Mammoth Cave History

Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the world’s largest known cave system. Millions of years ago this region was originally located 10° south of the equator (GORP.com, 2002) in an area was covered by shallow seas. Over the years plate tectonics have caused this area to move to 37.1833° north of the equator. Also, causing the shallow sea waters to dissipate and upheaval of the earth’s crust, known as the Cincinnati Arch (Livesay,1953). Over the years the Cincinnati Arch and surrounding areas have been subjected to erosion, weathering and more upheavals causing the rivers to once again flow. The, weathering, erosion and area hydrology created the karst topography seen in the area and consequently the cavern systems with in Mammoth Cave.

In the Mississippian Era this area was located 10° south of the equator (GORP.com, 2002) and was covered by shallow seas, the Mississippian Seas (NPS.com). During this time deposition of sediment consisting largely of sand, silt, clay and the calcium carbonate shells from the inhabitants of the seas began forming layers of sandstone, limestone and shale. (Livesay and McGrain, 1962-1953) Between the Pennsylvania and Permian Era crustal movements, known as plate tectonics, shifted this area to 37.1833° north of the equator, causing the seas to dissipate, and the land to start to warp upward. The rivers now flowing over this land deposited additional sediment forming new layers. Continued warping of the crust created an upheaval of the crust known as the Cincinnati Arch (Fig 1) during the Paleozoic Era. (Livesay and McGrain,

Uplifting combined with the intricate water network, known as hydrology, and the resulting weathering and erosion processes of the area formed the karst topography visible on the surface, the caverns and geologic formations below the surface. The cave system below the surface consists of around 390 miles of explored caverns and is believed to have at least another 1000 miles of caves yet to be explored.( http://www.nps.gov/maca/naturescience/cave.htm) Over the years many studies have been conducted to determine exactly how and why the caves formed. Research found both the composition of the land (rock types), the area hydrology and the geologic processes occurring are the