Snowy River Cave
Snowy River Cave Passage is a cave passage within Fort Stanton Cave in Lincoln County, New Mexico, obtaining its name from a stream bed of white calcite. Geology The bed of Snowy River is covered with bright white calcite. Over time, ancient, slow moving ground water dissolved the limestone walls of the cave and, with the help of microorganisms, recrystallized limestone into the white-colored mineral. Since prehistoric times, ground water saturated with dissolved calcite has periodically flooded the cave, followed by extended periods of dryness, leaving behind coatings and deposits. Fort Stanton Cave, now including the Snowy River Passage, contains the fourth largest cave footprint (the area within a convex polygon that encloses the known cave passages) in the USA. The Bureau of Land Management reports that Snowy River may be the largest continuous cave formation in America. Hydrology Discovered in 2001, Snowy River is a section of a much larger cave complex. Researchers and explorers have not yet determined how the formations relate to the geology and hydrology. After visits to the dry riverbed in 2001, 2003 and 2005, explorers were surprised to find Snowy River flowing with water in 2007 and also in 2010 after a heavy winter