Explorers add eight miles to record-breaking cave
The longest known cave system just set a new record after surveyors spent hours mapping an additional 1.6km of the passageways at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. The corridors now measure a whopping 675km in length. Mapping the cave system was a huge undertaking, carried out by volunteers at the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), a Kentuckybased nonprofit, and other locals, including those from the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition.
“Many of the cave trips are long and arduous, involving climbing, vertical exposure, squeezes, crawlways, water and mud,” said Karen Willmes of the CRF. “After the trip, cartographers turn the data collected on the cave trip into a map. Other volunteers provide surface support. It’s a first-rate effort for a world-class cave, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
This isn’t the first time that the system has ‘grown’. It entered the record books in 1969 with a total of 104km of documented passageways. During a 14-hour survey in September 1972, CRF cavers discovered a connection between the Mammoth Cave system and Flint Ridge, bringing Mammoth Cave’s total known distance to 231km. Since then, additional CRF surveys have added mileage to the Mammoth Cave system, including the discovery of connections between it and smaller caves, such as Proctor Cave, Roppel Cave and Morrison Cave.
LAURA GEGGEL