Tertiary Caves are the result of the collapse of other caves.
4. By the way they were formed .... a. Solutional Caves or Karst Caves. Most caves are in rocks which can be dissolved by a weak natural acid (usually carbonic acid). This acid forms when rainwater absorbs CO2 from the air and the upper layers of the soil. The forming of Gypsum Caves does not require CO2, because gypsum has a very high solubility. / b. Lava Caves or Lava Tubes. First a crust hardens on a lava flow. When the crust gets thick enough, the lava flow is underground. When the eruption ends, the lava keeps flowing and the empty tunnel-like passage remains. The length of this tube depends on the distance from the lava source to the drain, a depression or the sea. It can be hundreds or even thousands of meters long. / c. Tufa Caves are formed when limestone rich water emerges from a spring. / d. Sea Caves are created by the erosion of waves. The waves force water into cracks in the rock, breaking the rock and forming caves. Often these caves follow less resistant rock layers. / e. Talus Caves. Huge rockfalls from cliffs can create large spacious chambers within the resulting boulder piles. / f. Earthquake Caves are formed by the movement of rock along a fault. It's just a natural crack in the rock and the big ones are very rare. / g. Glacier Caves are created from water moving through glaciers. These caves are formed inside the ice. Ice caves are filled with ice, but the cave itself is formed in rock. Most ice caves are formed as solutional caves in limestone! / h. Soil Tubes. In desert areas, flash floods can move through the soil and hollow out openings.
5. By the age of the rock .... This is useful for limestone caves. Limestone is a sedimentary rock and is characterized by the time it was formed. The most common limestone formations are .... a. Recent Limestone or Tufa is found all over the world. / b. Jurassic Limestone / c. Devonian Limestone.
WHISPER ROCKS
For hours and admission see: http://www.lincolncaverns.com/index.html
Myron Dunlavy, Jr. came to Huntingdon as a teenager to work at Lincoln Caverns and attend Juniata College in Huntingdon. Like his father, he was an avid caver, and spent much of his spare time digging in sinkholes atop Warrior Ridge looking for other caves on the property. In September of 1941 he discovered Whisper Rocks.
Tool Room .... Tools were kept in this room during the development of Whisper Rocks. The room has flowstone, bacon, drapery, soda straws, and flowers.
Pipe Organ .... The pipe organ is formed from stalactites and drapery. If "played." different tones would be made due to the varied thicknesses of the drapery.
Diamond Cascade .... In this room crystal facets, free from impurities, reflect the light causing them to sparkle.
Ancient Tomb .... Marks on the left wall indicate the cavern was filled with water a second time after its initial formation. Further evidence indicates that the water once moved at a rapid rate. (Information given in this room answers question 4).
Popcorm or Coral .... Cave popcorn or coral is one of the most common of all cave deposits. Cave coral is formed by seeping water from between crevices and crystals on the wall. A close examination reveals the circular structure of the calcite.
Chapel Room .... In this room hundreds of stalactites hang from the ceiling.
Whisper Rocks II .... Cavers encountered blowing air which indicated an opening or air-filled room. In 2005 a new section of the cave was discovered, which revealed three foot long soda straws, large helictites, rimstone dams, and broomstick stagmites.
Speleothems .... These are some of the speleothems found in the various rooms of this cave.
ROCK-WATER RELATIONSHIP
Water is necessary for speleothems to form. The nature of the cave formation depends on whether the water drips, seeps, condenses, flows, or ponds.
RESOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst_topography
http://www.delminsociety.net/motm/images/images_feb2007/PA_karst_map_lga.gif
http://www.forester.net/images/sw0111_49.gif
http://www-atlas.usgs.gov/articles/geology/IMAGES/karst_features.gif
http://www.showcaves.com/english/explain/Speleology/Classification.html
http://www.lincolncaverns.com/newcave.html
http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/cave_life/cave_life.html