Booming Ice Chasm facts for kids

The Booming Ice Chasm is an amazing ice cave found in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. It's located in an area called Crowsnest Pass. This cave is special because it stays icy all year round. It has a huge ice slope, a frozen underground lake, and even a frozen waterfall!

Scientists think the Booming Ice Chasm might hold a secret. They believe it could be home to tiny living things called micro-organisms. These tiny creatures might help us discover new antibiotics. These new medicines could fight off really tough infections.

Where is Booming Ice Chasm?

The Booming Ice Chasm is in the southern part of the Canadian Rockies. This mountain range is part of the Continental Divide of the Americas. That's a line that separates which way rivers flow across a continent.

The cave is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Calgary, Alberta. It sits high up on Mount Sentry, at about 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) above sea level. You can find it near the top of the mountain.

Booming Ice Chasm is located in the Crowsnest Pass area.

The Booming Ice Chasm is one of three well-known caves in the Crowsnest Pass area. The other two are called Gargantua and Cleft Cave. Another ice cave, Ice Chest, is also nearby.

How Was This Ice Cave Found?

The Booming Ice Chasm was first spotted in 2005. A speleologist (a person who studies caves) named Charles (Chas) Yonge saw a tiny black dot on Google Earth. Three years later, in June 2008, Chas Yonge and his team from the Alberta Speleological Society found the cave's entrance. They were actually looking for a different cave!

After finding it, Yonge and his team explored and mapped most of the cave. By the end of 2008, they had mapped 704 meters (2,310 feet) of its length. They also measured its depth to be 140 meters (460 feet). But there were still parts they hadn't explored.

More exploration happened in the summer of 2012. During this trip, they reached the very deepest part of the cave. It was 179 meters (587 feet) below the entrance. In 2013, a TV show called Global News’ 16x9 even went into the cave with caver Nicholaus Vieira. They filmed as a team climbed one of the frozen waterfalls. In 2015, Kathleen Graham explored even more of the main shaft's bottom. Some parts of the cave, especially on the north and south sides, are still waiting to be explored.

What's Inside the Booming Ice Chasm?

The Booming Ice Chasm is 961 meters (3,153 feet) long and 179 meters (587 feet) deep. This makes it one of the longest and deepest caves in Canada.

Near the entrance, there's a huge, steep sheet of ice. It slopes down about 140 meters (460 feet). This is called an ice fall, like a frozen waterfall or a small glacier. It's made of packed snow (called firn) and water that seeps in. This ice fall helps people get into the cave.

About 140 meters (460 feet) down, you'll find a large room with a completely frozen underground lake. No one knows how deep the lake is because it's made of many layers of ice and water. The water temperature is just above freezing, at 0.4 degrees Celsius.

There's also a big frozen waterfall about 100 meters (330 feet) from the entrance. Climbing this 22-meter (72-foot) frozen waterfall leads to more unexplored areas. The cave's entrance is a few meters wide. It funnels down into a deep pit. The walls near the entrance are covered in frost, snow, and loose rocks. The cave itself is mostly made of two types of rock: limestone and shale. You can also see other cool features like stalagmites (ice formations growing up from the floor), stalactites (ice formations hanging from the ceiling), and ice crystals.

Why Does This Cave Stay Icy?

The Booming Ice Chasm is an ice cave because of two main things. These conditions keep the ice walls, frozen waterfall, and frozen lake frozen all year.

First, it's a "cold-trap" cave. This means very cold air gets stuck inside. The cave has a narrow part, like a bottleneck. Heavy, cold air sinks down into the cave through this bottleneck. As it sinks, it pushes out the lighter, warmer air. The warmer air escapes, and more cold air rushes in. This creates a constant flow of cold air that keeps the cave insulated. It stays below freezing all year, no matter how warm it is outside.

Second, the ice slowly grows bigger over time. Small amounts of rain or melted snow drip or seep into the cave all year. This water freezes onto the existing ice surfaces. Each time, it adds a new thin layer of ice to the walls and the frozen lake floor. This process happens again and again, slowly building up the ice. A map by caver Nicholaus Vieira shows how these small water flows happen. Snow that piles up at the top of Mount Sentry also helps feed the cave with water.

Why is This Cave Important for Science?

Scientists, like microbiologist Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham, think the Booming Ice Chasm could be a source of new "super antibiotics". These are powerful medicines that can fight infections that other antibiotics can't. Biologists believe there are special tiny living things (micro-organisms) that have learned to live in this cave's unique environment. These micro-organisms might hold the key to new medicines.

The cave's special conditions create a "closed environment." This means it's cut off from the outside world. The cave has its own stable climate, called a microclimate. Also, there are no plants in the cave. Plants are usually the start of food chains and microbial activity. This means there are very few nutrients in the cave. The lack of nutrients and specific elements like carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen in the ice affects what kinds of micro-organisms can live there.

To study this, Professor Cheeptham had caver Nicholaus Vieira place petri dishes in the cave for a month. These dishes collected bacteria samples. Scientists then test these bacteria to see if they can fight "superbugs" (infections that are hard to treat). More recently, Christian Stenner and Adam Walker collected more samples to help with this important research. In 2019, Katie Graham and Christian Stenner sent cave sediments to NASA and the University of Alberta. This research aims to understand how microbes survive in dark, nutrient-poor places. It also helps collect the genetic information of bacteria for a special database.

Is it Safe to Visit Booming Ice Chasm?

The Booming Ice Chasm is in a very remote part of Alberta, Canada. The closest town, Coleman, is small and far from big cities. There isn't a marked path or easy way to get to the cave. To reach the entrance, expert climbers must climb 700 meters (2,300 feet) up Mount Sentry. The mountain face has a lot of loose rocks, making the climb dangerous. The cave entrance is also hidden behind a rocky ledge, making it very hard to find. There are no facilities or support structures nearby.

Once inside, the cave has a steep 140-meter (460-foot) ice slope. Because the ice is so smooth and steep, falling or dropping something can be very risky. Sadly, animals are often found dead at the bottom of the cave.

The only map of the cave, made by Nicholaus Vieira in 2013, has a small chance of error. This means it might not be perfectly accurate, which could create safety risks. The weather on Mount Sentry can also be very harsh, with strong winds and freezing temperatures.

Another interesting thing about the cave is how it sounds. Its hollow shape makes all sounds much louder and creates a ringing echo. This makes it very hard to talk normally inside. People have to whisper or use only necessary words to communicate.

Because the cave is so fragile and unique, experts like photographer Francois-Xavier De Ruydts suggest that people should not visit it for tourism. This helps protect the cave.

Booming Ice Chasm in the Media

The Booming Ice Chasm has been featured in popular media, letting people around the world learn about it. It has been covered in online and print articles, including Macleans magazine and the Global 16x9 TV show.

A documentary film called Terres d’Exploration by Francois-Xavier De Ruydts also explores remote places in Canada. The first episode of its second season, "Grottes: Le Monde sous nos pieds" (Caves: The World Beneath Our Feet), features the Booming Ice Chasm. It also shows a nearby cave called White Rabbit.

Filming the episode inside the Booming Ice Chasm took three days. Christian Stenner and Adam Walker were filmed collecting sediment samples for the antibiotic research. To keep the camera steady on the angled ice, the director used tennis balls on the tripod legs. These helped the tripod stick to the ice. Bright LED lights were used to light up the cave for the video. The episode was released on May 7, 2018. It is 52 minutes long and is rated G (General) in Canada.

Why is it Called "Booming Ice Chasm"?

The name "Booming Ice Chasm" tells you two things about the cave. "Ice Chasm" means it's an ice cave with a deep opening. The "Booming" part comes from the sounds inside the cave. Because the cave is mostly hollow, it acts like a giant echo chamber. All sounds inside are made much louder and create a ringing echo. This makes it very hard to have a normal conversation. People have to whisper or use very few words to talk to each other.