REPORT Cave Research Foundation Annual Report for 1988
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1988 ANNUAL REPORT Cave Research Foundation Annual Report for 1988 Cave Research Foundation 1019 Maplewood Dr., No. 211 Cedar Falls, lA 50613 USA The Cave Research Foundation (CRF) is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1957 under the laws ofthe Common. wealth of Kentucky. Its purpose is to support scientific research related to caves and karst, to aid in the conservation of cave karst wilderness features, and to assist in the interpretation of caves through education. EDITOR Karen Bradley Lindsley EDITORIAL STAFF R. Pete Lindsley John C. Tinsley Cover Photo: A CRF survey crew working in the Lost Passage, Fitton Cave, Arkansas. (Photo by Pete Lindsley ) Cave Research Foundation 1988 Annual Report. ©1989 by the Cave Research Foundation. Permission is granted to reproduce this material for scientific and educational use. For information write to the Cave Research Foundation, 1019 Maplewood Dr., No. 211, Cedar Falls, lA, 50613 USA. ISBN 0-939748-24-x Published by CAVE BOOKS 756 Harvard Avenue St. Louis, MO 63130 USA CAVE CONSERVATION rhe caves in which we carry out our scientific work and exploration are natural, living laboratories. Without these laboratories, little of what is described in this Annual Report could be studied. The Cave Research Foundation is committed to the preservation of all underground resources. Caves are fragile in many ways. We take considerable care that we do not destroy that which we study because many of the cave features take hundreds ofthousands of years to form. Also, many of the processes that formed the cave passages we travel are no longer active in these areas. People who unthinkingly take or break stalactites and other cave formations cause great and irreparable damage. Cave life, such as blind fish, live in precarious ecological balance in their isolated underground environment. Disturbances, such as causing bats to fly during winter hibernation, can be as fatal to them as shooting them. Caves are wonderful places for research, recreation and adventure. But before you enter a cave, we urge you to first learn how to be a careful and conservation-minded caver by contacting the National Speleological Society, Cave Avenue, Huntsville, AL 35810, USA, for excellent advice and guidance for novice and experienced alike. CAVE RESEARCH FOUNDATION DIRECTORS 1988 Ronald C. Wilson President R. Pete Lindsley Roger E. McClure Secretary Treasurer Sarah G. Bishop Norman L. Pace James Borden Melburn R. Park Ron Bridgemon John C. Tinsley R. Scott House Rich Wolfert Richard B. Zopf Highlights of 1988 As you read through this report, the vitality of the Foundation's research, education, and interpretation programs will be readily apparent. The CRF is extremely happy to have funded five karst fellowships in 1988 with grants totalling $6,500. The Foundation's long term projects in Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, and Califor nia continue to produce results of interest to speleologists as well as to the National Park Service and U. S. Forest Service managers. Of note are the completion of two Mammoth Cave tour trail maps and the publication of a booklet containing thirteen preliminary quadrangles which detail the latest map of Carlbad Cavern. This year saw the CRF enter into a cooperative venture ·with two speleological organizations within the People's Republic of China, the Institute of Karst Geology and the Speleological Society of South China Normal University, to exchange information and investigate caves in three southern provinces. The success of the China expedition should mean future expeditions to this country as well as other CRF sponsored foreign caving expeditions. Two new projects were started during 1988, one at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, and the other at Lava Beds National Monument, California. Operating agreements between the National Park Service and CRF were signed in February and November respectively. The Capitan reef within Texas has tremendous potential for large caves which to date have not been tapped. The use of the luxurious "Ship-on-the Desert" as a field facility within the Park should greatly enhance our efforts here. Lava Beds contains 112 named caves and many more may exist in the remoter areas ofthe Monument. Future efforts by the Foundation here will be inventory and monitoring of the cave resource to assist the National Park Service in their management and protection efforts. The CRF Board agreed to provide assistance to Arizona Conservation Projects, Inc. (ACPI), in their baseline environmental study of Kartchner Cavern, Arizona. This essentially pristine cave was purchased by the State ofArizona and will be developed as the state's newest state park. This represents the first time that a cave and its surroundings will be studied in detail prior to development. Three members of the ACPI board are CRF members. CRF's assistance will primarily be in the form of review of the draft reports prepared by ACPI's scientific team. Ronald Bridgeman CRF President 4 CONTENTS H.raruGH1'S OF 1988 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 SciENCE PRoGRAMS · ····· · ······ ········· ~ ··· · ····· ·· ···· · ············· · · ·· · · ··· · · · ······················ · ·················· · ·· · ·· · ·· · ······ ···· · ·· ····· ·· ·· ·· ··· · ···· · · · · · ······ · ···· · ·· ···· ··· · ······ ·· ····· ··········· ······ 7 _ 69 CARTOGRAPHY PRoGRAM·--------·--------·--------·--------·--------·--------·---------·--------·--------·--------·--------·----- 9 - 16 Lilbum Cave Cartography Report ................................................................................................................ ......... ......... 9 New Lilburn Instrumentation .............................................................................._ ... ........ ................... ............................. 9 :Highlights from the California Area ........................................................................ ............................................. .......... 9 Carlsbad Cavem National Park Survey and Cartography .. ............................................................. ........................... 1 0 Guadalupe Escarpment Area ...................................... : ..................... ............................. ."... ...................................... .. ... 13 Missouri Cave Survey and Inventory .. ....................................................................................... ....... .. ................ ....... .. 13 Cartographic Delineation of the Caves of Mammoth Cave National Park ............................ .. ..................... ....... ....... 14 Small Cave Resource Inventory ................................... .. .............. ...................................................... ........................... 16 GEOSCIENCE PROGRAM ·---····-···········---··-·------··-···-------·--------·--------·--····-··-··-·····---····-···-··-······-·-···········································17 - 38 Cartography, Tephrochronology and Sinkhole Deposits in the Karst of Redwood Canyon, Kings Canyon National Park, California ......................................... .................................................................... 17 Novel Subaqueous Speleothems in Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico ............................................................. .............. 18 Water Chemistry in the Vicinity of Subaqueous Helictites in Pellucidar, Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico ............. 20 Fluorite in Glori Cave, Guadalupe Mountains National Park ............................ ................ ................. ....................... 22 Calcified(?) Balloon Speleothems in Virgin (Blowing) Cave, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico ..................... .. .. 22 Cross Cave, Apache Mountains, Culberson County, Texas ................ ............ .. ...................................................... .. ... 23 "Helictite Bushes" - A Subaqueous Speleothem? ............. .......... .. ....................................................................... ..... ... 24 Hydrology of the Sistema Huautla Karst Groundwater Basin, Oaxaca, Mexico .. ....... .......................... .................... 26 The Origin and Development of Brucker Breakdown and the Adjacent Area, Mammoth Cave System, KY .......... 27 Lithologic and Geomorphic Controls on Drainage Basin Morphology and Evolution, Crawford Upland, South-Central Indiana ........... .......................................... ... ......... ..................... ... .... ............................. .... ............. 28 The Potential Depth of Underwater Caves in the Orlando Area, Florida ........... .... .......... ......................................... 31 Hydrology of Wakulla Spring, Florida ................ .............. ..... .. ..................................................................................... 33 Groundwater Flow Pattems in Joint-Controlled Networks and Cave Development ................................................ 37 EcoLOGY PROGRAM ----··---·······-······-·····-········--·------··-·············--···--··--·····----··-····-·······-··············································································· 39- 65 Arthropod Species Diversity in the Big Room and the Environs ......... ....................... ............................. .. .. ............... 39 Aquatic Communities in Mammoth Cave .................................................................................. .. .. ............................