Battlefield Cavern EarthCache

White Scar Caves are a network of caves underneath the west side of Ingleborough, which are open to the public (for an entrance fee).
They were discovered in August, 1923 by two amateur geologists, Christopher Long and J.H. Churchill.

Everything you see is as a result of water passing through the limestone. What started as a trickle of water worming it's way thorough the porous rock, eventually turned into an underwater river, via the process of erosion over the course of 200,000 years.
If you choose to take the tour (not required for logging this earthcache) you will see several pieces of evidence showing how much water once flowed through the caves, look above your heads in some passages to see the "water mark".

Throughout the cave system are the features found in other caves of this type; stalagmites, stalactites and calcite formations, but it is half a mile in that the best feature can be found..... Battlefield Cavern.

Battlefield Cavern is over 330 feet long, and is 100 foot high in places. It contains mudpools which have remained untouched since prehistoric times; but the highlight has to be the fluorescing stalactites, which no photo can do justice.
The cavern acquired it's name from the large formation of boulders close to the tourist entrance. It is imagined that giants had a battle and were throwing the boulders.

Logging Requirements

1) Upload a photo of yourself, or your GPS, outside the cave entrance to prove your visit.

2) EMail me the answer to the following questions, some can be found on information boards outside the cave, others will be revealed either on the tour (if you so wish), or through a bit of web-research.

• Roughly how many stalactites hang in the cavern?
• What makes them fluoresce?
• What is the real reason for the formation of boulders in the cavern?

3) To the novice caver, keeping a sense of direction and distance whilst underground can be difficult; and matching your location to a physical point on the surface above either needs a map, or skill.
Outside the cave you will find a map of the cave system, but it doesn't relate to the outside terrain. Your task is to match this underground map to the overground terrain.

• Take a photo or a drawn copy of the map
• Compare it to this overhead snapshot to estimate the location of the cavern, and use a paint program on your computer to mark the location of the cavern with and X, and include your amended picture with your EMail answers.

  Tips:
  The Car Park and Entrance are the lowest feature on the main road.
  The distance from the bottom of the Car Park to the bottom of the picture is 100m
  Locating the point where the water from the lower waterfall exits into daylight will help orintate you.

Enjoy your visit!