BUTLER CAVE AND BURNSVILLE COVE, VIRGINIA: AN EXCEPTIONAL KARST CLASSROOM WITH RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

Butler Cave is located in Burnsville Cove in the Valley and Ridge Province, Bath and Highland Counties, Virginia. Butler Cave Conservation Society (BCCS) manages the cave, which formed in a syncline in the Silurian Tonoloway Formation. The cave is over eighteen miles long, with many miles accessible to novice cavers. This provides an opportunity for educational field trips and geological research.

The potential subject study areas exposed in Butler Cave and surrounding Burnsville Cove reads like an undergraduate geology transcript: introduction to geology, geomorphology, stratigraphy, sedimentary processes, structure, hydrology, karst hydrology, paleoclimatology, quaternary history, cartography, mineralogy, isotope geochemistry, and aqueous geochemistry.

Undergraduate and graduate student research has been conducted with support and participation from the U.S. Geological Survey, James Madison University, West Virginia University, Bucknell University, and NSF REU UROCKS cave and karst science program. Additionally the BCCS has led field trips for geology clubs and university classes from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as geology field trips for the caving community, GSA, and the public.

Historical research in the cove includes studies on paleomagnetism, cave weather, dye traces, Quaternary sediment stratigraphy, carbon-14 dating, speleothem analysis, bedrock stratigraphy, clastic sediment analysis, and gypsum isotope analysis.

In the past ten years advances have been made with Silurian-Devonian stratigraphic correlations, quaternary terrace deposits, and OSL dating. More recently, studies have been conducted on paleoflow direction, mineralogy of unconsolidated sand and clasts, structural measurements, lidar cave mapping, and electrical resistivity above caves. Future studies include speleogenesis, fluid inclusion analysis, cosmogenic dating, and speleothem paleoclimate studies. BCCS invites you to participate in educational field trips and karst research projects.