Where is the Mammoth Cave - the longest cave in the world?

When we say "Mammoth Cave", we involuntarily imagine the petrified remains of the glacial giants discovered by the pioneers in the underground halls. In fact, the English word Mammoth means "huge". Therefore, the cave has nothing to do with mammoths. But nevertheless, her visit is extremely exciting. This is an amazing underground world, consisting of giant halls, long passages, branched galleries. Here rivers flow, waterfalls rustle, there are lakes. In the Mammoth Cave are found special representatives of the fauna - eyeless shrimp, blind fish. This underground labyrinth has not yet been fully explored. At the moment we can talk about five hundred and eighty-seven kilometers of length. And this shocking figure leads Mamontov's cave into unconditional leaders of the longest underground galleries. But after all, every year, speleologists discover new passages and halls! About the wonders of this underworld read in this article.

Where is the Mammoth Cave

Based on the vast length of underground galleries, we can say that they stretch under the entire Flint Ridge (Flint Ridge) ridge on the western spurs of the Appalachians. The mammoth cave has several exits to the surface of the earth. And previously it was believed that the Crystal, Salty, Unknown - separate underground systems. However, speleological studies conducted in the middle of the last century, established that they are all connected to Mamontova. And in 1972, an expedition of scientists revealed a passage into the huge system of underground galleries Fisher Ridge. The main, official entrance is located near the town of Brownsville (Kentucky, USA). In eighty kilometers is the city of Bowling Green, with which the cave is connected by motor roads 31E, 31W and I-65. The nearest airports are located in Indianapolis and Nashville.

Value

Since the scientists established a connection between the underground galleries under the Fisher and Flint ridges, the Mammoth Cave has become the longest in the world. On this basis, UNESCO included it in 1981 in its List of Natural World Heritage Sites (under number 150). If you connect the caves that occupy the second and third place in the world, then Mamontov would be longer than one hundred and sixty kilometers. Officially, this amazing creation of nature is called the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System. This can be translated as "Giant Cave System under the Flint Ridge". But not only because of the size tourists visit this place. Mammoth cave (photo shows it) has something to surprise its visitors. Here was found the mummified body of an Indian, who died two thousand years ago with the extraction of gypsum. Thanks to a special microclimate and the absence of bacteria in the air, the clothes and tissues of the corpse were perfectly preserved. We have already mentioned the mysterious eyeless inhabitants of the underground rivers Echo and Styx. Scientists can not yet attribute these creatures to any known species of fish. A national park was created around the Mammoth Cave to preserve the virgin nature and the population of bats.

How the cave system was formed

Previously, in place of the modern state of Kentucky splashed a shallow and warm sea. Millions of mollusks lived and died in this water area, and their shells sank to the bottom, crumbled, pressed under the weight of others. So formed a powerful layer of limestone. Then the sea began to recede, causing a wide and waterproof layer of the Big Cliftey sandstone. About ten million years ago, the limestone karst process began. The sandstone acted like a lid: it did not allow rainy waters to wash away the chalk from above. The limestone was washed out in the depths of the earth with the waters of an ancient underground river. Therefore, the Mammoth Cave is also interesting because there are few typical formations for grottoes - stalactites and stalagmites. Only in some places rainwater drilled outlets to the surface of the earth, and also, leaking through the sandstone, created the halls "Frozen Niagara" and others.

Opening of the cave

Both the main entrance and other openings, previously considered lazy in separate grottos, have long been familiar to local Indians. This is evidenced by individual burials and bodies of the dead, as well as bundles of charred reeds, which primitive explorers used as torches. The mummy of the gypsum miner, crushed by a five-ton block, was found five kilometers from the entrance. But among Europeans Mamontov's cave has become known only since 1797, and even thanks to the occasion. Two hunters, pursuing the wounded grizzly, saw a huge entrance into the bowels of the earth.

Place of saltpeter extraction and local landmark

The enterprising colonists immediately found an application for their discovery. The first owner, V. Simon, obtained potassium nitrate here and became rich, since then there was a war with England. In peacetime, when the demand for a component of the powder fell, the cave turned into a landmark of local significance. Just then the mummy of an Indian was discovered. To lure a few visitors to the cave, its owner, F. Gorin in 1838 appointed a guide to his slave, Stephen Bishop. It is to this man that we owe the first card of the underground labyrinth. Bishop managed to cross the "Bottomless Pit" and find out that the Mammoth Cave, the length of which was then considered equal to 16 kilometers, is much longer - 40 km. This guide-slave came up with many names for halls and galleries, which are now used by modern guides.

Tuberculosis sanatorium, national park

J. Kogan bought a cave and in addition to Bishop from the previous owner and decided to establish a sanatorium for consumptives in the bowels of the earth. Patients did not come very much, but gradually the popularity of the Mammoth Cave as a tourist object went beyond the state. In the 30 years of the last century, local residents through litigation have made the alienation of land around the entrance of the descendants of Kogan. In 1941, Mammoth Cave National Park appeared - "Mammoth Cave - National Park".

Excursions

Annually about 500 thousand tourists visit the cave. The management of the National Park offers visitors several types of excursions, different in duration, cost, length of the route and its complexity. Prices start at four dollars (the opening hour tour). Especially popular is the six-hour journey (12 USD). Tourists are led along Cleveland Avenue, whose walls glisten with plaster. Then travelers snack in the "Snowman's Dining Room". The route passes through the narrow and deep gorge of Boon Avenue and ends in the "Frozen Niagara" hall. Lighting all the way this excursion is electric. But you can find out what the Mammoth Cave looked like when it was explored by pioneers. For this, there are several "wild" tours (46 USD). Visitors are given helmets, torches, and they go through the labyrinths of underground halls and galleries, where sometimes one has to climb in the dust.