In 1883 in Hellertown, PA a cavern was discovered, along with a river that is still lost. Visiting Lost River Caverns has been a favorite activity for generations of Pennsylvania residents and visitors from all over. Let's take a trip underground and see what we can find.
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Lost River Caverns
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Before the cavern formed, the area was ocean floor. The hard bits of dead sea life, such as shells and bones, accumulated and became the sedimentary rock we call limestone. The limestone that formed Lost River Caverns is from the Cambrian Period. The Cambrian period lasted from about 539 million years ago to about 487 million years ago. At that time, because of plate tectonics, Pennsylvania was in the southern hemisphere in what would would eventually become the South Pacific. One of the most common life forms in those days was the trilobite. Arthropods and mollusks also first appeared in the fossil record during the Cambrian.
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A river of minerals, frozen
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When sea level dropped, the region became a lakebed and sediments that settled there eventually formed shale. Layers of limestone and shale alternated as sea levels rose and fell. About a quarter million years ago, safe on dry land, the cavern began forming when surface water seeped into the ground and began dissolving the limestone. As the water percolated through the rocks, it absorbed and deposited minerals, which is how the various cave formations were formed.
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A stalagmite and stalactite that have grown together
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Now we get to the cave feature that lends a name to Lost River Caverns: the Lost River. No one knows where the underground stream comes from or goes to. Over the years, divers have explored it and researchers have floated objects and poured dye in the water to see where it surfaces, only to have it vanish without a trace.
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| The Lost River |
Information this week comes from Lost River Caverns, with an assist from Berkeley in regards to the Cambrian.
