Ellison's Cave facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ellison's Cave |
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Ellison's Cave dug entrance
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| Location | Walker County, Georgia |
Ellison's Cave is a pit cave located in Walker County, on Pigeon Mountain in the Appalachian Plateaus of Northwest Georgia. It is the 12th deepest cave in the United States and features the deepest, unobstructed pit in the continental US named Fantastic Pit. The cave is over 12 miles long and extends 1063 feet vertically.
Contents
Pits
Ellison's features a number of underground vertical pitches including the two deepest pits in the contiguous United States: Fantastic (586 feet) and Incredible (440 feet). These two pits lie on opposite sides of the cave. Nearby and parallel to Fantastic are Smokey I (500 feet), Smokey II (262 feet), and other extremely deep pitches. There are over 7 routes to reach the bottom level of the cave from the Fantastic side.
Geology
Ellison's is a solution cave in the Ridge and Valley geologic region of northwest Georgia and lies within a bedrock fault in Pigeon Mountain. During the Ordovician Period, tectonic subduction responsible for forming the Appalachians left a number of seismically active fault lines stretching from northern Alabama to eastern Tennessee. Continued orogeny created a large fault zone in the bedrock throughout the southern Appalachians and northern Georgia. This fracturing along with the proliferation of gypsum and limestone contributes to the exceptional depth of Ellison's.
Visiting
The cave and surrounding area are managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and are open year-round.
Images for kids
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thumb]]Ellison’s Cave.jpg
See also
In Spanish: Cueva Ellison's para niños
