Skip to content
TerraLens

Case study · US

Mammoth Cave

Kentucky

A long carbonate cave system: the US pair to the Yorkshire Dales pavement and swallow holes.

A large limestone passage at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
A cave in carbonate rock. Not a limestone pavement from above.Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Locator · OpenStreetMap / OpenFreeMap · 37.19°, -86.10°

Mammoth Cave sits in Mississippian limestones. Surface streams sink. Passages follow joints and bedding. Sinkholes pock the Chester Upland. The chemistry is carbonation, the same as Malham, at a different scale.

The karst lab’s cave passage is this. Do not claim a world-length ranking unless you cite NPS. Claim the process.

Open this state in the lab

Exam-style question

Why do sinkholes and caves cluster on carbonate rocks rather than on granite?

Teacher hint: Carbonation of CaCO₃ along joints. Granite does not dissolve that way.

Process labs

Karst

Sources

  • NPS / USGS Mammoth Cave