Black Chasm Cave facts for kids
Black Chasm Cavern is a cool cave found near the small town of Volcano in Amador County, California. It's famous for its unique rock formations and underground lakes.
Contents
How the Cave Was Formed (Geology)
Black Chasm Cavern is a "dissolution cave." This means it was formed by water that had a special kind of acid in it. This acid slowly dissolved the limestone rock over a very long time. The rock in the cave is now called marble, which is a type of metamorphic rock. This means it changed over time due to heat and pressure.
The cave has many underground lakes, especially in its lower parts. The beautiful formations you see inside are made of calcium carbonate. These formations are called speleothems.
You can find many different kinds of speleothems here, like:
- Stalactites: These hang down from the ceiling, like icicles.
- Stalagmites: These grow up from the cave floor.
- Flowstone: These look like frozen waterfalls on the walls.
- Cave bacon: Thin, wavy sheets of rock that look like bacon.
- Soda straws: Very thin, hollow tubes that hang from the ceiling.
- Helictites: These are super special! They twist and turn in all directions, defying gravity. Black Chasm Cavern is known for having some of the best helictites in the world.
Animals Living in the Cave (Biology)
Black Chasm Cavern is home to some unique creatures that have adapted to life in total darkness.
- Amphipods: These tiny, shrimp-like animals live in the cave's lakes. They don't have any color or eyesight because they live where there's no light.
- Banksula grubbsi: This is a special type of spider-like creature, related to the harvestman. It's only found in Black Chasm Cavern and nowhere else in the world! It also has no color and its eyes don't work like ours.
Even though no bats live inside the cave, you can often see many bats flying around outside during the cool mornings and evenings. They fly and dive to catch insects.
A Look Back in Time (History)
Local Miwok tribes probably knew about Black Chasm Cavern a long time ago. But gold miners were the first to explore it in 1854. They described the cave as having huge rooms and crystals that twisted in amazing ways. These twisting crystals were the famous helictites.
Around the 1860s, the cave's entrance was made bigger so people could go on tours. However, these early tours didn't last very long, and the cave was forgotten for a while.
The cave was rediscovered in the 1950s when people became interested in caving again. In 1954, an expedition found the amazing helictites in the Landmark Room. Divers have also explored the cave's lakes. In 1962, a diver went down 65 feet (about 20 meters) into Lake Reflection. In 2001, another diver reached 80 feet (about 24 meters) when the lake was at its highest level.
Black Chasm Cavern has had different owners over the years. In 1975, the National Park Service looked at the cave. They said it had "The best helictites in the west." Because of its special formations, Black Chasm was named a National Natural Landmark (NNL) in January 1976. This helped protect the cave from being mined for gravel, even though the land was owned by a quarry company. The company chose to protect the cave because of its important NNL status.
Making the Cave Ready for Visitors (Development)
In 1996, a company called SNRC bought Black Chasm Cavern. They started offering long expedition trips where people could rappel and climb inside the cave. But these trips stopped after four summers because they were causing too much damage to the delicate cave formations.
So, in 1999, work began to make the cave safe and easy for everyone to visit. They built a road, installed utilities, and started building stairs inside the cavern in July 2000. It took about 10 months to build the trail, with workers often using ropes to get around. The first walking tours started in September 2000, and the grand opening was in April 2001. There are plans to make the trail even longer so visitors can see more of the cave.
In December 2003, a new visitor center opened. It's about 3,000 square feet (280 m2) big. In the same year, explorers surveyed the cave again. They found an additional half-mile of cave, doubling its known length! The total surveyed length of Black Chasm is now 3,136 feet (956 m). The cave's total depth, including the lake, is 225 feet (69 m).
Today, Black Chasm Cavern offers walking tours for all ages to see the Landmark Room. You can also enjoy a self-guided nature hike through the outdoor Zen Garden. From 2011 to 2015, they also offered a "Labyrinth Tour" where guests could climb and explore the rocky surface outside the cave.
Images for kids
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Amazing helictites in the Landmark Room, which you can see on the tour!
