Carlsbad Caverns National Park is the United States National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. The main attraction of the park is the show cave, Carlsbad Cavern . Carlsbad Caverns National Park is open every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. Visitors to the cave can climb on their own through the natural entrance or take the lift from the visitor center.
The park entrance is located on US Highway 62/180, about 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park participates in the Junior Ranger Program. The park has two entries on the National Register of Historic Places: The Caverns Historic District and Rattlesnake Springs Historic District. About two-thirds of parks have been set aside as wilderness areas, helping to ensure no future changes will be made to the habitat.
The Carlsbad Cavern includes a large cavern room (the Big Room), a natural limestone chamber nearly 4,000 feet (1,220 m) in length, 625 feet (191 m) wide, and 255 feet (78 m) high at the highest point. It is the fifth largest room in North America and the 28th largest in the world.
Video Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Geologi Edit
Capitan Reef Edit
An estimated 250 million years ago, the area around Carlsbad Caverns National Park served as a coastline for the inland sea. Present at sea is mostly marine life, which still forms corals. Unlike the growth of modern corals, Permian corals contain bryozoans, sponges, and other microorganisms. After the Permian Period, most of the water evaporates and corals are buried by evaporites and other sediments. Tectonic movements occur during the end of the Kenozoic, lifting the reef above the ground. Because it is vulnerable to erosion, the water carves the area of ​​Mount Guadalupe into a present-day state.
Speleogenesis Edit
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located at the base of limestone above groundwater. During the construction of the cave, it is inside the groundwater zone. Far below the limestone is petroleum reserves (part of the Mid-Continent Oil Field). At a time near the Cenozoic end, hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) starts seeping up from the oil into the ground water. The combination of hydrogen sulfide and oxygen from water forms sulfuric acid: H 2 S 2O 2 Ã, -> H 2 SO 4 . Sulfuric acid then continues upward, aggressively dissolving limestone deposits to form caves. The presence of gypsum in the cave is a confirmation of the occurrence of this process, as it is a by-product of the reaction between sulfuric acid and limestone. After the acid soil water is dried from the caves, speleothems begin to be stored in the cave. Erosion on the ground creates a natural entrance to the Carlsbad Cave in the last millions of years. Exposure to the surface has allowed the entry of air into the cave. Rainwater and snow melt seep down to the soil taking up carbon dioxide; once this water reaches the cave ceiling, it settles and evaporates, leaving a small calcium carbonate deposit. The growth from the roof down that formed through this process is known as stalactites. In addition, the water on the cave floor can contain carbonic acid and produce mineral deposits by evaporation. The growth of the floor up through this process is known as stalagmite. Different formations of speleothems include columns, soda straws, curtains, heliksites, and popcorn. Changes in air temperature and precipitation affect the rate of speleothem growth, as higher temperatures increase the rate of carbon dioxide production in the soil above it. The color of speleothems is determined by the trace of constituents in the mineral formation.
Maps Carlsbad Caverns National Park
History Edit
While a boy, Jim White explored the cave with his homemade wire ladder. He mentioned many rooms, including the Big Room, the New Mexico Room, the King's Palace, the Queens Room, the Papoose Room, and the Green Lake Room. He also named many of the more prominent cave formations, such as Totem Pole, Finger Witch, Giant Dome, Bottomless Gorge, Fairyland, Ice Mountain, Temple of the Sun, and Agad Stone.
Max Frisch combines the story of the discovery of white caves in his novel I'm Not Stiller .
The city of Carlsbad, which lends its name to caves and national parks, is in turn named after the Czech city formerly known as the German Karlsbad (the English spelling
Until 1932, visitors of the cave had to walk on a landing road that took them 750 feet (230 m) below the surface. The journey back was exhausting for some people. In 1932 the national park opened a large visitor center building containing two elevators that would take visitors in and out of the caves below. The new center includes a cafeteria, waiting room, museum and first aid area.
Legislative history Edit
- October 25, 1923 - President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation (1679-Oct. 25, 1923-43 Stat. 1929) founded the Carlsbad Cave National Monument .
... a limestone cave known as the Carlsbad Cave, with incredible proportions and unusual beauty and various natural decorations;... outside the vast spaces that have been explored, other vast spaces with unknown characters and dimensions exist;... some rooms contain stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations in the number, size, beauty of the shape, and the unusual variety of images that make it the same, if not superior, cave in both scientific and popular interest to be better. known cave...
- April 2, 1924 - President Calvin Coolidge issued an executive order (3984) for a possible national park or monument on the site.
- May 3, 1928 - additional executive order (4870) issued to book additional land for possible monuments or parks.
- May 14, 1930 - an act of the United States Congress (46 Stat. 279) establishes the Carlsbad Caverns National Park to be directed by the Interior Secretary and administered by the National Park Service.
- June 17, 1930 - President Herbert Hoover signed Executive Order 5370 ordering additional land for classification.
- November 10, 1978 - Carlsbad Caverns Wilderness was founded with the National Parks and Recreation Act (95-625) signed by President Jimmy Carter.
Named space Edit
Carlsbad Caverns has an average annual visit of about 410,000 in the period 2007 to 2016. The peak visit usually takes place on weekends following Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Free admission for self guided tours is often given on holidays such as Martin Luther King weekend, Jr., National Park Week, and Veterans Day Weekend. Camping is permitted in the country behind the park, but permission is required from the visitor center.
One of the additional events organized by the park is seeing the flight of bats. The program is given in the afternoon at the amphitheater near the main entrance before the start of the flight, which varies with sunset time. The flight program is scheduled from Memorial Day weekend to mid-October. Optimal vision usually occurs in July and August when the bat kids this year first join the adult bat flight. The morning program was also held before dawn to witness the return of bats into the cave. Once a year, breakfast bat flights are held where visitors can eat breakfast in the garden before returning to bat early in the morning.
Throughout the year, a star party is organized by the park at night. Rangers organize an information program in the night sky sky and telescopes are also available. These parties are often held in conjunction with special astronomical events, such as the Venus transit.
Recent browsing Edit
In 1985 a typical exploratory method was discovered. In the dome area of ​​255 feet (78 m) above the floor of the Big Room not far from the Pit Without Basis, a stalagmite leaned out. Using a balsa wooden circle with embedded helium balloons, explorers, (after several attempts over several years), hoisting the light cord up, past the stalagmite target, and returning to the ground. Then they pull the climbing rope into position, and the explorers go up to what they call The Spirit World. A smaller similar room is found in the main entrance corridor, and is named Ballroom Ballroom in honor of this technique.
In 1993, a series of small alleys measuring nearly a mile in combined length were found in the ceiling of the New Mexico Room. Named "Chocolate High", it was the greatest discovery in the cave since Guadalupe Room was discovered in 1966.
The Bottomless Pit was originally said to have no basis. The stones were thrown into them, but no stone sounds that touched the lower part could be heard. Then the exploration reveals the bottom about 140 feet (43 m) deep and covered with soft impurities. The stones do not sound when they hit the bottom because they lodged in soft ground.
On October 31, 2013, a cave technician exploring the Spirit World area found a new room hundreds of meters from the main area. Nicknamed "Halloween Hall" for the date of its discovery, the new discovery marks the greatest discovery for caves in more than 25 years. The room diameter is about 100 feet (30 m), and more than 1,000 bat bones are found indoors.
Other caves Edit
This park contains more than 119 caves. Three caves are open for public tours. Carlsbad Caverns is the most famous and fully developed with electric lights, paved roads, and elevators. Slaughter Canyon Cave and Spider Cave were not developed, except for the path specified for guided "adventure" caving tours.
The Lechuguilla Cave is famous for its fine speleothems and pure underground surroundings. Guano mining took place in the pit below the entrance in the 1910s. After obtaining permission from the national park manager to dig up a pile of debris where the wind whistled among the rocks as the weather changed, the explorer broke into a room in 1986. More than 120 miles (190 km) from the cave portion had been explored and mapped. It has been mapped to a depth of 1,600 feet (490 m), making it the second deepest limestone cave in the US. To protect a vulnerable environment, access is limited to only authorized scientific expeditions.
Bats Edit
Seventeen species of bats live in the park, including a large number of Mexican tail-free bats. It is estimated that the population of Mexican tailed bats once counted in millions but has declined dramatically in modern times. The cause of this decline is unknown but DDT pesticides are often listed as the main cause. A study published in 2009 by a team from Boston University questioned whether millions of bats ever existed in caves.
Many techniques have been used to estimate bat populations in caves. The most recent and most successful of these efforts involves the use of thermal imaging cameras to track and calculate bats. Counts from 2005 estimate a peak of 793,000.
Mexican tail free bats present from April or May to late October or early November. They appear in crowded groups, jumping up and counterclockwise, usually starting around sunset and lasting about three hours. (Jim White decided to investigate the caves when he saw the bat from a distance and at first thought they were volcanoes or storms.) Every afternoon from Memorial Day weekend to mid-October (with the possible exception to bad weather), a ranger gives lecture on bats while visitors sit in the amphitheater waiting to watch the bats show up.
More attractions Edit
Three climbing trails and unpaved drives provide access to desert landscapes and ecosystems. The section developed around the entrance of the cave has been designated as The Caverns Historic District.
A separate section of the park, Rattlesnake Springs Picnic Area, is a natural oasis with landscaping, picnic tables, and wildlife habitats. As a forested riverbank area in the desert, this is home to a great variety of birds; more than 300 species have been recorded. About 500 species have been recorded throughout the state of New Mexico. Rattlesnake Springs is designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Audubon Society has established Rattlesnake Springs as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The natural entrance to the caves is also an IBA because its colonies ingest the cave, probably the largest in the world.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been found in isolated and little-visited Lechuguilla Caves inside the park.
See also Edit
- US. Forest Service of Blanchard Springs Caverns
- Mammoth Cave National Park
- Guadalupe Mountains National Park
- McKittrick Canyon
- Cave National Park
- List of areas in the National Park System of the United States
References Edit
- National Park: Index 2001-2003 . Washington: US Department of the Interior.
External links Edit
- Official site: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- USGS 3D Geology Photography Tour for Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Fly-through from Historic Carlsbad Caverns Stairs (HABS, HAER, March 2013)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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