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Kartchner Caverns State Park is an Arizona state park, located nine miles south of the town of Benson. The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains in the Coronado National Forest. it is carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years, and are still growing due to careful development and maintenance. State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th) - Land 294,312 km² - Water 942 km² (0. ...
This is a list of state parks in the U.S. state of Arizona, operated by Arizona State Parks. ...
Benson is a city located in Cochise County, Arizona, 45 miles east-southeast of Tucson. ...
An Australian park A park is any of a number of geographic features. ...
The Palaeozoic is a major division of the geologic timescale, one of four geologic eras. ...
The Coronado National Forest includes an area of about 1. ...
Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ...
A speleothem (from the Greek for cave deposit) is a formal term for what is also known as a cave formation, or amongst cavers, collectively known as pretties. ...
The caverns were apparently unknown to man until 1974, when two amateur cavers found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of moist air towards what ended up to being over 2½ miles of pristine cave passages. In the desire to avoid vandalism, the discoverers kept the location of the passages a secret for years; their story was finally made public in 1988 when the landowners sold the area to the state for development as a park and show cavern. 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ...
sport of exploring caves. ...
Sinkholes are formed by the collapse of cave roofs and are a feature of landscapes that are based on limestone bedrock. ...
To report vandalism on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress. ...
1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The caves have proven to be popular; over 750,000 people have visited the system in its first three years of the park's existence [1] (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Nov/11162003/Sunday/110737.asp), a number over double what was projected in the 1992 master plan for the park.
The two major features of the caverns currently available to the public are the Throne Room and the Big Room. The Throne Room contains one of the world's longest (21' 2") soda straw stalactites and a 50-foot high column called Kubla Khan. The Big Room contains the world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk; it is closed for several months each year because it is a nursery roost for over 1000 cave bats. A stalactice hanging above subterranean water. ...
Moonmilk is a white gooey substance found inside caves; originally ( 16th century). ...
Evening bats or perhaps more correctly Vesper bats (family Vespertilionidae) are the largest and best-known family of bats. ...
Other features publicly accessible within the caverns include Mud Flats, Rotunda Room, Echo Passage, Strawberry Room, Cul-de-sac Passage, and Subway Tunnel.
Several sections identified by the discoverers remain undeveloped:
- Thunder Room
- Grand Canyon
- Subway Tunnel
- Mushroom Passage
- Pirate's Den
- Granite Dells
Kartchner Caverns State Park is considered by many to be the "crown jewel" of Arizona's state park system. Crown jewels are those that belong to the sovereign and pass to the next sovereign to symbolize the right to rule. ...
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