File:Green River Valley from Sunset Point, Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, KY.jpg
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[edit]DescriptionGreen River Valley from Sunset Point, Mammoth Cave National Park, Mammoth Cave, KY.jpg |
English: The largest known cave system in the world, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System, as of 2022, has 426 miles of documented passages, and sits beneath the ground in Mammoth Cave National Park, established in 1941, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the only designation in the state of Kentucky. The park is also an International Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1990, and an International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2021. The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System formed in Mississippian Limestone rock underneath a Big Clifty Sandstone cap, which has formed several stable arched passages of varying sizes from the intrusion of water into the rock layers, with the less porous sandstone cap preventing water intrusion at most locations, which have kept the caverns beneath intact and stable for eons. The water that passes through the cave system drains into the adjacent Green River, and has continuously eroded deeper into the rock along with the river. The cave is home to endemic species of organisms that have adapted to the dark conditions within the cave system. The cave system was known to indigenous people, whom mined gypsum from the walls of the caves and explored the caves, with human remains, signs of human activity, and artifacts from their presence in the cave. The cave became known to European settlers in the 1790s, and it started being mined by Valentine Simon for saltpeter to create gunpowder in 1798, with the mining activities intensifying around the time of the War of 1812, and becoming an industrial-scale operation under the ownership of Charles Wilkins and Hyman Gratz, whom used slave labor to exploit the cave’s resources. In 1838, with the decline in value of saltpeter, the cave was sold to Franklin Gorin, whom operated the cave as a tourist attraction, but was sold to Doctor John Croghan the following year. Under Gorin and Croghan, Black slaves served as tour guides for visitors, with Stephen Bishop being the most notable of these guides. Bishop made many maps of the caves during the 1840s and 1850s, and was the first known person to cross Bottomless Pit and discover the River Styx and Mammoth Dome on the other side. Croghan attempted to run a Tuberculosis Hospital within the cave in 1842-1843, believing the stable temperatures and air would assist patients, but this was short lived. In 1886, the Mammoth Cave Railroad was built between Park City and the historic Mammoth Cave Hotel, which operated until 1931. The caves were mapped more accurately by German visitor Max Kämper in 1908, whom mapped the surface topography and used instruments to document the cave, allowing for the opening of new entrances to the caverns from the surface and being the most accurate maps of the caves until the 1960s. Sadly, this was not appreciated by the Croghan family, whose historic cavern entrance was threatened in status by these maps, and Kämper returned to Germany, where he died as a soldier during World War I’s Battle of the Somme in 1916. Starting in the 1920s, the land around the caves was purchased by the private Mammoth Cave National Park Association, with the park being officially authorized in 1926. Between 1933 and 1942, the park’s landscape was reforested and infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), part of the New Deal. Between 1954 and 1972, the cave system was further explored, culminating in the connection between the longer Flint Ridge System and wider Mammoth Cave being found, making it the longest known cave system in the world. Today, the park sees about half a million visitors annually, and contains the majority of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave system, with some portions of the system extending east of the park’s boundaries under privately-owned land. |
Date | |
Source | https://www.flickr.com/photos/59081381@N03/52725780187/ |
Author | w_lemay |
Camera location | 37° 11′ 13.6″ N, 86° 06′ 24.96″ W ![]() ![]() | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap | ![]() |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by w_lemay at https://flickr.com/photos/59081381@N03/52725780187. It was reviewed on 7 March 2023 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0. |
7 March 2023
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current | 21:08, 7 March 2023 | ![]() | 3,024 × 4,032 (6.6 MB) | Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by w_lemay from https://www.flickr.com/photos/59081381@N03/52725780187/ with UploadWizard |
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Camera manufacturer | Apple |
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Camera model | iPhone 11 Pro |
Exposure time | 1/1,199 sec (0.00083402835696414) |
F-number | f/2 |
ISO speed rating | 20 |
Date and time of data generation | 11:04, 26 February 2023 |
Lens focal length | 6 mm |
Latitude | 37° 11′ 13.6″ N |
Longitude | 86° 6′ 24.96″ W |
Altitude | 215.937 meters above sea level |
Orientation | Normal |
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Software used | 16.3.1 |
File change date and time | 11:04, 26 February 2023 |
Y and C positioning | Centered |
Exposure Program | Normal program |
Exif version | 2.32 |
Date and time of digitizing | 11:04, 26 February 2023 |
Meaning of each component |
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Metering mode | Pattern |
Flash | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash suppression |
DateTimeOriginal subseconds | 899 |
DateTimeDigitized subseconds | 899 |
Supported Flashpix version | 1 |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
Sensing method | One-chip color area sensor |
Scene type | A directly photographed image |
Exposure mode | Auto exposure |
White balance | Auto white balance |
Digital zoom ratio | 1.0059880239521 |
Focal length in 35 mm film | 52 mm |
Scene capture type | Standard |
Speed unit | Kilometers per hour |
Speed of GPS receiver | 0 |
Reference for direction of image | True direction |
Direction of image | 357.9067077872 |
Reference for bearing of destination | True direction |
Bearing of destination | 357.9067077872 |