User:YetAnotherJohn/sandbox/Omega Cave System

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Omega Cave System is a karst cave located in the Powell Mountain Karst Preverve in Wise County, Virginia. As of February 2020 the surveyed length of the cave is 29.43 miles and the surveyed depth is 1263 feet.^[1] It is the longest and deepest cave in Virginia. There are several known entrances, the most prominent being the Blowing Hole entrance located within the Powell Mountain Karst Preserve, the Lori Cori Canyon Cave (LCCC) entrance located within the Jefferson National Forest, and the Stingweed entrance.^[2]

History[edit]

The Blowing Hole entrance has been recognized for decades and was officially documented in 1964. Until 1995, the cave remained relatively unknown except to locals who enjoyed the cool draft from the entrance on hot summer days. In 1996 excavations of a fissure at the base of the entrance shaft revealed a stream canyon and complex of small passages leading to a large master conduit. In 1997, explorations found that the Blowing Hole cave and the Lori Cori Canyon Cave were connected and the cave was named the Omega Cave System. Exploration has slowed since 2008 after the main passages were exhausted, but the potential exists for a total of over 31 miles of passages and 360 feet of additional depth to be discovered.^[3]

Geology[edit]

The Omega Cave System is formed in the 150m thick Greenbrier Limestone, also known locally as the "Big Lime". The Greenbrier Limestone is bounded by the Maccrady Formation and Price Formation below and the Bluefield Formation above. The cave spans the entire width of the Greenbrier Limestone, however a majority of the surveyed passages lie within the lower 80 meters, with some parts of the passages cutting a few meters into the impermeable underlying formations. Of particular speleological interest, the cave contains the longest continuously traversable stream passage in Virginia which flows along the entire 9.5 km length of the cave system.

Research[edit]

Between January 2009 and March 2010, a biological inventory was conducted within the Powell Mountain Karst Preserve which included surveys of bat habitats, cave invertebrates, general non-cave invertebrates, and vegetation. Several rare species were documented during the study including two rare bats, the Indiana bat and Eastern small-footed bat, two rare moths, the Dark stoneroot borer moth and geometrid moth, and one rare beetle, the Little Kennedy cave beetle. Several new, undescribed species of millipedes were also discovered, one of the genus Brachoria, two new species of Cleidogona, and one new Pseudotremia.^[4]

In 2014 several permanent monitoring stations were installed ; three in the main stream, one in each of the four tributaries, and one at the surface. At each of the underground stations a weir was installed to facilitate flow measurements. Additionally instruments to collect temperature, pressure, and specific conductance were installed. This represents the first effort to collect comprehensive, continuous, high-quality data from a large cave system in the United States which is crucial for understanding rates of cave formation, erosion rates, frequency and severity of flood events, and relationship between cave and surface environments.^[5]

References[edit]

^ Gulden, Bob (14 February 2020). "USA LONGEST CAVES". Caver Bob.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Schwartz, Benjamin (December 2009). "HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE MISSISSIPPIAN SCARP-SLOPE KARST SYSTEM, POWELL MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA" (PDF). Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. v. 71, no. 3: 168–179.
^ Culver, David C. (2019). Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. pp. 769–778. ISBN 0128141255.
^ Hobson, C.S. (2010). "Powell Mountain Karst Preserve: Biological Inventory of Vegetation Communities, Vascular Plants, and Selected Animal Groups" (PDF). Natural Heritage Technical Report. 10–12.
^ Schwartz, Benjamin (May 2014). "Installation of a Long-Term Instrumentation Network in the Omega Cave System" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links[edit]

Cave Conservancy of Virginia (Own and operate the Powell Mountain Karst Preserve)

[1] Gulden, Bob (14 February 2020). "USA LONGEST CAVES". Caver Bob.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[2] Schwartz, Benjamin (December 2009). "HYDROGEOLOGY OF THE MISSISSIPPIAN SCARP-SLOPE KARST SYSTEM, POWELL MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA" (PDF). Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. v. 71, no. 3: 168–179.

[3] Culver, David C. (2019). Encyclopedia of Caves. Academic Press. pp. 769–778. ISBN 0128141255.

[4] Hobson, C.S. (2010). "Powell Mountain Karst Preserve: Biological Inventory of Vegetation Communities, Vascular Plants, and Selected Animal Groups" (PDF). Natural Heritage Technical Report. 10–12.

[5] Schwartz, Benjamin (May 2014). "Installation of a Long-Term Instrumentation Network in the Omega Cave System" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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