Carlsbad Caverns
Geology of a National Park
In 1923, The Carlsbad Caverns was acknowledged as a National Monument and it later became a National Park in 1930.[1] The Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a spectacular national park full of fascinating geologic structures, the most renowned of which are the caves. The most visited, and conceivably researched, cave is the Carlsbad Cavern. All of the caves within the National Park contain rare speleothems, which are formations built from calcite (CaCO3) minerals precipitating after water in certain areas of the cave evaporates. The formations can be found within those walls can be stalactites, stalagmites, and many other formations, all of which are aesthetically and geologically appreciated. However before I can truly begin to converse comprehensively about the particulars and the history of the Carlsbad Caverns I believe I should establish my research with the basics first.
The park is located at 3225 National Park Highway Carlsbad, NM 88220. At this location, a mountain range, which spreads from southeastern New Mexico through fractions of western Texas, can be located. This mountain rage is known as the Guadalupe Mountains. Beneath these high mountains, reaching elevations up to 4,435 feet are the Carlsbad caves.[2] Appendix A will further help to establish a visual sense of the location. In terms of the geological location, the national park is located on the North American Plate. Appendix B illustrates the plate’s scale and positioning in comparison to the other eight-teen plates in the world. As it can be seen the plate is located east of the Juan De Fuca plate, north-west of the Caribbean plate, and north of the Cocoas Plate, but astonishingly the North American Plate does not touch any of them. The tectonic plates play an immense role in the development of the Carlsbad Caverns.[3] In order to comprehend why the tectonic plates have such an immense role it is essential to know what the events that had...