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A Checklist of the Caves of Texas

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A Checklist of the Caves of Texas fEXAS SPELEOLOGICAL SURVB? Vol. i. lo. 5 A CHBCILIST OF THB CAVIS OP TEXAS By .i... R. Reddell an4 lf11U.am B. Ruaaell .. A Pu.blioatica ot the Tezaa Speleologloal Aaaooia~on Ai--11 11. 1962 I S ' ;'QLQG c· ~UP f 'ito- JU!!!(. R. Redu~ll Geologist· Ruben M Fre.nk Willieru H~ Russell Cartogr1lpher: A.. Richard Smith A CHECKLIST OF 'fHE CA\l'ES OF TEXAS A Note on the Distribution of C~ves in Texas Texa3 may be ro~ly divided into four speleologf.c prov1ncee, herein designuted aa Wost.. Central, Far West, nnd Northwest Texas .. (see map) North 9 Ea9t11 lllld South Te:x.ns a1"e of no real speleological interest, al though a few C.'lves nre known from each area ~mall exposures of gypsum and limestone occur throuehout these ~r~aa but are of jt.s\1fficient size 01• thickness to produce rMny or large caves., 7exas has been n::turally divideJ by the 1-!'raat B~.lcones l''ault ~ne 11 whicl. eY.hmds north-south from the DallrurFt Worth area, .runs t~ot.i€h AW3t1n and S,ci AntonioD where it ·tnrns west nnd cute through Medina, Uvalde, and Kinney Counties, eventually running into Mexico near Del rtio ~ East of the fault zone the ~pper Cretaceous aediments e~e non-cavernous and no caves of importance are found here., West of the fault, on the upthrown side, the lower Cretaceous limestones of the Comanche series are exposed These e~tend in a virtually unbroken line t~out most or the Central and ~est Texas areas of the state and constitute the principal cavernous limestones of the state.. The only other important cave-tormere in Central Texas are sediments of Ordivician, Pennsylvian, and Mississippian age, located in the area of the Llano Uplift,, The cavernous areas of Northwest Texas are primarily in gyprum of the Permian age., Because of the remoten~ss and size of Fa.r WMt Texas it is ~tually impossible to present a reasonable suml?8ry of cavern developnent in t.he areao l~: encompasses the seven large counties of Brewater. Presidio, Jeff DaVis, Reeves, Culberson, Hudspeth, and El Paso .. Portions of Brewster County nre considered in West Te.as, while portions of Pecos are .... _ placed in Far West Texas ~ The reason bG1ng that the ma!.n Cretaceom sediments end at about the 103rd pa.r:i llel, thlile the voat caving area.a of Far West Texas are primarily in sedimants of Pemian and Devoninn ag<>~ with only isolated Cretaceous sediments found Although much of Far West Texas is unsuited for caves, large cavernous areas aN to be rovnd n These are at preeent virtually unknown to the speleologist. Speleologi.ca.lly, the Central Texas area may be sub-divided into four IJ1.ajor caving areas.. The fir3t of theso is the l3alcones Fault Zone, encompassing the countieb of :aellD ~iilliamson Travi.so Hays, and Bexar. 'l'he area is one of nU1?1erous small cavee 11 Travis with 85 and Bexar with 64 ,.. The other counties will doubtless yield more caves once they are studied as intensively as Bexar and Travis., Most o1' the cavel:l are relntbely GC!Sll, none exceeding 3000 u in length.. Most are either small pits or crawls, with only a few consisting of stream passages following the joints 'llld faults associated. with the Balcones Fault Zone., The Gila.cialupe River a::..""ea is the second to be cor.sidered, encompassing northwestern Comal and Kendall Countieso A large part of the drainage in the area is by wrzy of sinks and caves, which in turn lead into large stteam passages which emerge as springs in creeks draining into the Guadalupe River,, Among the most '.m:port.:nt of these sprir.gs are Spring Creek Cave, Boney Creek Cave 11 and the spring isG11ing from the Dead Man °s Cave entrance of the Cave-Without-a-Mame-Dead l'J.Q?l cs Cave Sydem, Besides these large stream :paasaees, wM.ch attain miles in leneth, there is che huge Natural Bridge Cave with moro than two miles of passage; and a potential of several hundred emall and k\rge caves . 'l'be third area 1s that of the Llano Uplift and its fr!! ges.. Here considerable fracturing and faultine coincident to the uplift has prcduced a situation similar to that alo~ the fault, except on a potentially greater scale, It includes the counties of Llano, Mason Gi:...lespie, San Saba, >lcCulloch, Lompt;i.saa, Blancas Burnet, MiJ.lsF and Comancheo Much of Mille and Comanche Counties e covered by upper Cret coous sedimunts Dnd most of Llano County ia cove""ed by i~co and Camb)•ian rc:;cks, so that feil caves will probably be found in them,. Kucll of the area however, is covered by the Ellenberger dolomite cf Ordovician age and contains numerous caves9 including Gorman Cave in San Saba County and Longhorn Caverns in Burnet County ~ San Saba, with 67 known caves and at least twice as many rumored, is potentially ·one of the etate\s leading cave-producers. Much of the area has been so shattered. by the uplift toot only small caves and fissures will be found throughout most of it. The most important caving area in Central Te:•AS is that desi8rlated as Weet Central Texas ~ This includes J.:enard, Kimble, Real 0 Kerr, Bandera, Medin.at and Uvalde Counties and contains caves distinguished by large roams or long stream passages ~ Menard and Kimble Counties have been seldom visited but should contain ID8.D,Y caveeo The caves o! Kerr and Bandera Counties, when more than small pita, are made up of large rooms, as in Station "C" Cave # l . Much of the areae however, evidences the last stages of a karst cycle, with collapse and fill blocking many caveao Obviously large caves such as Goat Shelter and Priour•s Pride are now filled almost entirely by the collapse of huge roomao The only caves in the area ot an:r extent, with a few exceptionsp are those with relat:Jvsly small hclea opening into the center of large rooms as in Station "C" Cave II l and Seik:er~s Cave. Cavern developmel\lt in Medina and Uvalde Counties, however, has been or a different order. Althoueb large fuoum ezist as in Frio and Ney Caves, most of the large caves are long stream passages as in Indian Creek Cave and Vald.ina Farms Sinkhole., These constitute some of the largest and moat interesting caves 1n Texaeo Almost all of the water found in the area comes from cnves such as these and a study of them will reveal considerable information of value to a study ot the hydrology of the area,, The greatest ca~ area in the state 1s that of West Texas.. It may be sub-divided into at least three major divisions, the first of which is an area of large sinks and few caves., It includes Irion and Schleicher Counties, and the northern part o! Crockett County., The surface is that of a flat, undissected peneplain with all but a little of the draill888 by sinkao Large sinl<B and sinkhole lakes as much as 500 ~ or more in diameter nnd 50'- 100' deep are found in abundanceo The only caves of any consequence ere ()..9 . Well in Crockett County and Cave "Y" 1n Schleicher County, both obviously in the early staa.:1s of cavern development ., The second major subdivision is the large cavernous area of central '.t'eat Texas. In southern Crockett, Sutton, Edwards, Kinney, and eastern Val Ver<re Counties full cavern development has been attained., It is an area of great diversity" with caves of such varying natures and or~ins as the maze-like Cavems of Sonora in SUtton County, large pita such as the DeviPa Sinkhole wid l\bominable Sinkhole in Mwards and Val Verde Counties, large stream passages as Fern Cave and Kickapoo Cave in Val Verde and Edward.a Countiesp and deep caves like H,. T., Miers Cave in Val Verde County ~ Although much work has been done in the area, the presence of many other large caves is rumored and the possibility of locatin8 still more is considerable~ A third area to be considered is that of western Val Verde County 9 Terrell, Wa.rdp and eastern Brewster and Pecos Counties., Cnly one cave is known from ,_:ard County and it is of no consequence~ Moat of the county is covered by non-cavernous Cenozoic deposits and so it is unlikely that maey more caves will be fotmd ,, The only part of the area that has been studied is near Langtry in western Val Verde County,, Here 18 caves are known, 14 within five miles of the town of Langtry, These include the state' s deepest cave, Langtry Lead 9 Cave, o.nd. three other caves deeper than 250 , so that it is an eztremely promieill8 area? ~ two caves are known in Terrell County 0 but both are large and the potential ie great.. The same hol}.a true for eastern Pecos and Brewster Counties where Cretaceous limestones are exposed. which have not been explored for caves .. Far West Texas includee an area larger than the entire state of West tfirginia; yet only 76 caves are known in the area and many of these have not been studied ~ It is highly complex geologically9 and much of it is not suited for cavern development ~ The areas, however, that are likely to contain caves or are known to have caves may well prove to be amOll8 the best in the state ~ Most ot the caves reported from Presidio .
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