CAVE AND KARST POTENTIAL AND DISTRIBUTION CALCULATED USING A GEOLOGIC GEODATABASE FOR MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK

As part of the inventory and monitoring effort of the Natural Resource Program Center, the Geologic Resource Evaluation (GRE) Program has been compiling spatial geologic data for 270 natural area units of the National Park Service. Since 1998, 96 parks have received compiled geologic data as shapefiles, coverages, and/or geodatabases to be used with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Research associates at Colorado State University developed a geology-GIS data model to organize the geologic data compiled for parks for application in ESRI GIS software. A geologic geodatabase following this data model for Mammoth Cave National Park and the Vicinity, Kentucky was completed in July 2007. As an example of how data can be used for resource management and interpretation at National Park System units, the geologic geodatabase for Mammoth Cave has been combined with digital elevation data to calculate cave and karst potential and distribution in the park. The created cave and karst potential map was then validated by applying known cave and sinkhole locations. The application of the geologic geodatabase to karst geomorphology in and around Mammoth Cave National Park is only one of the possible opportunities to use this data to aid scientific investigations in parks. Developing digital geologic data for the parks has opened a door of opportunity for development of spatial analysis and geostatistics for parks by resource managers, academia and the public