| Between
the spring of 1999 and the winter of 2006, a number of significant
discoveries were made in Wind Cave that have cave management implications.
These discoveries were made during the on-going exploration, survey,
and inventory of undocumented passages in Wind Cave. Much of this
survey was conducted in the interior sections of the cave. Some
of these discoveries were made in newly discovered passages entered
for the first time, while others in passages that were originally
explored up to 100 years previously, but never surveyed. Many of
these discoveries were made by volunteers participating in the Wind
Cave survey project. During this time, the length of the Wind Cave
survey was extended from 80.5 miles to 114.19 miles. The cave became
the sixth longest cave in the world on 8/11/0, the fifth longest
on 1/8/05, and then the fourth longest on 2/11/06.
• Iron
fixing filamental bacterial strands – which are spider web
like fossils mineralized with iron oxide, were discovered in the
Historic Section
• What the Hell Dropped
– enough that we could pass this obstacle and get to the deep
point in the cave and the lakes for the first time in five years
• Vega Lake – was found
to have water, the first lake discovered in the Southern Comfort
Section
• Phantom Lake –
the 1st major lake (200-feet long by 6-feet deep) found outside
of the Lakes Section was found in 1999. This lake essentially dried
up by 2004.
• Shallowest cave passage – which receives immediate
water intake after heavy rains, was found 5-feet below the sidewalk
in Wind Cave Canyon
• Rio Colorado –
found in the Southern Comfort Section, was only the 2nd area in
the cave found to have running water and the first area outside
of the Lakes Section
• Root 89 – an old filled-in entrance & source of
stream-worn bones in the Chamber of Lost Souls was discovered near
the Natural Entrance
• Major trend – of cavern development was delineated
and the complexity of the cave illustrated by survey in the interior
of Wind Cave, resulting in new theories on how the cave formed
• Flexible boxwork - made out of a clay mineral, possibly
sepolite, was first found in the Southern Comfort Section
• Romanechite - a manganese oxide mineral produced by weathering,
was found in a paleo karst pocket in the Western Fringe Section
• Iron oxide pseudomorphs after pyrite – were found
in paleokarst pockets in the Historic Section
• Manganese deposit – nearly ½” thick and
covering a 1’ x 2’ area, was found in the Historic Section
and named “The Manganese Stop”
• Air exchange - with the surface was found in several domes
located underneath drainages, suggesting that the cave is a lot
“leakier” than previously thought
• Gypsum rope – estimated to be 14” long, was
found in the Historic Section in a room that was named the Golden
Rope Room
• Seismic Hall – was determined to have zebra rock lower
in the Madison Formation than any other place previously known in
the cave
• Hobsons Bypass – a major airflow route between the
Historic and Club Room Sections of the cave, was discovered
• Roots - were found in two domes along the north edge of
the cave, both located near the surface
• Woodrats – were
discovered in the Hades area in the Historic Section, which is located
80-feet below the surface on the north boundary of the cave and
a long way from the nearest entrance
• Profusely decorated area – named the Rio
Colorado, was found in the Southern Comfort Section
• Alvin McDonald signatures – were documented at several
previously unknown sties in the Historic Section
Wind
Cave Temperature Fluctuation Study |
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