Cadomin Cave

Cadomin Cave, passage between upper and lower series

Cadomin Cave is a natural limestone cave in the Canadian Rockies near the town of Cadomin, Alberta.

Geography

Cadomin Cave is located within Leyland Mountain at an elevation of 1890m, and was formed within the thickly-bedded limestones of the Palliser Formation. The cave consists of an upper series of spacious phreatic and keyhole-type passages underlain by somewhat smaller passages connected by tight crawlways. There is only one known entrance. Cadomin Cave is named after the town of Cadomin, an acronym for the Canada Dominion Mining company.

Exploration

Cadomin Cave has been known since the early 1900s when prospectors opened up the Coal Branch district, but it was almost certainly known to native peoples before then. The first cave survey was conducted in 1959 prior to the formation of Canada's caving clubs, and produced an accurate map of the passages of the upper series as far as the Mess Hall, the cave's principal chamber. In 1977 and 1978 a long-rumored lower series of passages was discovered and surveyed by members of the Alberta Speleological Society, significantly increasing the cave's measured length to 1704m and its depth to 171m. Subsequent explorations including the discovery of the decorated Crystal Crawls in 1982 and unsuccessful dives of the sump have resulted in a measured length of 2791m and a depth of 220m.

Environmental issues

The spacious, easy cave passages of Cadomin Cave's upper series have been popular with local and visiting outdoor enthusiasts for over a hundred years, and are amongst the most vandalized in the Canadian Rockies. In 1997 the Alberta Speleological Society became official stewards of Cadomin Cave under a program managed by Alberta Environment, and periodically conduct garbage cleanups and graffiti removal and assist with bat counts. In 1999 the cave was included within the newly formed Whitehorse Wildlands Provincial Park. Cadomin Cave is a hibernaculum for Little Brown Bats, and access is currently prohibited between the first weekend in September and the first day of May. White nose syndrome is expected to arrive in the next few winters, so the cave has been closed via Ministerial order, effective May 14, 2010. A locked gate will be installed designed to prevent human access while facilitating bat movements.

References

The Canadian Caver Vol 10 No 1 and Vol 14 No 1 Cave Closure - http://www.caving.ab.ca/cadomin

External links

Coordinates: 53°56′00″N 116°34′35″W / 53.9332706°N 116.5765035°W / 53.9332706; -116.5765035

Protected areas in Alberta

World Heritage Sites	Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dinosaur Provincial Park Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park Wood Buffalo National Park

National parks	Banff Elk Island Jasper Waterton Lakes Wood Buffalo

Provincial parks, wildlands & wildernesses	Canmore Nordic Centre Cypress Hills Dry Island Buffalo Jump Fish Creek Hay-Zama Lakes Kananaskis Country Lakeland Vermilion Willmore Wilderness Writing-on-Stone more...

Urban parks	Calgary Zoo Devonian Gardens Edmonton Valley Zoo Edworthy Park Mill Woods Park Muttart Conservatory North Saskatchewan River Valley Nose Hill Oldman River Valley Pearce Estate Wetland

Museums & historic sites	Alberta Central Railway Museum Atlas Coal Mine Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Center Canadian Tractor Museum Cold Lake Air Force Ellis Bird Farm Fort Calgary Fort Edmonton Park Fort Victoria Fort Whoop-Up Frank Slide Galt Historic Railway Park Heritage Acres Farm Museum Heritage Park Krause Milling Co. Pioneer Acres Prairie Elevator Museum Remington Carriage Museum Reynolds-Alberta Royal Alberta Royal Tyrrell Scandia Eastern Irrigation District Museum South Peace Centennial Museum Spruce Grove Grain Elevator Museum St. Albert Grain Elevator Park Ukrainian Village Warner elevator row Whyte National historic sites Provincial historic sites

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.