CROSSING BOUNDARIES ON PUBLIC LANDS: GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS OF A POTENTIALLY EXTENSIVE CAVE SYSTEM UNDERLYING BLM AND NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITS

During the winter of 2012-2013 National Cave and Karst Research Institute personnel conducted electrical resistivity surveys over Manhole Cave, located on public land administered by the US Bureau of Land Management in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. Manhole is a relatively shallow (25 m deep) pit cave, and is thought by many cavers to be a second entrance to Lechuguilla Cave, the deepest cave in the continental United States. Digging in Manhole has been ongoing for many years, following airflow through cemented breakdown. A three-dimensional interpretation of the resistivity data indicates that a substantial void is present in the subsurface a few tens of meters below and extending to the south of the dig. The entrance to Manhole Cave is located <300 m north of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park boundary. Lechuguilla Cave is located within the Park, but at its closest point Lechuguilla is only 300 m from BLM administered land. If a connection is established between Manhole and Lechuguilla Caves, it will raise interesting questions about dual management of this unique natural resource.