Part of Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo is Mammoth Onyx Cave, discovered by a young girl, Martha Woodson, in 1799. Mammoth Onyx Cave is located in the middle of the best-known cave region of the United States. The slow process of forming caves in soluble rock, which is what defines karst land, begins with rain. As rain falls, it absorbs a small amount of carbon dioxide, and gathers more from decaying vegetation as it moves through the soil, becoming a weak carbonic acid solution - like fizz in a Coke. As the solution seeps through cracks and crevices, it dissolves soluble rock and forms cavities and channels – cave passages. Although caves are formed in a variety of ways, in the case of Mammoth Onyx Cave, the acid seeps through limestone, dissolving away calcium carbonate. This, in turn, drips into the cave where the carbon dioxide is given off. Water will no longer carry the minerals, so they are deposited in the form of tiny crystals – calcite, or cave onyx. As watery drops hang from the ceiling, calcite is slowly deposited and a stalactite is formed, though it takes about 120 years for a cubic inch to grow. When a mineral-rich water droplet falls to the cave floor, a stalagmite builds up. Beads of moisture can also deposit onyx on cave walls in knobby clusters called cave coral. And water flowing slowly down cave walls or across inclines forms sculpture-smooth onyx called flowstone. Sinkholes occur when the acid solution has dissolved out a drainage network in the rock through which large quantities of water can travel underground, eroding away support for the ground surface. Mammoth Onyx Cave is highly decorated with a wide array of cave formations. These include abundant stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies (including serrated draperies), flowstone, rimstone dams, and abundant and diverse types of cave coral. Mammoth Onyx Cave, in contrast to other local caves, is a very active cave where most of the formations are wet and still depositing. In several places flowstone deposition has covered portions of the trail. The cave formations are unbroken and in excellent conditions throughout most of the cave. We hope that you will come and experience magic and mystery of Mammoth Onyx Cave on one of our guided cave tours.
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 16:55:09 +0000
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