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How was Ohio caverns formed?

Updated: 4/27/2024
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11y ago

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For the specific geology and development of any individual cave you will have to read the appropriate research papers on that region and its karst features; but since it's clear from its own operators' web-site (ohiocaverns) that it's a karst cave, the essentials are:

How Caves Form in Limestone

That is such a common question on ‘Answers’ I wrote this single reply! The technical terms are introduced by capital initials.

Most of the world’s caves are in Limestone.

Caves need three materials: a soluble rock like Limestone or Gypsum, water and Carbon-dioxide (CO2).

Their host limestone also needs to be of appropriate physical structure and raised into hills, then subjected to reasonably consistent precipitation for many tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock of which the world’s greater proportion was laid down in warm, relatively shallow, seas. The rock was laid in horizontal layers – Beds – separated by Bedding-planes which generally reflect geologically-brief changes in the environment. The suite of beds is known as a Formation, generally named after its “type area”.

Later continental uplift (tectonic processes) raise the formation along with its underlying rocks, usually tilting and folding it to at least some extent in the process. Since most rocks are brittle they cannot take much stress, and limestone beds crack into grids of fine fractures called Joints. The uplift and folding often also causes Faulting – major breaks with the rock mass one side of the Fault Plane being raised, lowered or moved horizontally past that on the opposite side. (Note: Plane – the “Fault Line” sometimes misused as a political metaphor is that of the fault-plane cutting the land surface.)

Now we have the hills, next we need rain-water that has absorbed atmospheric CO2 to create Carbonic Acid (weak, natural soda water in fact!). It may be augmented by acids from the soil, too. This solvent permeates through all those joints, bedding-planes and faults; flowing very, very slowly under considerable pressure applied by its depth, from its sinks on the surface to its springs at the base of the formation. In doing so, it dissolves the limestone (chemical weathering), creating meshes of tiny micro-conduits that over many tens of thousands of years coalesce and capture each other to form cave passages.

Once this happens, the rate of erosion can increase – though still to perhaps only a few millimetres per thousand years under generally temperate climates.

A cave, or a series within a cave system, that still carries its formative stream is called “Active”, and is still being developed.

Surface changes such as the valley floor being lowered by erosion, or down-cutting within the cave by its stream, changes the water’s route and the original, now dried-out, stream-way is called “Fossil” or “Abandoned”. Such passages may be filled with silt left by floods as the main flow gradually abandons them; or may become richly decorated with Speleothems – calcite deposits such as stalactites and stalagmites precipitated from ground-water still oozing through the joints in the limestone above the cave. In time such passages may start to break down as there is no stream to dissolve away slabs falling from the roof as permeating ground-water attacks the rock above.

In the end, surface lowering of the landscape as a whole, breaches and destroys the cave. Nothing is permanent in Nature!

Caves in limestone are also parts of Karst Landscape. i.e. a landscape developed by the dissolution of limestone, giving surface features like Dolines, Limestone Pavement, and in the tropics, distinctive hills such as those represented in Chinese Willow-pattern images. ‘Karst’ is from the Slavic word ‘Kras’, the name for its world type-area.

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The above is purely an introduction to a vastly more complex and subtle series of processes, of course, and you need to refer to appropriate text-books on geology and cave studies to learn them.

The scientific study of caves is Speleology – embracing geology, hydrology, Biology, Archaeology and other disciplines.

Simply visiting caves to enjoy them for their scenery and the physical and mental challenges they present, is called Caving, though you can’t study a cave unless you can negotiate its obstacles. The enthusiasts are simply Cavers throughout the English-speaking world – you see “spelunkers” sometimes on ‘Answers’ but it's an old slang word not found in caving literature.

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11y ago
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3d ago

Ohio Caverns were formed millions of years ago when groundwater flowed through the limestone bedrock, dissolving the rock and creating underground passages and caverns over time. The process of water dissolving the limestone created the unique formations and chambers that visitors can explore today.

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What causes caverns?

Caverns are typically formed through a process known as karstification, where groundwater dissolves soluble rocks like limestone and carbonate rocks over time. This dissolution, along with other factors such as erosion and tectonic forces, can create underground cavities and passageways that eventually turn into caverns.


Do most caverns form above the water table?

No, most caverns form below the water table. Caverns are typically formed by the dissolution of underground limestone or other soluble rocks by water, and this process usually occurs below the water table where the rocks are saturated with water.


What cuvses caves caverns and sink holes?

Caves, caverns, and sinkholes are typically formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, or gypsum by water. Over time, water erodes and dissolves the rock, creating underground cavities and passages. Eventually, these cavities can collapse or become exposed at the surface, forming caves, caverns, and sinkholes.


How was the Bluespring Caverns formed?

Bluespring Caverns, located in Indiana, was formed through a combination of natural geological processes. The caverns were created by water dissolving the limestone bedrock over thousands of years, resulting in the formation of underground passageways and chambers. The constant flow of water continues to shape and modify the caverns to this day.


How old is fantastic caverns in spring field mo?

Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri is estimated to be around 500 million years old, formed during the Paleozoic era.

Related questions

What formed Carlsbad Caverns?

water


What is formed by the dissolution of limestone?

caverns, sinkholes, etc.


What causes caverns?

Caverns are typically formed through a process known as karstification, where groundwater dissolves soluble rocks like limestone and carbonate rocks over time. This dissolution, along with other factors such as erosion and tectonic forces, can create underground cavities and passageways that eventually turn into caverns.


How were the Florida cavern formed?

The Florida Caverns are limestone caves and were formed by rain water dissolving the limestone.


What are the caverns that rough water crashes into?

Sea caves (formed in cliffs by wave action)?


Caves and caverns are formed in carbonate rocks by?

The reaction of carbonic acid in rain and groundwater with the carbonate rock.


What is an agaric mineral?

An agaric mineral is a light, chalky deposit of calcium carbonate formed in caverns or fissures of limestone.


What can produce sinkholes cavern and formations?

Sinkholes and caverns are formed from carbolic acid. This carbolic acid dissolves rock which creates the spaces that form the sinkholes and caverns. The carbolic acid is created when carbon dioxide dissolves in water.


When was the OSHP formed?

The Ohio State Highway Patrol was formed in 1933.


How was the Bluespring Caverns formed?

Bluespring Caverns, located in Indiana, was formed through a combination of natural geological processes. The caverns were created by water dissolving the limestone bedrock over thousands of years, resulting in the formation of underground passageways and chambers. The constant flow of water continues to shape and modify the caverns to this day.


How is moaning caverns formed?

It's a normal karst cave, but I think (from memory) in marble rather than unaltered limestone.


What have southern borders formed entirely by the Ohio river?

Ohio, Indiana & Illinois