Lechuguilla Cave
(Information Courtesy of Carlsbad Caverns National Park)
Prior to 1986, Lechuguilla Cave was considered to be a fairly insignificant historic site in the park's backcountry where small amounts of bat guano were mined from the entrance passages back in 1914. The historic cave contained a 90-foot entrance pit which led to 400 feet of dry dead-end passages.
Due to its small known size, the cave was visited infrequently, but in the 1950s cavers heard wind roaring from the rubble-choked floor of the cave. Based upon the strength of the wind, cavers concluded that a significant cave volume must lay beneath the collapsed rubble. A group of Colorado cavers obtained permission from the National Park Service and began digging in 1984. The breakthrough, into large walking passages, occurred on May 26, 1986.
Since that historic breakthrough, Lechuguilla Cave has continued to amaze both Cavers and Non-Cavers alike. Lechuguilla Cave is widely considered to be one of the most significant caves on the planet in terms of beauty, size, and diversity of microbial lifeforms. Currently, explorers have mapped 120+ miles of passages and have pushed the depth of the cave to 1,567 feet, ranking Lechuguilla as the 6th longest cave in the world (3rd longest in the United States) and the deepest limestone cave in the country. Cavers from all around the world are drawn by the prospect of exploring virgin passage while viewing speleothems such as 20 foot gypsum chandeliers, 20 foot gypsum hairs and beards, 15 foot soda straws, hydromagnesite balloons, cave pearls, subaqueous helictites, rusticles, u-loops and j-loops. Many of these rare formations have never been seen anywhere else in the world. Lechuguilla Cave has surpassed it's sister cave, Carlsbad Cavern, in size, depth, and variety of speleothems.
Scientific research has been exciting as well. For the first time a Guadalupe Mountains cave extends deep enough that scientists may study five separate geologic formations from the inside. The profusion of gypsum and sulfur lends support to speleogenesis by sulfuric acid dissolution. Rare, chemolithoautotrophic bacteria are believed to occur in the cave. These bacteria feed on the sulfur, iron, and manganese minerals and may assist in enlarging the cave and determining the shapes of some unusual speleothems. Other studies indicate that some microbes may have medicinal qualities that are beneficial to humans.
Lechuguilla Cave lies within a park wilderness area but it appears that the cave's passages may extend out of the park into adjacent Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. A major threat to the cave is proposed gas and oil drilling on BLM land. Any leakage of gas or fluids into the cave's passages could kill cave life or cause explosions.
Access to the cave is limited to approved scientific researchers, survey and exploration teams, and NPS management-related trips.
Lechuguilla Cave's Chandelier Ballroom