Friars Hole Cave System Explained

Friars Hole Cave System
Map:West Virginia#USA
Label Position:left
Location:West Virginia
Depth:186.8m (612.9feet)
Length:82.5km (51.3miles)[1]
Discovery:1950
Geology:Limestone
Entrance Count:8

Friars Hole Cave System is a cave in West Virginia's Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties. First surveyed in the 1960s,[2] it is one of the longest in the United States and the world.

Various sources put its total length at 63 km,[3] 73.4 km, 72 km,[4] to 77.4 km long.[5] The West Virginia Encyclopedia says that 44 miles of the cave have been surveyed, making it the longest cave in the state, the 7th-longest cave in the United States, and the 35th-longest cave in the world.[6] In 2017, William B. White called it is the 31st-longest cave in the world.[7]

The cave has ten entrances, five of which are closed:[8] Friars Hole, Rubber Chicken, Crookshank Pit, Toothpick, Snedegars caves entrances (Snedegars Staircase, Snedegars Saltpeter, Snedegars Stream, Snedegars North), and Canadian Hole, Radio Pit.[9]

The cave formed in the Mississippian Greenbrier Group. The oldest passage to the cave is said to 4.1 million years old.[10] The cave was formed by streams sinking down into the ground.[11] The minor structures in the cave were influenced by thrust faults.[12]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gulden . Bob . USA Longest Caves . 2022-11-15. 3 July 2023.
  2. Book: White, William B. . Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia . 2017-11-20 . Springer . 978-3-319-65801-8 . 152 . en.
  3. Book: Harmon . Russell S. . Perspectives on Karst Geomorphology, Hydrology, and Geochemistry: A Tribute Volume to Derek C. Ford and William B. White . Wicks . Carol M. . Ford . Derek C. . White . William Blaine . 2006-01-01 . Geological Society of America . 978-0-8137-2404-1 . 24 . en.
  4. Book: Gunn, John. Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. 2004. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-57958-399-6. 143. en.
  5. Web site: Bob Gulden . Worlds longest caves . National Speleological Society (NSS) . Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves . July 4, 2023 . 2023-07-04.
  6. Web site: Jones. William. 28 February 2011. Friars Hole Cave. 25 September 2021. The West Virginia Encyclopedia.
  7. Book: White, William B.. Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. 2017-11-20. Springer. 978-3-319-65801-8. 6. en.
  8. Web site: Closed Cave List - National Speleological Society. 2021-07-25. National Speleological Society. en.
  9. Book: White. William B.. Encyclopedia of Caves. Culver. David C.. Pipan. Tanja. 2019-05-10. Academic Press. 978-0-12-814125-0. 334–337. en.
  10. Book: White. William B.. Encyclopedia of Caves. Culver. David C.. Pipan. Tanja. 2019-05-10. Academic Press. 978-0-12-814125-0. 446–449. en.
  11. Book: Gunn, John. Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. 2004. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-57958-399-6. 145. en.
  12. Book: White. William B.. Encyclopedia of Caves. Culver. David C.. Pipan. Tanja. 2019-05-10. Academic Press. 978-0-12-814125-0. 444. en.

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