Friars Hole Cave System

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Friars Hole Cave System
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Friars Hole Cave System
Location in West Virginia
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Friars Hole Cave System
Friars Hole Cave System (the United States)
Location West Virginia
Coordinates 38°04′02″N80°19′47″W / 38.067203°N 80.329775°W / 38.067203; -80.329775 (Friars Hole Cave)
Depth186.8 m (613 ft)
Length82.5 km (51.3 mi) [1]
Discovery1950
Geology Limestone
Entrances8

Friars Hole Cave System is a cave in West Virginia's Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties. [2] First surveyed in the 1960s, [3] it is one of the longest in the United States and the world.

Contents

Various sources put its total length at 63 km, [4] 73.4 km, [2] 72 km, [5] to 77.4 km long. [6] The West Virginia Encyclopedia says that 44 miles of the cave have been surveyed, making it the longest cave in the state, the 7th-longest cave in the United States, and the 35th-longest cave in the world. [7] In 2017, William B. White called it is the 31st-longest cave in the world. [8]

The cave has ten entrances, five of which are closed: [9] Friars Hole, Rubber Chicken, Crookshank Pit, Toothpick, Snedegars caves entrances (Snedegars Staircase, Snedegars Saltpeter, Snedegars Stream, Snedegars North), and Canadian Hole, Radio Pit. [7] [10] [4]

The cave formed in the Mississippian Greenbrier Group. The oldest passage to the cave is said to 4.1 million years old. [11] The cave was formed by streams sinking down into the ground. [12] The minor structures in the cave were influenced by thrust faults. [13]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Gulden, Bob (2022-11-15). "USA Longest Caves". Archived from the original on April 21, 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 Medville, Douglas M.; Worthington, Stephen R.H. (2018), White, William B. (ed.), "The Friars Hole System", Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia, Cave and Karst Systems of the World, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 135–152, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65801-8_8, ISBN   978-3-319-65801-8 , retrieved 2021-09-25
  3. ↑ White, William B. (2017-11-20). Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Springer. p. 152. ISBN   978-3-319-65801-8.
  4. 1 2 Harmon, Russell S.; Wicks, Carol M.; Ford, Derek C.; White, William Blaine (2006-01-01). Perspectives on Karst Geomorphology, Hydrology, and Geochemistry: A Tribute Volume to Derek C. Ford and William B. White. Geological Society of America. p. 24. ISBN   978-0-8137-2404-1.
  5. ↑ Gunn, John (2004). Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. Taylor & Francis. p. 143. ISBN   978-1-57958-399-6.
  6. ↑ Bob Gulden (July 4, 2023). "Worlds longest caves". Geo2 Committee on Long and Deep Caves. National Speleological Society (NSS). Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved 2023-07-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. 1 2 Jones, William (28 February 2011). "Friars Hole Cave". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  8. ↑ White, William B. (2017-11-20). Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Springer. p. 6. ISBN   978-3-319-65801-8.
  9. ↑ "Closed Cave List - National Speleological Society". National Speleological Society. 2021-07-25.
  10. ↑ White, William B.; Culver, David C.; Pipan, Tanja (2019-05-10). Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. pp. 334–337. ISBN   978-0-12-814125-0.
  11. ↑ White, William B.; Culver, David C.; Pipan, Tanja (2019-05-10). Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. pp. 446–449. ISBN   978-0-12-814125-0.
  12. ↑ Gunn, John (2004). Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. Taylor & Francis. p. 145. ISBN   978-1-57958-399-6.
  13. ↑ White, William B.; Culver, David C.; Pipan, Tanja (2019-05-10). Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. p. 444. ISBN   978-0-12-814125-0.
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