BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 32 NUMBER 2 Contents GEOLOGY OF MOANING CAVE, CALIFORNIA PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY MEETING IN LOVELL, WYOMING MEETING IN Bos TON' MASSACHUSETTS APRIL 1970 NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN The National Speleological Society is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of the of caves, karst and allied phenomena. It was founded in 1940 and is incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. The Society is affiliated with the American Associ­ NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ation for the Advancement of Science. The Society serves as a central agency for the collection, preservation, and dissemi­ VOLUME 32, NUMBER 2 APRIL 1970 nation of information relating to speleology. It also seeks the preservation of the unique faunas, geological and mineralogical features, and natural beauty of caverns through an active conservation program. The affairs of the Society are controlled by an elected Board of Governors, which CONTENTS appoints National Officers. Technical affairs of the Society are administered by specialists in the fields that relate to speleology through the Society's Biology Section, Section on THE GEOLOGY OF MoA 1 G CAVE, CALAVERAS Cou TY, CALIFOR IA .. Harry W. Short 27 Cave Geology and Geography, and Research Advisory Committee. Publications of the Society include the quarterly BULLETIN, the monthly NEWS, PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY (ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE MEETING IN OCCASIONAL PAPERS, and MISCELLANEOUS PunucATIONS. Members in all categories except LOVELL, WYOMING, Ju E 1969, AND THE MEETING I BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, Family Dependent receive the BULLETIN and NEWS. DECEMBER 1969 ) ................................ 41 A Library on speleological subjects is maintained by the Society at 21 William Street, THE p ARADISE lcE CAVES, ASHINGTON: AN EXTENSIVE GLACIER Closter, New Jersey 07624. Material is available to Society members at a nominal fee to w defray the cost of handling, and to others through inter-library loan. An extensive file of CAVERN . ..... Charles H. Anderson, Jr., and Willfam R. Halliday 41 information on caves of the United States is maintained by the Society and is currently housed in Lawrence, Kansas. CAVERN DEVELOP 1E T IN THE SOUTHERN CANADIAN RocKIES .... Derek C. Ford 41 Two CAVES Ii ONE-THE DUNCAN FIELD SYSTEM, OKLAHOMA .. Joseph M. Looney 42 OFFICERS 1969-70 CLASTOKARST IN PALO DuRo CANYON, TEXAS ..... .. A. Richard Smith 42 J oHN A. STELLMACK, President DAVID R. McCLURG, Adm. Vice President JoHN E. CooPER, Executive Vice President DoNALD N. CoURNOYER, Treasurer HYDROGEOLOGY AND CAVER DEVELOPME TIN THE SWAGO CREEK DRAINAGE BASIN, WE T VIRGINIA . William B. White 43 DIRECTORS EnB AND FLow OF BIG SPRI G, LILBURN CA VE SYSTEM, KINGS CANYON RANE L. CURL JOHN R. HOLSINGER RUSSELL H. GURNEE NATIO AL PARK, CALIFORNIA: A PRELIMINARY REPORT . .. Stanley Ulfeldt 43 ALANE. HILL LARRY D. MATTHEWS WILLIAM R. HALLIDAY JAMES H. JOHNSTON JoHN M. RUTHERFORD G. P. "JIM" HIXSON THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF SOME CAVE WATERS, JERRY D. VINEYARD VICTOR A. SCHMIDT KENNETH N. LAIDLAW INNER SPACE CAVER" TEXAS ................. Russell S. Harmon 44 SOME CONTOUR AND CAVE CONDUIT STATISTICS IN RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE FLINT RIDGE, KENTUCKY . ..... Rane L. Curl 45 DR. WILLIAM WHITE Materials Research Laboratory GEOLOGICAL FACTOR !NFLUENCI G THE DEVELOPMENT OF 210 Engineering Science Building CASSELL CAVE, WEST VIRGINIA ..... Greg E. Eddy and Douglas B. Williamson 45 The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pa. 16802 EFFECTS OF SUBTERRANEAN STREAM PIRACY ON LANDSCAPE DEVELOPME1 T ... .. .... ............ Eberhard Werner 46 BIOLOGY SECTION SECTION ON CAVE GEOLOGY CAVE SEDIME TS AND SEDIMENTARY ENVIRO!\TMENTS ALONG TIIE DR. JonN R. HOLSINGER AND GEOGRAPHY ALLEGHENY FRONT: A PRELIMI rARY REPORT .. .. .. ..... Thomas E. Wolfe 46 Dept. of Biology DR. WILLIAM WHITE Old Dominion University Materials Research Laboratory STRUCTURALLY CONTROLLED JOINT CAVES IN THE SHAWANGUNK MOUNTAINS, Norfolk, Va. 23508 210 Engineering Science Building ELLENVILLE, NEW YoRK . ....... Margaret Losee and Douglas Medville 47 The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pa. 16802 CO TENTS (Continued) The Geology of Moaning Cave, LEE CAVE, M MMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK, KENTUCKY ...... John P. Fr eman, Gordon L. Smith, Thomas L. Poulson, Patty Jo Watson, and William B. White 48 Calaveras County, California BEHAVIOR OF A AL FLOOD IN CARBO ATE BA IN OF PE SYLVA IA . ......... Elizabeth L. White and Brian M. Reich 48 By Harry W. Short °' HYDROLOGY OF THE LIME TONE AQUIFERS OF SoU'rHERN I DIANA . ....... ... ................ ...... Arthur . Palmer 49 ABSTRACT Moaning Cave is a omposite vertical solution cavity and domepit that has formed in CHANNEL HYDRAULICS OF FREE SURFACE STREA r IN upper Paleozoic lim stone of the Calaveras Formation. Although dom pit f atures have CAVES . William B. White and Elizabeth L. White 49 developed on the ceiling of the Main Room, solution activity has predominated in forming the cave. HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY OF A LIME TO E SOLUTION CoNDUIT . .. George H. Deike 50 The geologic agents responsible for the evolution of this phreatic cave have also limit d its horizontal ext nt. Local faulting has levat d the limestone in which the cav occurs. Faults north and south of and an apparent fault west of the cave entrance control its horizontal xt nt in these dir ction . A fracture in the w st wall of the Main Room is The BULLETIN is published quarterly. The subscription rate in effect January 1, 1970: suggestive of faulting, but evidence of this has been obscured by solution activity. $6.00 per year. Regional uplift produc d a w 11-d fin d joint et, ace lerated stream downcutting, and lowered the water table around the cave. The joints in the metamorphosed limestone around the cave carried ground wat r to the p rmeable band of limestone in which it Office Address: occurs. These waters enlarged the cave to its present size and deposited thick travertine NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY on most of th walls in the Main Room. Undoubtedly, due to the vertical nature of th 2318 N. KENMORE ST. cave, these waters eventually reached the water table by draining out through the bottom of the cave. ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 22201 Discussion of papers published in the BULLETIN is invited. Discussions should be 2,000 INTRODUCTIO local colleges. Members of the Grotto, led words or less in length with not more than 3 illustrations. Discussions should be forwarded Moaning Cave is situated on the western by Mr. Marshall Bryden, are systematically to the appropriate editor within three months of publication of the original paper. ·lop of the i rra N vada Mountains in exploring numerous fractures and solution Calaveras County, California. It is easily cavities in and around the cave and have ac s ibl north of onora, through Colum­ dug several exploration shafts in the floor EDITOR bia State Pai:k on the Columbia-Vallecito of the main room. Road or from Ang ls Camp to Vallecito The cave has been reported by various JERRY D. VINEYARD on Highway 4. A narrow blacktop road, writers to be over 400 ft. deep. However, Missouri Geological Survey 2 miles south of Vall cito, 1 ads to the surveys conducted by William Wise and Rolla, Missouri 65401 cave entrance on a steep hillside above others ( 1952), Thomas Rohrer ( 1957), and oyote Cr ek. the author show that the vertical distance Moaning Cave was acquired by Mr. from the cave entrance to the lowest point Managing Editor Addi on Carl y in 1921 and has been open on the floor of the Lake Room is 254 ft. DAVID lRvING commercially since 1922. The cave is man­ (Fig. 1 ) . The vertical distance from this 102 Olean Road ag d by Mr. Charles T. Murray, P. 0. Box point to a small room below the Lake Room 122, Vallecito, California 95251. is about 80 ft. Therefore, the true maximum Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 The search for the rooms reported by depth of Moaning Cave is approximately early xplorers of Moaning Cave i being 334 ft. Copy Editor continued by members of the Stanislau Climate and Soil: The summers are char­ a terized by high t mp ratur s, low rainfall, FRANCIS McKINNEY p leological As ociation and tu<l nts from 0 107 E. 12th Str et, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452. Copyright 1971 by the National Speleological Society, Inc. BULLET! OF TIIE ATIO AL PELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1970, 32(2) :27-40 27 and low humidity. The winters are rainy, Much of the surface area around Moaning around the cave and as a matrix in the Study Area: The area studied in this with moderate temperatures and occasional Cave is covered by a thin, reddish residual breakdown on the floor of the Main Room. report is in the west-central portion of Sec. snow in the lower elevations. The higher soil, from a few inches to 3 ft. thick ( terra Karst Features: Well-defined karst fea­ 32, T. 3 N., R. 14 E., Calaveras County, elevations experien~e freezing weather and rosa, Thornbury, 1954, p. 18). It also occurs tures are nearly absent in the vicinity of California. The area is bounded by: the heavy snowfalls. as a filling in the joints and solution cavities Moaning Cave. A natural bridge south of Columbia-Vallecito Road on the east, Coyote Moaning Cave, small solution cavities, and Creek on the west, an east-west line through enlarged joints filled with residual soil are the intersection of the Columbia-Vallecito the only remaining evidence of a former and Moaning Cave Roads on the north, and an east-west line through the confluence of karst surface. Coyote and Wades Creeks on the south. Drainage: Coyote and Wades Creeks, MOANING CAVE SECTION Acknowledgments: The author thanks the with gradients of 330 and 270 ft. per mile, following people who assisted in the prepa­ N 40° W respectively, have incised deep valleys into ration of this report: Addison Carley, the limestone on either side of Moaning Charles Murray, Marshall Bryden, Ralph Cave (Fig.