Lava cascade in Thunderbolt Distributary of Labyrinth Cave system

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Mushpot, Catacombs, Ovis, and Merrill Ice or Skull. Those people with specific interests who may want to spend several days or weeks exploring the caves should first examine the maps and pick out the areas that seem of interest. Perhaps the following brief paragraphs may help to develop a plan that will save time and increase the enjoyment and productivity of your stay: 1. The novice to cave exploration should start with Mushpot and Lava Brook Caves to acquire confidence in EXPLANATION ~Cave Q Collapse trench Trail ~ Parking area Road traversing and understanding nearsurface lava-tube systems. Catacombs is excellent for a followup, and so is Valentine. For examples of deep and large "feeder tubes" start with a small remnant such as Ovis, or Heppe, follow up with Craig, and then graduate by tracing the Cocoa Pipeline, if accessible, through its full length in Post Office Cave. 2. The geologist interested in the mechanics and hydraulics of lava-tube formation and development will find Post Office, Tickner, Berthas Cup- ' GOLDEN DOME CAVE ENTRANCE HOPKINS CHOCOLATE CAVE ENTRANCE GARDEN BRIDGES BLUE GROTTO ENTRANCE TO TULELAKE AND KLAMATH FALLS board, Crystal, Skull, Catacombs, and Valentine among the most instructive caves to study. For lava tubes that invaded cinder cones or other tuffaceous sediments see Skull, Crystal, Kirk Whites, Beaconlight, and some small but deep caves (unmapped) near Schonchin and Bearpaw Buttes (Castle and White Lace for example). 3. The student of ice formation within caves will find Crystal Cave of special interest. Access is limited (as of April 1990) to small groups by pre- VISITOR CENTER EAST LABYRINTH CAVE ENTRANCE --- .-,..._-.,._.-.__ THUNDERBOLT CAVE ENTRANCE LOWER SENTINEL CAVE ENTRANCE ~~ ~ .... --~ UPPER SENTINEL CAVE ENTRANCE ........ TO CANBY AND ALTURAS N SUNSHINE CAVE 0 500 1000 FEET I I I I I Figure 14. Location map of Cave Loop Road area showing lava-tube systems and cave entrance locations. Unlabeled roads in upper-right corner of map are shown in detail on map 1, pl. 1. 10 Selected Caves and Lava-Tube Systems, Lava Beds National Monument, California
arrangement in wintertime only so as not to damage the fragile ice formations. Other caves that usually contain much smaller amounts of frost and ice are Skull, Merrill Ice, Captain Jacks Ice, Frozen River, Caldwell Ice, and Upper Ice Cave. 4. People interested in early Indian cultures will find the best displays of pictographs in Fern Cave. Other good localities are among the breakdowns between Skull and Merrill Ice Caves, especially near Symbol Bridge. Petroglyphs are well exposed in both Juniper Cave and in a separate and protected area of the monument at Prisoners Rock (fig. 15), northeast of the main area of the monument and 2.5 mi southwest of the town of Newell. 5. Those interested in the microclimate adaptations of plants will find the Garden Bridges, easily reached from Cave Loop Road, a rewarding area. The breakdowns and numerous short cave remnants within a small area provide variations from moist cool air at cave entrances to the dry sun-baked roof tops over caves. Examine the Natural Bridge area as well. Fern cave is named for the large population of ferns (rare in this desert region) that cover its entrance mound. The greenhouse-like atmosphere of this cave is in stark contrast with the dry air above ground. Fern Cave is kept locked, but tours can be arranged by contacting National Park Service personnel at the Visitor Center. Each cave description herein should be read with the respective map unfolded beside it because most of the text material is tied directly to the map. orientation at a new station is controlled by backsight to the former station. Position of the walls is obtained and plotted directly on the planetable sheet: an assistant walks beside the steel tape, carrying a lightweight stadia rod to measure the distance (horizontally at right angles to the tape) of all points where the wall of the cave changes direction. At each of these points he calls out the distance on the tape, and then the distance to the wall, to the person operating the planetable, who immediately scales off and plots this point on the planetable sheet. After both walls have been drawn, the positions of geologic features-such as balconies, skylights, breakdowns, rafted blocks, collapse piles-are plotted, using the stadia rod to measure their outlines with reference to the tape. The height of the ceiling above floor is determined at selected points with the stadia rod held vertically or if the roof is too low, with a folding rule. The heights of benches, balconies, lava cascades, and other salient features are obtained and plotted on the planetable sheet. Thus a rough draft of the map is prepared continuously as the traverse is extended. Before a traverse of more than a few hundred yards was completed, we nearly always encountered passages too small for the planetable to be leveled on its tripod, or we had to extend the traverse through crawlholes along the side or roof of a cave. In such situations we used cloth tape and a Brunton compass (a compass with attached clinometer to measure angles) to extend the traverse until the planetable-alidade work could be resumed. At first we were concerned about the magnetic errors that might arise from using a Brunton in such close proximity to basalt lava. To our surprise, repeated checks showed that large magnetic deviations are not a problem in caves but are common when a Brunton is used on top of a prominent basalt outcrop. Apparently, this discrepancy is caused by lightning strikes on a surface outcrop of basalt that produce magnetic changes great enough to strongly affect the needle of a Brunton. Acknowledgments A project to map selected lava-tube caves within Lava Beds National Monument was initiated by Paul F. Haertel, former Superintendent of the monument, in 1974. At Haertel's request, Aaron Preparation of the Maps Planetable and alidade traverses were made in mapping the larger lava tubes, and a description of the procedure follows. A station is occupied, and a sight through the ali dade is taken on a miner's lamp or flashlight placed at the next station. Distance between stations is measured with a stretched steel tape, and Figure 15. View northeast across Tule Lake to The Peninsula and Prisoners Rock where the Petroglyphs section of Lava Beds National Monument is located. Photograph taken from near Hospital Rock, in northeastern part of monument. Acknowledgments 11
Page 2 and 3: Lava cascade in Thunderbolt Distrib
Page 4 and 5: Frontispiece. Two visitors explore
Page 6 and 7: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL L
Page 8 and 9: Caves easily accessible from Cave L
Page 10 and 11: PLATES [In pocket] 1. Caves of the
Page 12 and 13: Many of the feature names used in t
Page 14 and 15: Tulelake LOWER KLAMATH LAKE Prisone
Page 16 and 17: EXPLANATION ................... Lav
Page 18 and 19: flow, then the lava may pool behind
Page 20 and 21: "pull outs" where the dripping plas
Page 24 and 25: Waters agreed to do the cave mappin
Page 26 and 27: into the distributary in the genera
Page 28 and 29: crawled 180 ft from the Mushpot tub
Page 30 and 31: es of plaster clog its continuation
Page 32 and 33: level of the tube. The southern ent
Page 34 and 35: surface collapse and only one comer
Page 36 and 37: dead-end passages on different vert
Page 38 and 39: and a roof covered with lavacicles
Page 40 and 41: puzzles abound in the Catacombs; do
Page 42 and 43: Ovis Cave Apparently, E.L. Hopkins
Page 44 and 45: thus forms a bridge over the broken
Page 46 and 47: pit is located along the southwest
Page 48 and 49: lava tubes, and the upper parts of
Page 50 and 51: occupies the lava pool just upstrea
Page 52 and 53: underway. Collapse to the surface h
Page 54 and 55: one located just below ceiling heig
Page 56 and 57: high, but it immediately widens to
Page 58 and 59: low depths along fissures. Many sma
Page 60 and 61: collapse (map 9, pl. 3). Two others
Page 62 and 63: For a short distance below the coll
Page 64 and 65: circle the two large downstream pil
Page 66 and 67: where it opens into the north end o
Page 68 and 69: water well, the cave changes marked
Page 70 and 71: the older Schonchin Butte lava flow
Page 72 and 73:
here to the entrance, the tube is f
Page 74 and 75:
One cannot walk beneath it, as unde
Page 76 and 77:
Room-is actually a natural bridge,
Page 78 and 79:
pooled in the mouth ofthe tributary
Page 80 and 81:
perfection and cleanliness of its l
Page 82 and 83:
etween the benches. The levees are
Page 84 and 85:
tubes created a cave floor that is
Page 86 and 87:
cessive accretionary linings of lav
Page 88 and 89:
two levels were joined by a breakdo
Page 90 and 91:
ft and passes through several level
Page 92 and 93:
stream, the ceiling heights drop, t
Page 94 and 95:
Cave. Collapse rubble half fills Cr
Page 96 and 97:
heights are between 12 and 20 ft in
Page 98 and 99:
Blue Glacier Room, where continuati
Page 100 and 101:
upstream from the one noted by the
Page 102 and 103:
Red Ice Room (fig. 63), which lies
Page 104 and 105:
tation that this tube system was fe
Page 106 and 107:
sured ground now occupies nearly tw
Page 108 and 109:
The larger and more interesting cav
Page 110 and 111:
part talus was reversed. Moreover,
Page 112 and 113:
long and 300ft in maximum width. Th
Page 114:
and lunar implications: Communicati
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Lava cascade in Thunderbolt Distributary of Labyrinth Cave system

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