Tours available 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 …. a. Is there an area where the kettles are concentrated? ... b. What is the diameter and depth of the largest kettle you encounter during your tour?
2. MESSAGE …. Explain how/why the kettles are found only on the ceiling.
3. MESSAGE …. a. Where is the greatest concentration of scallops found? ... b. What is the direction water once flowed within this cave?
4. MESSAGE …. What is the largest and only significant drip formation seen on the general walking tour?
5. MESSAGE …. There are names carved on the walls of the cave. Based on what you see and learn from the tour guide, is this considered history or graffiti? Explain.
6. LOG …. Post a picture of you or your signature item anywhere along the tour. This picture is your log signature.
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in 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
THANK YOU Chris Perry (Park Manager) and Robert Myers (State Park Naturalist) for permission to share this learning adventure. ... Your permit for the earthcache “Saltpeter Cave” is 19102CCSRP
THANK YOU Paul Tierney (Park Naturalist) for verifying accuracy of information and answering my questions.
CAVE
This is a cave which contains just under 2 miles of passage way. Historically, it served as a source of saltpeter, which is used to make gunpowder. Currently, it is a hibernaculum for the endangered Indiana Bat. As you journey through this cave, you will be walking on a dried stream bed containing bat guano deposited from hundreds of thousands of bats over time.
SPELEOTHEMS
Speleothems are predominantly limestone formations found in caves. They take various forms, depending on whether the water drips, seeps, condenses, flows, or ponds.
"Scallops are an excellent indicator of water flow! Flow direction is indicated by where the scallop "points". The steep side is downstream. Imagine that the flowing water "erodes" the side that it hits and flattens it the most, making the scallop point downstream. Scallop size is inversely-proportional to flow velocity. Small scallops indicate fast-moving water, large scallops indicate slow moving water. Scallops can be several feet in length or millimeters in length."
GEOLOGY
The major geological feature you will encounter is the array of kettles carved in the ceiling. Kettles are holes in the substrate caused by the action of water - either solid (ice) or liquid (water). Swirling water once inundated this cave when it was a subterranean stream. The ceiling is made of bedrock.
The following questions were answered by Paul Tierney - Park Naturalist
What caused the formation of the kettles? - Since all of our caves begin to form below the water table, there is pressure, almost like the plumbing in your home. When that water hits something in the rock, harder, or at least a different density than the limestone, it creates a whirlpool, because of the pressure, the whirlpool travels up instead of down.
Why are they located in the bedrock ceiling? - This is for the same reason as the above answer. There can be similar formations sometimes in the floor of caves that we call pits, but since gravity is always pulling water down, erosion continues to erode the bottom, creating on open bottom in many cases instead of like kettles on the ceiling, which most times stop forming once the water table drops.
For this area, the limestone IS the bedrock. It is nearly all sedimentary rock, there is no volcanic/igneous. And for this area, there is also no uplifting or folding. Everything here at the park has formed through the solutions/erosion of the existing sedimentary rock layers, including the kettle bottoms when forming below the water table.
Why is the smallest diameter at the end of the kettle within the bedrock? - Because of the nature of a whirlpool.
What direction did the water flow? - Scallops and erosion formations can give indications on which direction the water was traveling when the cave was first forming. As a general rule, the shallower side of the a scallop points in the direction of water flow.
Is there a creek above - There is no creek currently above Saltpetre Cave. The cave was most likely formed by Cave Branch Creek which is now below the current elevation of the cave.
SALTPETER
Dried bat guano (poop aka saltpeter) consists of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. Potassium nitrate is valuable as fertilizer and manufacture of gunpowder.
HISTORY
"Saltpeter Cave is considered by many historians to be the site of the earliest industry in the area. The cave was used during the War of 1812 as a source of the major ingredient in making gunpowder, Saltpetre." It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The tour will show you the implements used in mining of saltpeter and manufacture of gunpowder, You will also see names carved on the walls of the 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://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMTQ8M_Saltpetre_Cave_Carter_Caves_SP_KY_US
http://www.kyopa.org/30-days-of-kentucky-archaeology/30-days-kentucky-archaeology-2016/kentucky-archaeology-month-day-22-archaeology-saltpetre-cave-carter-caves-state-park/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_(landform)
http://forums.caves.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4737
CAVE TOURS ... https://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/carter-caves/caves-overview.aspx