Carlsbad Caverns Geology

Geology The Big Room is often described as the world's largest cave chamber, but it no longer holds that title; the record-holding Sarawak Chamber in Lubang Nasib Bagus ("Good Luck Cave") in Malaysia is far larger, and as many as 10 other chambers are now known that are larger than the Big Room. However, Carlsbad Caverns still offers world-class cave experiences by any reasonable definition. The "Big Cave" (Carlsbad Cavern itself) is one of over 80 caves within the park, but it is neither the longest nor the deepest of the park's caves. Both of these honors fall to Lechuguilla Cave, a "wild" cave not normally open to tourists.

The caves lie primarily within a Permian limestone reef, but one unusual feature of Carlsbad Caverns is that it is located atop a field of natural gas and oil. As a result, the usual calcium-carbonate cave formations are supplemented in some areas by formations based on calcium sulfate (gypsum) created by the migration of sulfur-bearing water up from the gas field. This, combined with a tendency for the limestone containing the bulk of the caves to fracture along massive joints, results in the unusual combination of very large cave passages and extremely ornate (although, in many cases, famously massive) decorations. The calcium-sulfate formations tend to be delicate and are not usually visible to the casual visitor, but some of the backcountry caves (see under "Do") have astonishing calcium-sulfate formations.

Carlsbad Caverns Landscape

Landscape The park is located where the plains of the Chihuahuan Desert meet the Guadalupe Mountains and ranges in elevation from about 3,200 feet (1,000 m) to 5,500 feet (1,600 m). The primary natural entrance to the Big Cave is in a depression in a mesa on the side of Walnut Canyon, which contains the main entrance road to the park. Several of the accessible "wild caves" are in a detached region of the park containing Slaughter Canyon, one of the typical -- and typically rugged -- canyons descending from the Guadalupes onto the plain.