Niagara Cave EarthCache
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Niagara Cave is one of the best caves in the country, due to its variety of features. It has beautiful rooms and passageways and stalactites like most caves but it also has an underground river, a 60ft waterfall, fossils and a wedding chapel.
The cave was discovered in 1924 when a local pig farmer lost some pigs and found that they had fallen through a crack in the bottom of a sinkhole and into the cave.
Geology: The landmass in this area is made up of layers of limestone bedrock, three of which can be identified in this cave(Dubuque, Stewartville and Prosser). During uplifting and shifting of the earth's surface, cracks developed in the bedrock. Over hundreds of thousands of years, these cracks were expanded chemically by water made slightly acidic by decaying plant and animal material. The erosion was also aided by undergroung streams and water that seeped down through sinkholes. The seeping water also brought minerals with it, like chert and calcite, which are what create the beautiful speleothems(cave formations) like botryoids, stalactites, soda straws, carrots, draperies, ribbons, flowstone, columns, chert nodules.
Fossils can also be found in Niagara Cave. Between 350 to 500 million years ago, much of North America was covered by a large body of water, known as the Ordovician Sea. The sediment that floated to the sea floor, much of which was made up of plant and animal matter that existed at the time, is what created the bedrock layers in this area. As the cave passageways eroded, the fossils were exposed and can still be seen today.
One of the most impressive features is the 60ft waterfall, for which the cave gets its name. Not too far from the cave entrance is a large cylindrical cavity, called Waterfall Dome, that was created by the churning water of the underground stream. The stream pours into the dome from the top, creating a 60ft waterfall.
Source=Niagara Cave Brochure
To get credit for this earthcache please answer the below questions:
1. Take a thermometer with you and measure the temperature in the cave.
2. name one type of fossil that can be found in this cave system.
3. what were the names of the first couple to be married in the Crystal Chapel?
Some answers can be found in the brochure.
Cave hours and rates can be found here:
http://www.niagaracave.com/hours.asp
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