Caves and Karst of the Adirondacks

Abstract

The Adirondack Mountains are the youngest mountain range in the northeastern US and are still doming, although they are made of the oldest rocks found in that region. The 1.1 Ga-old Grenville Marble hosts the dissolutional caves, which appear to be primarily post-glacial in origin, although the complexity of some caves (Crane Mountain), or large passage size (Burroughs Cave, Natural Bridge Cave, Natural Stone Bridge and Caves), suggest a pre-glacial origin. These large caves are all coupled to the current deranged hydrology, which makes them potential combination caves. Maze caves have formed (Big Loop Cave and X Cave), and follow the pattern for maze caves examined in the rest of New York: shallow, single level, in concert with the current deranged drainage pattern, and in a past or current high-discharge setting. These maze caves are not multi-level like those in similar lithologic settings, as in the stripe karst of Norway, as dip angles and hydraulic gradients are not as extreme. The meander cutoff cave situation present at Natural Bridge Cave mimics that found in flat-lying Paleozoic limestones of Kentucky. The development of meander cutoff caves and maze caves in glaciated 1.1 Ga-old marbles that are identical to patterns seen in undisturbed telogenetic limestones demonstrates how the overall hydrologic regime controls speleogenesis. As in other areas, scientific study of these caves has been minimal and many opportunities for research are present.