Carlsbad Caverns National Park
| Carlsbad Caverns National Park | |||
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| Location: | United States | ||
| Next city: | Carlsbad (New Mexico) | ||
| Surface: | 189.26 km² | ||
| Founding: | May 14, 1930 | ||
| Visitors: | 465,912 (2018) | ||
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The Carlsbad Caverns National Park ( English Carlsbad Caverns National Park ) is a national park in the USA . It is located in the US state of New Mexico and is famous worldwide for the stalactite caves - the " Carlsbad Caverns " (Carlsbad caves) - and numerous other rock formations formed from a reef from the Permian period . There are 83 individual caves in the park, including the deepest known limestone cave in the United States at 487 meters below the surface. The Carlsbad Cave has one of the world's largest underground spaces.
The area was placed under protection on October 25, 1923 as a " National Monument " and upgraded to a national park on May 14, 1930. The Carlsbad Caverns were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 6, 1995 . The national park spans an area of 189 km².
The cave is very well developed; there are tours in which the visitor is informed by means of an audio guide , as well as a large number of guided tours. Visitors can explore the cave from the natural entrance or take the elevator directly to the heart of the visitor cave. This elevator is also the exit.
Other caves in the national park that can be visited on guided tours are Slaughter Canyon Cave and Spider Cave. Both caves are not developed for tourism and can be reached via a long footpath through mountainous terrain. In Spider Cave, the visitor has to crawl and climb in parts. Due to the very limited number of participants, prior reservation is required.
The park is open all year round, with the main visiting time between June and August.
Geology and formation
Formation of limestone and caves
The prehistory of the caves begins more than 260 million years ago in the Middle Permian with the formation of a carbonate platform in an epicontinental sea that covered the region at that time. This carbonate platform was bordered by a 600 kilometer long barrier reef , the Capitan Reef . A large part of the corresponding reef limestone consists, unlike in modern coral reefs , of the remains of sponges and bog animals . On the other hand, as it is today, encrusting calcareous algae played an important role in reef growth. At the end of the Permian, the sea was disconnected from the ocean. As a result of the hot, dry climate, the sea water evaporated, the reef-building organisms died and the carbonate platform was buried under salt and gypsum deposits .
A few million years ago, the area began to lift and weathering and erosion began to expose parts of the old carbonate platform. The weathering also attacked the limestone underground. Rainwater, which had absorbed carbon dioxide from the air and in the lively, upper soil horizons and had become acidic as a result, seeped into crevices in the reef limestone and slowly dissolved it from the inside, enlarging cracks into crevices. This process, known as karstification , ultimately led to today's large caves. At about the same time, hydrogen sulfide gas rose from the huge gas and oil deposits beneath the reef limestone. This reacted with the free oxygen in the groundwater to form sulfuric acid and supported the lime dissolving process. The Permian reef limestone builds up large parts of the Guadalupe Mountains today and the Carlsbad Caverns are among the largest caves in the region.
Formation of the stalactite formations
The formation of the stalactites and stalagmites and many other bizarre formations within the cave is closely linked to the karstification processes. Every raindrop that seeps into the cave loosens a bit of lime on its way. If it is exposed to the air in the cave and some water evaporates, lime is again deposited from the water. So there is a constant process of limescale dissolving and separation that produces the most wonderful formations.
Bats
The caves are home to a maximum of around one million Mexican bulldog bats ( Tadarida brasiliensis ). In the last census (2005) around 400,000 to 500,000 were counted. Due to a drought lasting over a decade in the region, there are fewer insects on which the Mexican Freetails feed. When food is scarce, the bats move to other summer territories.
During the day they hang tightly against the ceiling of the so-called Bat Cave, a side cave near the natural entrance. This part of the cave is closed to the public and only accessible to researchers. When night falls, gigantic flocks of bats set out to look for food. This spectacle can be watched from the semicircular theater at the entrance.
The Bat Cave is used by the bats as a weatherproof shelter and, more importantly, as a rearing place for their young. The bats migrate from Mexico to the caves every year to have their young here in June. When the mothers search for food at night, the young are left behind in the cave. The young usually start their first flight attempts in July or August, and the return journey to the winter quarters in Mexico begins in October or November.
The history of the area
Over a thousand years ago the Indians visited the cave to seek shelter from the weather. Many wall drawings near the natural entrance date from this period.
Settlers discovered the cave around 1900 after becoming aware of the huge flocks of bats. Some began to mine the supplies of guano to sell as a natural fertilizer. The first exploration of the cave was done by a cowboy named James Larkin White, who was fascinated by the cave and spent a lot of time exploring it. His stories of huge underground rooms were only believed when he was able to prove them with photos. Max Frisch deals with the legend of White's discovery of the cave in his novel Stiller .
In 1923 an official inspection was carried out by the Ministry of the Interior. As a result, the cave was first declared a national monument and later a national park.
The exploration of the cave continues to this day. The second largest room in the cave, the Guadalupe room, was not discovered until 1966. Even more recent discoveries are the Bifrost room in 1982 and the Chocolate High (1993).
Web links
- National Park Service: Carlsbad Caverns National Park (official site; English)
- US National Parks Net: Carlsbad Caverns National Park (English)
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
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Heritage: Mesa Verde National Park (1978) | Independence Hall (1979) | Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (1982) | La Fortaleza and San Juan Historic Site in Puerto Rico (1983) | Statue of Liberty (1984) | Chaco Culture (with Chaco Culture National Historical Park ) (1987) | Monticello and University of Virginia at Charlottesville (1987) | Taos Pueblo (1992) | Monumental earthworks of Poverty Point (2014) | Mission Stations in San Antonio (2015) | The Architecture of the 20th Century by Frank Lloyd Wright (2019)
Natural Heritage: Yellowstone National Park (1978) | Grand Canyon National Park (1979) | Everglades National Park (1979, R ) | Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Glacier Bay National Park (1979) | Redwood National and State Park (1980) | Mammoth Cave National Park (1981) | Olympic National Park (1981) | Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1983) | Yosemite National Park (1984) | Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (1987) | Carlsbad Caverns National Park (1995) | Glacier National Park (as part of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park ) (1995)
Cultural / natural heritage: Papahānaumokuākea (2010)