Little Cave of Melton Hill EarthCache
Little Cave of Melton Hill
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This cache will take you to a very interesting location near Melton Hill Dam in East Tennessee.
East Tennessee is known for it's Karst landscape and here is no exception. This is a beautiful area which we hope you enjoy exploring.
CAVE GEOLOGY
Caves are formed when rain water, acidified by carbon dioxide in the soil, seeped downward through millions of tiny cracks and crevices in the limestone layers. This weak carbonic acid (the same acid as in soda pop) dissolved a network of tiny microcaverns along cracks. If the bedrock is lifted, the erosion will create deeper channels. Just as rivulets converged into streams above ground, water flow paths through the limestone also converged into incrementally larger flow paths. As rainwater continued to enter the system and more limestone was dissolved, the microcaverns enlarged. Because the major drains carried the most water, they enlarged the most. Caves were forming. If the water table continues dropping new underground drains formed at levels lower than the older ones, and the older channels empty. Thus the oldest cave passages are the closest to the surface, and the youngest horizontal passages are the deepest underground.
To log this earthcache you will need to post a picture of you with your GPS in front of the cave with your online log and email me the answers to the following 2 questions...
1)Give me the measurements of the cave opening.
2)Describe the nearby earth feature which is related to the cave. (It is located right above and to the right as you face the cave).
Please email the answers to me and do not post them in your online log.
Any log without the required picture and the emailed answers will be deleted.
This Earthcache was approved by the GSA
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Additional Hints
(No hints available.)