| Ashford Caves | |
|---|---|
 Bats occupy several caverns in the caves complex. | |
  Location in New South Wales | |
| Location | Ashford, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 29°12′29″S150°58′56″E / 29.20806°S 150.98222°E Coordinates: 29°12′29″S150°58′56″E / 29.20806°S 150.98222°E |
| Geology | Limestone |
| Access | Public |
| Show cave opened | 1915 |
| Show cave length | 560 metres (1,840 ft) [1] |
The Ashford Caves, located within the Kwiambal National Park, are a series of caves that contain an outcrop of coralline limestone and are located in the New England Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The caves are managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and are situated approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the former Ashford coal mine, north of Ashford and not far from the Queensland border town of Texas.
Kwiambal is a national park in New South Wales, Australia located about 30 km from the town of Ashford. The Severn River and Macintyre River both flow through and finally converge in the park below the MacIntyre falls. The park is studded with granite outcrops and also features the Ashford Caves.
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can also refer to much smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, though strictly speaking a cave is exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide, and a rock shelter is endogene.
Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolomite, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In old USGS publications, dolomite was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolomites or magnesium-rich limestones.
Originally on a private property, the Ashford Caves are now part of the Kwiambal National Park. A basic camping ground called 'Lemon Tree Flat' is located within a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) radius of the cave entrance, as are the Macintyre Falls. [2]
The large arch-shaped opening was made to access the phosphate (guano) resources for use as fertilizer, which has been quite profitable. Prospects of mining limestone at this location have been explored, but dismissed as unviable.
A Phosphate is a chemical derivative of phosphoric acid. The phosphate ion (PO
4)3−
is an inorganic chemical, the conjugate base that can form many different salts. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Of the various phosphoric acids and phosphates, organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry, and inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in agriculture and industry. At elevated temperatures in the solid state, phosphates can condense to form pyrophosphates.
Guano is the accumulated excrement of seabirds and bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a lesser extent, sought for the production of gunpowder and other explosive materials. The 19th-century guano trade played a pivotal role in the development of modern input-intensive farming, but its demand began to decline after the discovery of the Haber–Bosch process of nitrogen fixing led to the production of synthetic fertilizers. The demand for guano spurred the human colonization of remote bird islands in many parts of the world, resulting in some of the first examples of U.S. colonialism and the expansion of the British Empire. The guano mining process resulted in ecological degradation through the loss of millions of seabirds. Unsustainable guano mining in caves alters cave shape, causing bats to abandon the roost. Guano mining also involved the poor treatment and enslavement of workers such as Chinese immigrants, Native Hawaiians, and African diaspora.
A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soils or to plant tissues to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. Many sources of fertilizer exist, both natural and industrially produced.
A colony of Eastern Bent-wing Bats [3] inhabits the cave system and breeds from November through March.
